General Assembly

Sam Kahamba Kutesa was elected President of the United Nations General Assembly’s sixty-ninth session on 11 June.

Renewing commitment to the sustainable development of small island developing States, world leaders today agreed on a landmark action plan at the conclusion of the United Nations Third International Conference on those nations held in Apia, Samoa.

Proper management of the world’s vast oceans — the lifeline of the planet — and its rich marine life was vital to end degradation of ecosystems, stem biodiversity loss and ensure the world’s food supply, delegates warned as the Third International Conference on Small Island Developing States continued today.

The critical importance of partnerships, financing, trade, capacity-building and technology to address severe challenges facing small island developing States were highlighted today in Samoa as world leaders met on the second day of the Third International Conference on those nations.

With their very existence at stake, isle nations made a fervent call for urgent global teamwork and a new approach to address rising sea levels and the surge in more extreme weather patterns that were wreaking havoc on their communities, as the Third International Conference on Small Island Developing States opened in Samoa this morning.

The Bureau of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People issued the following statement today:

The Bureau of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People issued the following statement today:

NAIROBI, 2 July — Ahead of the closing today of the United Nations Seminar, participants considered mobilization of global assistance to the Palestinian people and its effective use for sustainable growth in the context of a new aid paradigm, hearing that foreign aid might not be the key to unlock development, as many had thought.

NAIROBI, 2 July — The United Nations Seminar on Assistance to the Palestinian People, held at the United Nations Headquarters in Nairobi from 1 to 2 July, focused today on the Palestinian National Development Plan 2014-2016, titled “Long-term strategies of the State of Palestine for Economic Development and Growth”.

NAIROBI, 1 July — The first plenary session of the United Nations Seminar on Assistance to the Palestinian People, taking place in Nairobi, Kenya, began with a presentation by Maria-Jose Torres-Macho, Deputy Head of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.