Press Conference

Global economic activity was forecast to slowly gain momentum in 2013-2014, but growth would continue to be below potential and employment gains — especially in developed countries — would remain weak at best, top United Nations officials said today at a Headquarters press conference.

Biodiversity and ecosystem services have an important role to play in attaining the sustainable development goals relating to food security, water, energy and poverty eradication, the Executive Secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity said at Headquarters today.

The Head Chief of the Polynesian Kingdom of Atooi, the ancestral name for the State of Hawaii in the United States, announced today at a Headquarters press conference, that the kala, Atooi’s sovereign currency, which had not been minted in nearly 130 years, had recently been introduced into the world exchange.

At a Headquarters press conference today, advocates for indigenous people called on Governments worldwide to work with them to improve the lot of indigenous communities battling land dispossession, exploitation of their natural resources, endemic poverty and socioeconomic marginalization.

The global HIV/AIDS epidemic had “come full circle” since its early days, and it was “outrageous” that, despite unprecedented advances in care and treatment, homosexuals all over the world continued to struggle against discrimination and rising infection rates, the Head of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV and AIDS (UNAIDS) said today.

The investment decisions “we make as individuals, households, communities and, in particular, as businesses” have far-reaching consequences on disaster risk reduction and recovery, United Nations officials and private-sector experts said today upon the launch at Headquarters of the biannual Global Assessment Report on Disaster Risk Reduction.

The financial health of the United Nations depended on Member States meeting their financial obligations in full and on time, said Yukio Takasu, the Organization’s Under-Secretary-General for Management, at a Headquarters press conference today.

Following is a transcript of UN Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson’s press conference held in New York, 9 May:

The Security Council would focus on African issues in May, including a debate on the fight against terrorism in the continent, Kodjo Menan, Permanent Representative of Togo to the United Nations, said today, as he assumed the Council presidency for this month.

It had been 40 days since Syria had requested an independent investigation into possible chemical weapons use by opposition forces in the northern city of Khan al-Assal on 19 March, noted its Ambassador today, adding that his Government “might consider” broadening the investigation if France and the United Kingdom provided evidence for their claims and only after a credible and transparent probe was conducted in line with Syria’s request.