Prime Minister António Costa said on Thursday that during the meeting he had with António Guterres, he reiterated Portugal’s support for his actions and pledged to continue an “active voice” in defense of his proposals as UN Secretary-General .
“During the meeting I had with the Secretary-General of the United Nations, António Guterres, I reiterated Portugal’s support for the measures it has taken to meet the current challenges,” the Prime Minister wrote in his statement. Twitter account.
“We will continue to be an active voice in defense of the proposals of the United Nations and its Secretary-General,” António Costa added.
The meeting took place at the United Nations (UN) headquarters in New York.
According to a United Nations note, António Guterres and António Costa “exchanged views on the situation in the Sahel region and on the war in Ukraine”.
The UN Secretary-General and the Prime Minister also “discussed the follow-up to the Conference of” organized by Portugal and Kenya, which took place in Lisbon, in June this year, reads the same note.
António Costa arrived in New York on Monday to participate in the general debate of the 77th session of the UN General Assembly, at which he will speak on Thursday afternoon, already in the evening in Portugal, and then return to Lisbon.
It will be his third intervention in the annual general debate between heads of state or government of the 193 members of the UN, in which he participated in 2017 and 2020 – this second time not in person, but via videoconference, because of the covid-19 pandemic.
This year’s general debate among world leaders is the first since the Russian Federation invaded Ukraine on February 24, starting a war that has been going on for nearly seven months.
In New York, both Prime Minister and Foreign Minister João Gomes Cravinho held bilateral meetings to promote, among other things, Portugal’s candidacy for a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council in the 2027-2028 biennium.
The motto of the 77th session of the UN General Assembly is “Solutions through Solidarity, Sustainability and Science”. The theme of the general debate is “A Turning Point: Transformative Solutions to Interconnected Challenges”.
At these annual meetings, both the Prime Minister and the President of the Republic reiterated their defense of multilateralism and the priorities set by the UN Secretary-General, as well as their support for the universal abolition of the death penalty and for a reform of the Security Council that includes in this body an African country, Brazil and India as permanent members.
António Costa was elected UN Secretary-General in 2016, on a proposal from Portugal, and began his term on January 1, 2017.
The former Portuguese prime minister was reappointed in 2021 and will end his second five-year term at the end of 2026 at the end of 2026.
Source: DN
