United Nations General Assembly ministerial week concludes with active EU participation
On Friday, the ministerial week of the United Nations General Assembly came to an end. Throughout the week, the European Union was actively engaged in a large number of multilateral and bilateral meetings through a high-level delegation. In addition to European Council President Donald Tusk, European Commission First Vice-President Frans Timmermans, High Representative/Vice-President Federica Mogherini, Vice-President Kristalina Georgieva, Commissioners Neven Mimica, Johannes Hahn, Dimitris Avramopoulos, Miguel Arias Cañete, Vytenis Andriukaitis and Christos Stylianides were in New York. The main focus of the meetings was managing migration in partnerships, and in this context, the EU also participated in the global Summit on large movements of refugees and migrants, which adopted the New York Declaration on refugees and migrants. The European Union stands behind the Declaration, as a balanced basis for collective, multilateral action. Also in focus was the entry into force of the historic Paris Agreement. Commissioner Arias Cañete was at the high-level ceremony on the entry into force (see also here), as well as the High Ambition Coalition press conference. He also held a speech at the Montreal Protocol event on hydrofluorocarbons and participated in the Major Economies Forum on Energy and Climate on Friday and in the Climate Financial Ministerial meeting on Saturday. The last days also saw numerous high-level events and meetings on the side-lines. On Friday, High Representative/Vice-President Mogherini met with the President of Niger, the Foreign Ministers of Indonesia and Iraq, and with the President of the International Committee of the Red Cross. She participated at the meeting of the Middle East Quartet Principals and gave a speech at Columbia University on the EU Global Strategy. High Representative/Vice-President Mogherini and Commissioner Mimica also addressed the Partnership Group on Myanmar. Commissioner Mimica gave a speech at the launch of the global network of women, peace and security and also participated in a side event on the situation in the Central African Republic. Commissioner Stylianides participated at the event on the Lake Chad Basin Humanitarian Crises.