China & the Week Ahead - PGA Spokesperson's Briefing…

CHINA

President Csaba Kőrösi is this hour in Zhengzhou, Henan Province, for the last leg of his official visit to China.

He spent the day in Beijing, where he had a number of bilateral meetings.

In the course of his meeting with Prime Minister Li Keqiang on 3 February, President Kőrösi called on China to, among other topics, further strengthen its engagement and cooperation with the United Nations on all three main pillars of the Organization's activities, including human rights.

The President was pleased to confirm China's intention to continue its active engagement at the Human Rights Council, which President Kőrösi will visit later this month in Geneva.

Also today, the President met with Mr. Huang Runqiu, Minister for Ecology and Environment, and separately with Li Guoying, the Minister for Water Resources.

He had a lengthy dialogue with experts on sustainable development and water.

Tomorrow, in Henan Province, he will visit the South-North Water Diversion Project and be briefed by the Yellow River Conservancy Commission… Before returning to New York on Sunday, 5 February.

I was asked yesterday for any more details on what was discussed with Foreign Minister Qin Gang on the issue of Ukraine.

What I can tell you is that the President reiterated to the Foreign Minister his conviction about the need to reach a peaceful solution to the conflict as soon as possible, and that the solution must be based on the principles of the UN Charter.

And in addition, I omitted when I read out the topics discussed yesterday mention of Japan's plan to discharge water from the Fukushima Plant. That came up in the bilateral with the Foreign Minister.

WEEK AHEAD

Looking to next week…

Monday, 6 February, the Secretary-General will outline his priorities for 2023. That will be in the GA Hall at 10AM. President Kőrösi will make brief remarks before the Secretary-General.

In the afternoon, President Kőrösi will met with Youth Delegates to the Commission on Social Development for about 90 minutes. The discussion is expected to be on sustainable transformations for environment, education and employment.

And let me mention that the PGA Youth Fellows will be working full-time with our Office as of Monday. They will also take part in this event.

Tuesday, 7 February is the all-day science briefing in support of sustainable solutions. You have a media advisory. And you can expect summary materials from me throughout the day.

Wednesday, 8 February, President Kőrösi will address the opening of the UN Open Science Conference. This year's theme is "Accelerating the Sustainable Development Goals, Democratizing the Record of Science". The event is organized in the lead-up to International Day of Women and Girls in Science, which is marked annually on 11 February, so next Saturday.

Ahead of the International Day, there will be an event on Friday, 10 February, organized by Member States, UN agencies and the Royal Academy of Science International Trust

QUESTIONS

There were no questions on-camera.

Off-camera journalists asked about General Assembly's plan for the anniversary of the war in Ukraine. The Spokesperson said that she had nothing to announce.