Lajcak Assumes UN General Assembly President Post

Bratislava, September 12 (TASR) – Slovak Foreign and European Affairs Minister Miroslav Lajcak (a Smer-SD nominee) assumed the post of the president of the 72nd session of the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday.

“The GA president is the person who takes the helm of the body for one year. It’s the top post in the UN network in terms of protocol. First, he sets the GA’s theme, and the one set by me is ‘People in First Place – Peace and a Decent Life for All on a Sustainable Planet’, Lajcak told TASR.

Meanwhile, the president also opens UN General Assembly sessions and leads them. Some 170 documents that need to be discussed are adopted in a year. Lajcak views the UN General Assembly as the most representative body on the planet, as it is the only one to which 193 member states with equal votes belong.

“The UN is already working continuously today. I’ve inherited over 100 events. I’ll try to put my own accents and priorities in them, but my job, naturally, is to move the work forward,” stressed Lajcak.

The GA president also represents member states in regular communication with the UN secretary-general and the chair of the Economic and Social Council. He also represents them in external relations – by participating in international events.

“The most visible peak, a top-level general discussion, will start exactly in a week, on September 19, and it will be attended by up to 100 heads of state, as well as prime ministers and foreign affairs ministers. The discussion will last for a week. During it the GA president takes part in up to 80 events a day, which, naturally, will set the pattern for further work,” said Lajcak.

Lajcak was elected to the post by representatives of UN-member states on May 31, 2017. This is the first time that a Slovak representative has held such a senior post in the UN.