Lajcak Presents Book on His Presidency of UN General Assembly

Lajcak Presents Book on His Presidency of UN General Assembly

Bratislava, December 20 (TASR) – Slovak Foreign and European Affairs Minister Miroslav Lajcak (a Smer-SD nominee), until recently president of the UN General Assembly, unveiled a book entitled ‘Focusing on People-Reflection of the 72nd UN General Assembly Session’ in Bratislava on Thursday.

Three months after returning from New York, Lajcak said that it would perhaps be too early to make a thorough evaluation of the presidency of the UN General Assembly, but it seems to be the right time to write a reflection of the period.

“The book captures the most important things … including trips, Slovakia and its presence at the UN,” said Lajcak, adding that the book also presents a novelty that he himself introduced at the UN – the so-called Morning Dialogues, which are informal meetings of ambassadors without a structured agenda.

Also mentioned was his 30-member team, composed of people from 27 countries, including four diplomats from Slovakia.

During 12 months of Lajcak’s presidency, the General Assembly held 115 sessions and adopted more than 300 resolutions. He and his team had more than 440 meetings with officials from member countries, 120 meetings with UN representatives and 80 meetings with figures representing civil society, the private sector and academia. At the same time he delivered more than 300 speeches. He said that the title of the book bears the same name as the spirit of the Slovak presidency.

“The [presidency] year demonstrated that a country of Slovakia’s size is able to deserve global respect,” added the Slovak foreign minister.

The book presentation was accompanied by an exhibition called ‘Slovakia and the United Nations’, which captures the activities of Slovak diplomats at the UN from its founding up to the present times.