UAE Announces March Priorities as UN Security Council Presidency Begins

The United Arab Emirates today assumed the presidency of the United Nations Security Council for the month of March. In addition to addressing recent developments on global security issues, the UAE will prioritize the Women, Peace, and Security (WPS) agenda, climate security, and cooperation between the Council and the League of Arab States during the month. 
 
"We are assuming the Presidency of the Security Council at a time of immense global turbulence," said H.E. Lana Nusseibeh, Permanent Representative of the UAE to the UN. “We face a number of crises on the Council agenda, and we will manage the program of work with the flexibility that the current moment demands.”
 
In its capacity as president, the UAE will set the Council’s program of work for March in agreement with other members and will chair meetings to develop collective responses to urgent global security challenges. This includes facilitating the adoption of resolutions and other Council products.
 
The UAE will convene a ministerial-level Security Council open debate chaired by H.E. Mariam Almheiri, Minister of Climate Change and Environment, on International Women’s Day. The debate’s focus will be the importance of women’s economic inclusion and private sector partnerships for the prevention of conflict and for post-conflict recovery. Briefers will include UN Women Executive Director Sima Bahous, International Monetary Fund Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva, and a civil society briefer.
 
The UAE will also organize an Arria-formula meeting, an informal meeting of Security Council members, on 9 March chaired by H.E. Dr. Sultan Al Jaber, Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology, and Special Envoy for Climate Change. The meeting will explore how to support climate finance efforts to build and sustain peace in conflict, crisis, and post-conflict settings.
 
The UAE will also host a briefing on strengthening cooperation between the Security Council and the League of Arab States to promote regional stability on 23 March. The meeting will be chaired by H.E. Khalifa Shaheen Almarar, UAE Minister of State. UN Secretary-General António Guterres and League of Arab States Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit will be among the briefers. A youth representative will also participate in recognition of the fact that 60 percent of the region’s population is under the age of 30. 
 
On the regular Programme of Work, the Security Council will also meet on the ongoing situations in Libya, Somalia, Syria, Yemen, Resolution 2334 concerning Israeli settlements, the Golan Heights, Lebanon, South Sudan, Sudan, Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and non-proliferation/DPRK. Adoptions are scheduled on the DPRK, UNAMA in Afghanistan, AMISOM in Somalia, and UNMISS in South Sudan.