Special Session on COVID-19: briefing by Presidents Spokesperson

The Spokesperson for the President of the General Assembly gave the following information on the Special Session in his briefing yesterday: 

• Over the two days of the general debate, there was a total of 129 speakers, including 34 Heads of State, 1 Vice-President, 38 Heads of Government, 6 Deputy Prime Ministers, 49 Ministers and the President of the European Council of the European Union
• The 129 speakers included 21 women
• It was not possible to hear all statements from Member States, observers and civil society, during the mandated timeframe
• Remaining statements include: 5 videos from Member States; 2 videos from the Holy See and Palestine; 16 statements from Member States, which were meant to be delivered by Permanent Representatives from the floor; and video interventions from civil society. These will now be heard at a later date which has yet to be announced yet, but the general expectation is for the statements to be heard this month

 The Spokesperson was asked whether the President had been satisfied with the special session, or if he would have preferred to have seen more substantive outcomes. He  replied that, considering the mandate that the Member States had given the President, the President felt that the special session had been a success. The special session had accomplished what it had meant to – in that it had brought together Member States, UN leaders and representatives of the health sector, to discuss the way forward and act multilaterally to combat the pandemic.