Zelensky holds talks with UN Secretary General, UNGA President
President Volodymyr Zelensky had meetings with UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres and the newly elected head of the UN General Assembly, Abdulla Shahid.
Both meetings were held at the UN headquarters, according to Ukrinform's own correspondent in New York.
During talks with Guterres and Shahid, Zelensky raised the issue of support for the Crimea Platform initiative by the United Nations, the most influential international organization.
"The Crimea Platform is based on UN resolutions and international law," President’s Spokesman Serhiy Nykyforov told reporters. "NATO and the EU were represented at the Crimea Platform summit, but there was no UN representative."
Nykyforov recalled that Russia tried to hamper the efforts to include the issue "Situation in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine" in the agenda of the General Assembly, but the latter by a majority vote retained it on the agenda and put it up for consideration at the next session.
In a conversation with Guterres, President Zelensky, in addition to political issues, also raised "pragmatic" ones.
The UN is one of the world’s largest consumers of goods and services, Nykyforov noted. Every year the organization buys goods worth $20 billion, including worth $200 million in Ukraine. At the same time, the spokesperson said, there is considerable potential for expansion of such cooperation. In particular, Ukraine is ready to provide transport services, participate in UN food supply programs, and offer services of its highly developed IT sector.
As Ukrinform reported earlier, on September 20, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky arrived on a working visit to the United States to participate in the 76th session of the United Nations General Assembly.
On September 21, Zelensky took part in the opening of the 76th session of the UN General Assembly. Zelensky is scheduled to address the UNGA on September 22.
Photo: OP
im