UNGA presidency: Muhammad-Bande attends crucial transition meeting

Muhammad-Bande (left) with Espinosa and other diplomats during a previous UNGA meeting.

By Harrison Arubu

United Nations, July 17, 2019 

Outgoing President of the UN General Assembly (PGA), Ms Maria Espinosa, on Wednesday  met with her successor-elect, Amb. Tijjani Muhammad-Bande, to discuss issues related to transition of power.

Muhammad-Bande, Nigeria’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, was elected president of the 74th session of the General Assembly on June 4.

He will take over from Espinosa, an Ecuadorian, at the inauguration of the 74th session in September.

Espinosa’s Spokesperson, Ms Monica Grayley, told UN correspondents in New York on Wednesday, that three former PGAs attended the meeting.

They are Joseph Deiss of the 65th session, Peter Thompson of the 71st and Miroslav Lajčák of the 72nd session.

“The main objective of the meeting is to provide support and assistance to the president-elect of the 74th session.

“Participants are discussing issues related to the transition, retreat, handover reports and other tools.

“Also on the agenda are measures to ensure a successful presidency by the PGA-elect both in terms of institutional memory of the PGA’s office, transparency and accountability”, she said.

Grayley stated that Wednesday’s was the second of such meeting, which held for the very first time in January.