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16 September 2021, New York, United States - UNITAR started the second day of training where Mr. Marco Suazo, Head of UNITAR New York office, warmly welcomed the participants and introduced the first speaker of the day, Ambassador H.E. Mrs. Egriselda Lopez, Incoming Chair of the Fourth Committee and Permanent Representative of El Salvador to the United Nations.

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H.E. Mrs. Lopez addressed four main issues, the programme of work of the Fourth Committee; working methods; previous sessions, and the ongoing organization of work of the Fourth Committee of the 76th session of the GA. Ms. Sangeeta Sharma, Secretary of the Fourth Committee and Senior Intergovernmental Affairs Officer, supported H.E. Mrs. Lopez by going in more details about the programme of work of the Fourth Committee.

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Ms. Sharma talked about the upcoming session and agenda items they expect to be allocated. She briefly mentioned the organization of work, allocation of conference rooms and what constitutes a hearing. She also spoke about the e-deleGates platforms and eStatements. Some questions were asked towards the end of the session.

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H.E. Ambassador Mr. Mher Margaryan, Incoming Chair of Fifth Committee and Permanent Representative of Armenia to the United Nations, spoke about the work of the Fifth Committee. He ensured that the Committee will focus on ensuring the effectiveness of the organization’s purpose. H.E. Mr. Margaryan mentioned that there are several areas of working methods that affect the efficiency of the work of the Fifth Committee which are inter-related.

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Moving to the next speaker, Mr. Lionelito Berridge, Secretary of the Fifth Committee, discussed the administrative and budgetary matters, implementations of resolutions and arrangements of the Fifth Committee. He talked about how they increased their reliance of the e-deleGates platform while briefly explaining how to use it.

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H.E. Ambassador Ms. Alya Ahmed Saif Al-Thani, Incoming Chair of the Sixth Committee and Permanent Representative of the State of Qatar to the United Nations, shared her vision of the Sixth Committee. H.E  Ms. Al-Thani mentioned that the work of the Committee will be presented in a hybrid format. She stressed that the collaboration of the Committee bureau and the participating delegation will ensure a smooth delivery of the upcoming sessions. 

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Mr. Arnold Pronto, Principle Legal Officer, Codification Division, Office of Legal Affairs, discussed the work of the Sixth Committee where he exchanged legal point of view along with discussing the phases of drafting resolutions. Mr. Pronto went through the Sixth Committee web page explaining each section and what it’s used for.

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Mr. Kenji Nakano, Chief, General Assembly Affairs Branch, gave an introduction to the UN elections, negotiation and decision-making in the General Assembly. He explained in details what the UN elections are and how it works while providing examples based on previous session.

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Session II was opened by Mr. Pelayo Alvarez, Programme Coordinator of UNITAR office in New York who introduced, Ms. Veronique Vandegans, Interpretation Chief, French, and Mr. Francisco Garcia Hurtado, Interpreter, Spanish Interpretation Section, Interpretation Service, Meetings and Publishing Division, Department of the General Assembly and Conference Management. Together they explained how interpretation works, how to use the supplies and tools of platforms and distribution of documents. He stated some recommendations to have better equipment and internet connection. Ms. Susan Goard, Law Librarian/Training Coordinator, Dag Hammarskjold Library, took over and discussed GA documents research and how to find them.

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The next speaker, Mr. Dawa Sangye, Senior Documentation Officer, Documentation Management Section, discussed what the UN documents are, what symbols it carries and its meaning. He explained what to do for the submission of documents. Mr. Tony Di Lanzo, Team Leader, Meeting Programming, went over the reservation of conference rooms, adjustments and questions, and bi-lateral meeting requests. Ms. Meena Sur, Project Manager, Journal, went through the sections of The Journal where participants will rely on and briefly talked about submitting an announcement in the Journal.

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Moving on to Ms. Blanca Montejo, Senior Political Affairs Officer, who discussed the relationship of the General Assembly and the Security Council and what differentiates both of them. As key provisions of the UN charter, she briefly explained three articles as a basic framework to show an example of general issues. Ms. Montejo mentioned how the two organs, Security Council and General Assembly, have a relationship and importance while providing the example of Gaza, and the situation of the Middle East. She also mentioned the areas of collaboration and working methods where both organs are evolving and working together to achieve mutual goals. Ms. Montejo provided an overview of the relations with subsidiary organs established by the GA. Ending the session with Q&A. Mr. Pelayo Alvarez closed the session thanking all speakers and participants for a fruitful session.

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