Staff in the field breathe life into the work of the UN

His Excellency Dennis Francis, President of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), visited the offices of the United Nations in Trinidad and Tobago on 5 August 2024 for an extraordinary meeting of the Country Team (UNCT) chaired by Director of the ECLAC Subregional Headquarters for the Caribbean and Resident Coordinator a.i., Diane Quarless. 

UN representatives discussed with Ambassador Francis the Team’s programming priorities in its development cooperation within Trinidad and Tobago, Aruba, Curaçao and Sint Maarten. 

“We know that the UN’s existence is in the field,” said the Ambassador, noting that in his travels as President of the UNGA over the past year, he has always met the UNCT when visiting a United Nations Member State.  “The UN’s existence is close to the people, close to the impact that the UN creates, and close to those who are the eventual beneficiaries of [the UN’s] programmes and projects,” he said. The “right soldiers” were needed in the field to give policy form and substance and to “make it alive”.  

Ambassador Francis spoke of the General’s Assembly’s own priorities in its work over the (UNGA78) session that he has led as President. These included the UNGA’s first ever Sustainability Week in April, which focused on issues that are confronting the international community, including some that are of fundamental interest to the Caribbean such as tourism, energy and debt. 

Sustainability Week was a “pioneering development” that resonated with Member States, said the President, and served as a “steppingstone” to the Summit of the Future (upcoming in September), which he described as the “big harvest of 2024” that will attempt to “refocus and recharge the thrust of the SDGs,” and mobilise Heads of State and Government to commit to achieving the Goals.  

Substantive Resident Coordinator, Joanna Kazana, though not currently in country, also joined the hybrid meeting online. She ushered in the meeting interventions of UNCT colleagues with an overview of the Team’s work as implemented within the Multicountry Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (MSDCF).

The meeting concluded with a presentation to Ambassador Francis of the United Nations 2023 Annual Results Report on the work of the United Nations in Trinidad and Tobago, Curaçao, and Sint Maarten.  

The President of the General Assembly is being hosted by the Government of the Trinidad and Tobago on a three-day visit that began on Sunday 4 August.  He hosted a media briefing on his arrival and is to hold meetings with the Acting President of Trinidad and Tobago, the Prime Minister, and other Government officials. He is also expected to meet with representatives of civil society and engage with university students. 

Ambassador Dennis Francis, Permanent Representative of Trinidad and Tobago to the United Nations, continues in term as President of the General Assembly until September 2024, when the current session of the General Assembly ends.   

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