UN General Assembly President Miroslav Lajcak on Friday outlined his priorities for 2018, putting conflict prevention above all.
Addressing a General Assembly meeting, Lajcak said that he would put conflict prevention, partnerships, financing and integration as four priorities of his work in 2018, Xinhua reported.
"We need a stronger focus on peace when it still exists.
We should be acting faster, and sooner, when there is a peace to keep, rather than scrambling for solutions once it has been lost, " he said.
Speaking of partnerships, Lajcak noted that "we need to make existing partnerships more active and efficient.
And we need to create new ones. "
As for financing, the president said that the UN's peacebuilding and sustaining peace activities "are chronically underfunded. "
"By adopting the 2016 Sustaining Peace resolutions, we committed to addressing this issue.
The Secretary - General's report, due to be released next month, is likely to contain concrete proposals.
We need to give them serious consideration. "
Referring to integration, he said "sustaining Peace is not a task for one office, or one team at the United Nations.
Instead, it must be mainstreamed. "
The General Assembly president also called for the participation of women and youth "when it comes to Sustaining Peace. "
"Women and young people play a major role in building and preserving peace.
Their experiences and ideas must be seen and listened to, " he said.
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