NEW YORK: Kuwaiti Minister of Foreign Affairs Abdullah Al-Yahya took part in the joint ministerial meeting between GCC foreign ministers and their Chinese counterpart and state advisor Wang Yi. During the meeting, held on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly’s 79th session in New York late Friday, the two sides discussed strategic partnership and cooperation in different fields. They also discussed regional and international topics of mutual concern and the current developments in the region.
In another development, Minister of Foreign Affairs Abdullah Al-Yahya participated in the joint ministerial meeting of the GCC countries and Group of Latin America and Caribbean Countries (GRULAC), held on the sidelines of the 79th session of the UN General Assembly. The meeting focused on friendship, cooperation, and coordination between both sides and ways of promoting and bolstering them in political, economic, and investment domains. Both sides underlined all shared commitments, principles, and goals of cooperation and strategic partnership, along with the latest regional and international developments.
Counterterrorism Forum
The Minister of Foreign Affairs took part in the ministerial plenary meeting of the Global Counterterrorism Forum in New York. In a press statement, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the meeting was chaired by Vice President of the European Commission and the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell and Egyptian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Migration, and Expatriates Dr. Badr Abdelatty.
The meeting reviewed frameworks for enhancing joint international cooperation in combating terrorism in all its forms and types and supporting the exchange of expertise and capacity building between national and regional institutions, the ministry said.
The conferees also mulled boosting cooperation and integration to eliminate fanaticism, extremism, and terrorism and support international and regional organizations specialized in this domain. The meeting also tackled the issue of foreign terrorist fighters and their families’ repatriation to their countries of origin and integrating them into their communities after they undergo rehabilitation programs preceded by fair trials and serving their sentences in their countries and taking the necessary legal measures in accordance with local laws and human rights principles.
UNSC reforms
Meanwhile, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called for reforming the global multilateral system, mainly the financial architecture and the UN Security Council, to make them more legitimate and effective. This came during Guterres’ speech at the Annual Meeting of the Group of 77 Foreign Ministers, where he welcomed the recent adoption of the Pact for the Future, the Declaration on Future Generations, and the Global Digital Compact.
Guterres called for climate justice and urged G20 countries to implement action plans to reduce emissions, prevent the worst impacts of climate chaos, and set the world on a path to phasing out fossil fuels. He emphasized the need for technological justice, ensuring its benefits reach all of humanity, and called on academia and civil society to collaborate in managing the risks of emerging technologies, including AI. Furthermore, Guterres confirmed that his high-level advisory body on AI released its recommendations last week, which included bridging the AI divide through a global fund and a capacity-building network to boost AI expertise in developing countries. — KUNA