Tenth Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons

UKRAINE
I want to start off with a note and a clarification on Ukraine. As you may have seen in the past few days, there have been repeated comments by various Russian officials accusing the United Nations Secretariat of having either cancelled or blocked a visit by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.
I want to clarify a few points. First, the IAEA is a specialized agency that acts in full independence in deciding how to implement its specific mandate.
Second, the UN Secretariat has no authority to either block or cancel any IAEA activities.
Third, in close contact with the IAEA, the UN Secretariat has assessed that it has in Ukraine the logistics and security capacity to be able to support any IAEA mission to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant from Kyiv, should both Ukrainian and Russian authorities agree.

SENIOR PERSONNEL APPOINTMENT - UNFCCC
I also have a senior personnel announcement to share with you, quite an important one. Today, the Secretary-General is appointing Simon Stiell of Grenada as Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, otherwise known as UNFCCC. The appointment has been made after consultation with the Conference of Parties through its Bureau.
Mr. Stiell will succeed Patricia Espinosa of Mexico to whom the Secretary-General is grateful for her commitment and dedicated service to the Organization. The Secretary-General also wishes to extend his appreciation to the Executive Secretary of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification, Ibrahim Thiaw, who will continue to serve as Acting Executive Secretary of UNFCCC until Mr. Stiell assumes this position. Mr. Stiell brings to the position over thirty-three years of experience.

SENIOR PERSONNEL APPOINTMENT - GRAIN
Also, I just want to read into the record and announcement that was sent out on Friday afternoon. It was about the appointment by the Secretary-General of Amir Mahmoud Abdulla of Sudan as the UN Coordinator for the Black Sea Grain Initiative.
Mr. Abdulla succeeds Frederick Kenney, whom you met via videoconference of the United States who was on loan by the International Maritime Organization as interim Coordinator for the UN at the Joint Coordination Centre. The Secretary-General is grateful for Mr. Kenney’s dedication, his expertise, his commitment and excellent leadership in implementing the Black Sea Grain Initiative. Mr. Abdulla brings over 30 years of experience in the areas of humanitarian response and management with the World Food Programme as well as expertise in emergency operations, supply chain and security.

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