2018 News

Russian President Vladimir Putin, Turkish President　Tayyip Erdoğan, Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau along with several other heads of state and government listened as Merkel, Macron and United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres spoke about the importance of the U.N. and other multilateral institutions to address global problems.

UN Security Council is meeting on the prospect of accommodations between South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir and his former deputy leader Riek Machar after they signed a peace deal at the IGAD summit meeting in Addis Ababa, Sept. 12, 2018.

President of the Kofi Annan Foundation, Mr. Alan Doss, has indicated that Mrs. Annan and the family appreciated condolence messages received from many people in Japan and that the Foundation will continue to uphold Kofi Annan`s legacy.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Nippon Foundation co-hosted the Core Group Meeting of the Eminent Persons Group on Peace and Stability in Africa on 31st August and 1st September. Five former Heads of State were invited to the Meeting with the aim of suggesting proposals in the field of peace, security and stability in Africa. (MOFA Press Release)

Erick Johnson of the Japan Times writes former United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan, who died earlier this month, was remembered by former Japanese diplomats and U.N. experts as a strong supporter of Security Council reform plans that could have given Japan a permanent seat.

According to the Kofi Annan Foundation, Kofi Annan, former Secretary General of the United Nations and Nobel Peace Laureate, passed away peacefully after a short illness, in hospital in Bern, Switzerland in the early hours of August 18 with his wife and children at his side.

The General Assembly approved on August 10 the appointment of Michelle Bachelet as the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights effective September 2018. Bachelet is a prominent women’s rights advocate who served as the first woman president in Chile and is expected to assert her leadership in advancing human rights in the world with rising racial tension and authoritarian rule.

At a press conference held at UN Headquarters on July 20, US Secretary of State Pompeo stated Presidents Trump and Putin discussed how to return Syrian refugees who had fled the war-torn country during their behind closed doors meeting in Helsinki on July 16, 2018.

In his meeting in Rome with senior officials of UN Associations of China, Japan and South Korea on July 14, Coate expressed his appreciation of active participation of scholars and experts from East Asia in the annual meetings of ACUNS and his desire to expand and deepen the relationship between ACUNS and the academic associations of East Asia.

According to a report filed by Susan Manuel of PASSBLUE, China`s influence on the process of constructing the new structure of UN peace and security architecture in growing. Please click here her report.