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Assembly President discusses ‘One UN’ pilot scheme with Albanian leaders

Assembly President discusses ‘One UN’ pilot scheme with Albanian leaders

Albania’s experience as one of the pilot countries in the United Nations programme to streamline the world body’s development activities in individual States topped the agenda of talks today between General Assembly President Srgjan Kerim and Government officials in Tirana.

Mr. Kerim and Sali Berisha, the Prime Minister of Albania, discussed the country’s progress so far in implementing the “Delivering as One UN” programme, according to a spokesperson for the Assembly President.

They also agreed to set up a future meeting on Albania’s experience in the pilot programme so that other countries can participate and exchange information on the scheme.

Albania is one of eight nations – the others are Cape Verde, Mozambique, Pakistan, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uruguay and Viet Nam – serving in the One UN pilot scheme, which aims to harmonize activities in a bid to better achieve the globally agreed anti-poverty targets known as the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015.

Under the scheme, the UN will consolidate its presence in each country by replacing its current structures with one leader, one programme and one budget, thus allowing various UN agencies to play to their strengths.

During his talks with Mr. Berisha, Mr. Kerim also discussed the priorities of the current Assembly session, including climate change, financing for development, human security, the scourge of HIV/AIDS and human trafficking.

The two men also spoke about UN reforms, including possible changes to the size and shape of the Security Council, as well as moves to strengthen links between the UN and regional institutions such as the European Union.

Today Mr. Kerim also met with Albania’s President Bamir Topi, its Speaker of Parliament Jozefina Topalli and members of the UN country team.