Multilateralism the focus on second day of Assembly President’s visit to Austria

The importance of effective multilateralism, the need for United Nations reform and the fight against human trafficking were all high on the agenda during talks with Austrian leaders and UN officials on the second day of General Assembly President Srgjan Kerim’s official visit to the European country.

Mr. Kerim and Austrian President Heinz Fischer discussed the value of multilateralism and the ongoing efforts to reform the UN during their meeting today, according to a statement released by Mr. Kerim’s office. They also talked about the priority issues of the current session of the 192-member Assembly.

Mr. Kerim also toured the UN headquarters in Vienna and held separate meetings with the heads of the various international agencies that are based in the Austrian capital.

This included Antonio Maria Costa, Executive Director of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC); Tibor Tóth, Executive Secretary of the Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO); Yoshiteru Uramoto, Deputy Director General of the UN Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO); and Mohamed ElBaradei, Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

Mr. Costa and Mr. Kerim discussed human trafficking during their meeting while Mr. Uramoto and the Assembly President focused on system-wide coherence within the UN.

Mr. Kerim will stay in Austria through Monday for further meetings, discussions and public events, before heading to Italy and then the United Arab Emirates. He has already visited Switzerland and Liechtenstein on this trip.