The following is a near-verbatim transcript of today\u2019s noon briefing by St\u00e9phane Dujarric, Spokesman for the Secretary-General.<\/p>\n
\/…<\/p>\n
**Questions and Answers<\/u><\/p>\n
Mr.\u00a0Bays?<\/p>\n
Question<\/u>:\u00a0 Couple of questions.\u00a0 First, a clarification, you say the Secretary-General can\u2019t be with us tomorrow because of a scheduling conflict.\u00a0 Can you tell us, is he in New York at 12:30\u00a0tomorrow? \u00a0And what is he doing?<\/p>\n
Spokesman<\/u>:\u00a0 There is the global town hall meeting with staff and other issues, which may run over, and there are other issues that have come up.<\/p>\n
Question<\/u>:\u00a0 But these were\u2026 that was pre-planned, wasn\u2019t it? \u00a0I mean, it raises the question that the only problem is that he\u2019s scheduled to give a news conference on the same day as the Middle East peace plan and would face some difficult questions.\u00a0 [cross talk]<\/p>\n
Spokesman<\/u>:\u00a0 I think the Secretary\u2011General is experienced and can face difficult questions.<\/p>\n
Question<\/u>:\u00a0 Okay.\u00a0 My question is on the Middle East peace plan.\u00a0 Has the Secretary-General been given an advanced copy by the US Administration?<\/p>\n
Spokesman<\/u>:\u00a0 I\u2019m not aware of that, and at this point, obviously, we have to see what the release is, and I have no other comment.<\/p>\n
Question<\/u>:\u00a0 So, if he hasn\u2019t been given, you\u2019re not aware of an advanced copy being given to the Secretary\u2011General, does he believe that, given his very important role in this, as a member of the Quartet, as the Secretary\u2011General of the Â鶹APP, where the UN is, where all the Security Council resolutions are\u2026 does he feel that it\u2019s disrespectful of the Trump Administration not to be consulting him and giving him an advanced copy?<\/p>\n
Spokesman<\/u>:\u00a0 As I said, I think we all have to wait for this plan to be released, whenever that will be.\u00a0 We will have further comment at that time.\u00a0 In the meantime, the Secretary\u2011General\u2019s own positions on it have not changed.<\/p>\n
Question<\/u>:\u00a0 You didn\u2019t answer my question, though: \u00a0Does he believe it\u2019s disrespectful\u2026 [cross talk]<\/p>\n
Spokesman<\/u>:\u00a0 I answered it to the best of my ability. Yes, Madame?<\/p>\n
Question<\/u>:\u00a0 Follow\u2011up on the same subject.\u00a0 Do you\u2026 was he consulted in any of the\u2026 if\u2026 you said he wasn\u2019t given any advance copy of the plan.\u00a0 Was he consulted or his envoy in Jerusalem was consulted regarding this plan anytime?<\/p>\n
Spokesman<\/u>:\u00a0 Over the last three years or two\u2026 I mean, since the Secretary\u2026 since the announcement of\u2026 that the plan would be coming, there had been contacts at various levels, including the Secretary\u2011General and Mr.\u00a0[Nickolay] Mladenov.<\/p>\n
Question<\/u>:\u00a0 So, are you saying that you are aware of the details of the plan, or what exactly are you saying?<\/p>\n
Spokesman<\/u>:\u00a0 No, that\u2019s\u2026 I\u2019m just saying that there have been conversation over the last two\u2026 two, three years on this but\u2026 and I will leave it at that.<\/p>\n
\/…<\/p>\n
Question<\/u>:\u00a0 Yeah.\u00a0 Just, actually, it\u2019s a follow\u2011up, although I have a separate one on Libya, but it\u2019s also\u2026 all the time raises the question, St\u00e9phane, how much UN is involved in these kind of processes, whether it\u2019s more passive, more active role.\u00a0 So, what\u2026 how would you characterise the involvement of the UN?<\/p>\n
Spokesman<\/u>:\u00a0 Our involvement is regulated through relevant Security Council resolutions.\u00a0 We have a Special Coordinator on the ground, Mr.\u00a0Mladenov, and as you know, the UN has extensive humanitarian operations in the area.<\/p>\n
Question<\/u>:\u00a0 And what would be the leadership of the Secretary\u2011General in that direction, to move a little bit forward beside that\u2026? [cross talk]<\/p>\n
Spokesman<\/u>:\u00a0 I think the Secretary\u2011General\u2019s position on the Middle East peace process are regularly shared with you through public briefings in the Security Council.<\/p>\n
\/…<\/p>\n
Question<\/u>:\u00a0 Thank you, Steph.\u00a0 Back to the peace plan.\u00a0 It seems that the plan will address the borders issue.\u00a0 So, can you please remind us, what\u2019s the UN position on Israel\u2019s borders and the Palestinian state border\u2026?<\/p>\n
Spokesman<\/u>:\u00a0 The Secretary\u2011General, the UN\u2019s position are reflected every month or more than once a month in the Security Council briefings.\u00a0 And you can refer those\u2026 to that.\u00a0 His\u2026 Secretary\u2011General\u2019s positions are unchanged.<\/p>\n
\/…<\/p>\n
Question<\/u>:\u00a0 Thanks, St\u00e9phane.\u00a0 It\u2019s another question on the Middle East peace plan.\u00a0 You said a few times that the Secretary\u2011General\u2026 his position hasn\u2019t changed.\u00a0 It\u2019s been stated in the Security Council again and again.\u00a0 Are you saying that you don\u2019t think now is a time to make any changes to this? \u00a0Or are you willing to see what the Americans put forward tomorrow and are you willing to\u2026 [cross talk]<\/p>\n
Spokesman<\/u>:\u00a0 I\u2019m not\u2026 that\u2019s not\u2026 All I\u2019m saying is that the Secretary-General\u2019s positions are unchanged, and they\u2019ve been related to you repeatedly.<\/p>\n
Question<\/u>:\u00a0 Does he have an open mind then? \u00a0Is he willing to look again at some of these bedrock principles?<\/p>\n
Spokesman<\/u>:\u00a0 I will leave it at that for the time being.\u00a0 Yes, Madame?<\/p>\n
Question<\/u>:\u00a0 A follow\u2011up on Middle East plan.\u00a0 So, let me preface my question this way.\u00a0 So, does the Secretary\u2011General\u2026 or is the Secretary\u2011General disappointed regarding the fact that a peace plan will be announced\u2026 so\u2011called peace plan will be announced tomorrow when\u2026 where a part\u2026 a partner or a main partner to this plan is made absent? \u00a0So, what\u2019s your comment on that?<\/p>\n
Spokesman<\/u>:\u00a0 I\u2019m not\u2026 I understand what you all are trying to get and what you need\u2026 [laughter] \u2026 but I\u2019m not going to get into saying anything further until there\u2019s an announcement.<\/p>\n
Question<\/u>:\u00a0 No, but I\u2019m not asking about the plan itself.<\/p>\n
Spokesman<\/u>:\u00a0 No, no, I\u2026 [cross talk]<\/p>\n
Question<\/u>:\u00a0 I\u2019m asking about a fact that somebody who is a main partner is made absent.<\/p>\n
Spokesman<\/u>:\u00a0 No, I understand, but I will not get into it.<\/p>\n
\/…<\/p>\n
For information media. Not an official record.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The following is a near-verbatim transcript of today\u2019s noon briefing by St\u00e9phane Dujarric, Spokesman for the Secretary-General. \/… **Questions and Answers Mr.\u00a0Bays? Question:\u00a0 Couple of questions.\u00a0 First, a clarification, you say the Secretary-General can\u2019t be with us tomorrow because of a scheduling conflict.\u00a0 Can you tell us, is he in New York at 12:30\u00a0tomorrow? \u00a0And […]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":172,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"template":"template-page.php","meta":{"footnotes":""},"country":[2553],"document-category":[2573],"document-source":[5352],"committee-meeting":[],"document-subject":[1905],"entity":[1985,1729],"document-language":[6542],"class_list":["post-230886","document","type-document","status-publish","hentry","country-united-states-of-america","document-category-highlights-of-the-noon-briefing","document-source-secretary-general","document-subject-peace-proposals-and-efforts","entity-state","entity-united-nations-system","document-language-english"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document\/230886","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/document"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/172"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document\/230886\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=230886"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"country","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/country?post=230886"},{"taxonomy":"document-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-category?post=230886"},{"taxonomy":"document-source","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-source?post=230886"},{"taxonomy":"committee-meeting","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/committee-meeting?post=230886"},{"taxonomy":"document-subject","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-subject?post=230886"},{"taxonomy":"entity","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/entity?post=230886"},{"taxonomy":"document-language","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-language?post=230886"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}