On February 18, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation Sergey Vershinin met with UN Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs Liu Zhenmin at the UN headquarters in New York.
A thorough exchange of views took place on a wide range of issues related to the social, economic and environmental agenda of the United Nations, including in the context of increasing international cooperation in the interests of post-crisis recovery and achieving the goals of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Special emphasis was placed by the Russian side on the need to unite the efforts of the international community for the full implementation of the Paris Agreement on climate change and the inadmissibility of its use for the purposes of unfair market competition. The importance of ensuring a balanced energy transition and assistance in overcoming inequality between developed and developing countries, including in the field of digital technologies, was emphasized.
In the context of the discussion of the reform initiatives of the UN Secretary-General in the framework of the report “Our Common Agenda”, attention was drawn to the need to reach an intergovernmental consensus for their effective implementation, focusing on the leading role of Member States in these processes.
