President Dr.Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete in meets and hold talks with the President of Iceland H.E.Olafur Ragnar Grimsson during a bilateral meeting held alongside UN Climate Summit at the UN Headquarters in New York this morning.
President Dr.Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete in meets and hold talks with the President of Iceland H.E.Olafur Ragnar Grimsson during a bilateral meeting held alongside UN Climate Summit at the UN Headquarters in New York this morning. Left is Tanzania’s UN Permanent Representative ambassador Tuvaku Manongi
President Dr.Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete in conversation with the Un Undersecretary for Humanitarian affairs Ms. Valerie Amos at the UN Headquarters in New York this morning.Photos by Freddy Maro-State House
Africa cannot reach its goal of prosperity without focusing on Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics - Dr. Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma
New York, USA, 22 September, 2014: Addressing a discussion of African First Ladies on Science Technology and Mathematics (STEM) in the margins of the 69th UN General Assembly in New York, the Chairperson of the African Union Commission has cautioned that "Africa cannot reach its goal of prosperity without focusing on science, technology, engineering and mathematics.”
Dr. Dlamini Zuma advised that, "We must make a deliberate effort to ensure that girls have access to primary, secondary and tertiary education and are stirred toward Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics." She also raised the need for role models to spur and encourage the younger generation.
Also speaking at the launch of the discussions which were organised by the Bunengi Foundation, UN Women Executive Director, Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, stressed the need for collaboration between the AU Commission, UN Women, Bunengi Foundation and other organisations to ensure that more girls are trained on STEM in Africa.
Recalling the critical role that the First Ladies have to play, Tanzanian President HE Jakaya M. Kikwete told the First Ladies, "you can make a big difference."
President Kikwete shared concrete measures that Tanzania is taking, including deliberately offering scholarships to students pursuing studies in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics.
The Bunengi Foundation promotes and mentors young African women scientists. The Bunengi Foundation awarded the AUC Chairperson the First Bunengi Foundation Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) Leadership Award.
Presenting the award, Chairperson of the Bunengi Foundation, Ms. Savannah Maziya described Dr. Dlamini Zuma as a "STEM girl".
Afreximbank President Jean-Louis Ekra (left) shakes hands with Prime Minister Daniel Kablan Duncan of Cote d’Ivoire shortly before the signing of the Branch Agreements for the Bank’s Abidjan office.
Cote d’Ivoire signs Afreximbank’s Abidjan Office establishment agreements
Abidjan, 22 September 2014 – All is now set for the take-off of an Abidjan Branch Office of the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) to serve Francophone West Africa with the signing of the two foundation agreements for the Branch by the Bank and the Government of Cote d’Ivoire.
At a ceremony today in Abidjan presided over by Daniel Kablan Duncan, the Ivorian Prime Minister, Afreximbank President Jean-Louis Ekra, on behalf of the Bank, and Moussa Dosso, Minister of State for Employment, Social Affairs and Vocational Training of Cote d’Ivoire, on behalf of the Government, signed the Branch Agreement, which details the privileges to be accorded to the Bank and its staff in Abidjan.
Mr. Ekra and three other Ivorian ministers then signed a Memorandum of Understanding between the Bank and the Government under which the Government committed to provide certain services and facilities to the Bank to enable it to take off and to function effectively.
Speaking after the signing ceremony, Mr. Duncan said, that the establishment of the Afreximbank Branch Office in Abidjan was a vote of confidence in Cote d’Ivoire acknowledging the consolidation of peace in the country and its success in strengthening of economic recovery and development.
He expressed confidence that the new Branch Office would make a positive impact by helping to raise the contribution of intra-African trade to Africa’s economies.
Earlier, President Ekra had said that the decision to site the Branch Office in Abidjan was taken after a very rigorous study that took into account such factors as political stability and security; economic and financial stability; operational factors; and physical and social infrastructure.
“The Abidjan Branch Office will perform marketing, business development, relationship management, loan structuring, loan monitoring and agency functions for Afreximbank in the Francophone West Africa area,” stated Mr. Ekra.
The Board of Directors of Afreximbank had, during the Annual General Meeting of Shareholder in Libreville in June 2014, approved the establishment a new Branch to serve Francophone West Africa and another to serve East Africa.
Accompanying the President to the signing ceremony were several members of the Board of Directors, some shareholders and a number of the Bank’s key customers in Cote d’Ivoire.
UN General Assembly's 69th general debate opens at headquarters
Sam Kahamba Kutesa (centre), President of the sixty-ninth session of the General Assembly, opens the general debate of the session. He is flanked by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon (left) and Tegegnework Gettu, Under-Secretary-General for General Assembly and Conference Management. UN Photo/Mark Garten
23 September 2014 – The United Nations General Assembly's annual high-level debate officially kicks off today, but this year, more than 120 leaders have already spent a day focusing on the existential threat of climate change and getting a head start on an agenda dominated by an unprecedented number of challenges facing the world today.
For New Yorkers, the annual week of mid-town gridlock is well under way. Security details are seen posted on roof tops, at least half a dozen boats are patrolling the East River that borders the iconic UN complex – centre stage for world leaders from more than 140 countries from tomorrow until 1 October, for which some 2,000 media accreditations have been given.
Starting tomorrow, the Assembly's annual high-level segment, known as the “General Debate”, will spotlight 196 speakers over a period of six days on major issues of international concern, comprising all the 193 UN Member States, as well as the Observer State of the Holy See, the Observer State of Palestine and the delegation of the European Union.
Speakers will take the floor over the next week on the theme of the debate, “Delivering on and Implementing a Transformative Post-2015 Development Agenda” as well as urgent crises ranging from the ongoing conflicts in Syria, Iraq, Ukraine and South Sudan.
Among the high-level meetings are a Security Council summit Wednesday chaired by United States President, Barrack Obama, whose country holds the body's presidency for the month, to draw international attention and action to the growing and dangerous phenomenon of foreign terrorist fighters; and a session convened by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon for 25 September to focus on a more robust international response to Ebola crisis in West Africa.
As has been the case over the past 68 General Assembly sessions, the journalists and diplomats will be focusing on the meetings and unplanned encounters on the “sidelines” of the General Debate.
And this year's General Assembly will be back in its original chamber, which, after a massive, years-long renovation project has the look and feel of the original structure from the 1950s minus the threadbare carpet, old ashtrays, and the tar and nicotine built up over decades of smoking by the delegates, but with the one-and-a-half inches added to the desks to make them wheelchair accessible.
