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HIGHLIGHTS OF PRESS BRIEFING BY BRENDEN VARMA,?SPOKESPERSON FOR GENERAL ASSEMBLY PRESIDENT MIROSLAV LAJ??K

PRESIDENT TO TRAVEL TO GERMANY FOR U.N. CLIMATE CHANGE CONFERENCE

• The President will travel next week to Slovakia for a Cabinet meeting.
• From there, he will travel to Bonn for the .
• He expects to address the conference¡¯s high-level segment on Wednesday 15 November.

PRESIDENT LA±¬ÁÏÍøCHES NEW INITIATIVE TO FOSTER REAL DIALOGUE AT THE U.N.

• Tomorrow the President will be launching ¡°The Morning Dialogues¡±, a new series of informal discussions between ±¬ÁÏÍø ambassadors on ±¬ÁÏÍø issues.
• The President will convene and chair the dialogues, each of which will be limited to 20 people at the most. They will include all 193 Member States over the course of the 72nd session.
• Two dialogues will be convened each month, they will be by invitation only, and they will be held under Chatham House rules. Ambassadors will be participating in their personal capacities.
• This new series is in line with the President¡¯s push to foster real dialogue at the ±¬ÁÏÍø ¨C as opposed to the typical presentations of prepared statements. As these are not meant to be official meetings, no formal outcomes are expected.
• Tomorrow, the first dialogue will focus on women¡¯s participation and the inclusion of gender aspects in the General Assembly¡¯s work and processes. Women Permanent Representatives have been invited to this first gathering.
• Asked whether the dialogues would be open to the press, the Spokesperson replied that they would not. The idea was to have truly frank exchanges, and it was possible that ambassadors would not speak as openly as desired in the presence of the media.

1^ST 4 RO±¬ÁÏÍøDS OF VOTING FOR WORLD COURT JUDGES PROVE INCONCLUSIVE

• Both the General Assembly and Security Council are engaged today in the election of 5 judges to the International Court of Justice.
• There are currently 6 candidates vying for 5 seats. During the first four rounds of voting, all 6 candidates received the required majorities.
• Therefore, the elections are continuing and will keep going until both the General Assembly and Security Council agree on 5 and only 5 victors.