Today, President von der Leyen and High Representative/Vice-President Borrell, together with President of the European Council, Charles Michel, will join other world leaders for the opening session of the General Debate of the UN General Assembly. They will jointly meet the UN Secretary General António Guterres in the evening. President von der Leyen will participate in the Christchurch Call Leaders’ summit convened by the French President, Emmanuel Macron, and the Prime Minister of New Zealand, Jacinda Ardern. In the evening, the President will deliver a video message during the pledging event “Countdown to COP15: Landmark Leaders Event for a Nature Positive World”, which will be available on EbS (20:40 EST). Executive Vice-President Frans Timmermans will deliver a speech at the same event at +/- 19:15 EST. Concluding an ambitious global deal to stop and reverse biodiversity loss at the COP15 Biodiversity Conference in Montréal later this year is a key priority for the EU. President von der Leyen will participate in the 2022 Goalkeepers Global Goal Awards ceremony, organised by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Executive Vice-President Timmermans will co-host, together with Chile and Germany, a Ministerial Meeting on Finding Common Ground for Ambitious COP27 Outcomes. He will deliver closing remarks at the UN ministerial meeting on Shaping an Africa-led Just and Equitable Energy Transition, and participate in a ministerial meeting on Climate and Development, organised by the UK and Rwanda. He will also hold a speech at Columbia University’s World Leaders Forum, and participate in the event ‘From Billions to Trillions – mobilizing financing for the green transition towards 2030′. High Representative/Vice-President Borrell will convene the leaders from the Western Balkans for the traditional informal meeting organised in the margins of the UN General Assembly. He will then represent the EU at the Pledging Conference of the Global Community Engagement and Resilience Fund. Commissioner for International Partnerships, Jutta Urpilainen, will participate in the Global Food Security summit, co-organised by the EU and other partners, as well as the High-Level event on ‘Transformation of Education in Africa’, co-organised by the EU, the African Union, UNICEF, UNESCO and the World Food Programme. Throughout the day, EU representatives will hold several bilateral meetings. More details on their individual agendas can be found on their websites. Yesterday, High Representative Borrell chaired the informal meeting of EU Foreign Ministers, which focussed on the global consequences of Russia’s aggression against Ukraine and recent global developments. You can read the full press remarks of the High Representative’s press conference here. Commissioner for International Partnerships, Jutta Urpilainen, represented the European Commission at the Transforming Education Summit, calling on the international community to increase their investments in education and address the deep inequalities in access to education. You can read more here. (For more information: Nabila Massrali – Tel.: +32 229 88093; Xavier Cifre-Quatresols – Tel.: +32 229 73582)
European year of Youth: Commissioner Breton takes part in a debate with young entrepreneurs
This afternoon, Commissioner Thierry Breton will engage with young European entrepreneurs during an event organised under the European Year of Youth. The event will focus on the topics of sustainability, digitalisation and increasing resilience, and will also address issues of current concern such as energy prices. The dialogue will be an occasion for young entrepreneurs to share fresh ideas, experiences of challenges encountered and how they have overcome them, as well as their thoughts on EU support and instruments. This will feed into a reflexion on how to get more young people to consider entrepreneurship as a career choice and on how to create the conditions at EU-level that are conducive to their success, including support networks and access to finance. The participants will include young entrepreneurs coming from all sectors, as well as representatives from youth entrepreneurs associations. The event will be also attended by Kristina Dimova, the winner of the SME Week Youth Essay Competition 2021. Many of the participants will have previously participated in EU-related initiatives such as Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs, giving new or aspiring entrepreneurs the chance to learn from experienced entrepreneurs running small businesses in other participating countries, or the European Innovation Council, Europe’s flagship innovation programme to identify, develop and scale up breakthrough technologies and disruptive innovations. To help entrepreneurs achieve the twin transition, the Commission has adopted several measures: some examples include the Digital Innovation Hubs, financed through the Digital Europe Programme, to support SME digitalisation throughout every region of Europe; and the Enterprise Europe Network Sustainability Advisors, which aims to foster the sustainability transition of SMEs in particular. The dialogue will start at 14h30 and can be followed live via web streaming. (For more information: Sonya Gospodinova – Tel.: +32 229 66953; Federica Miccoli – Tel. : +32 229 58300)
Source: Cyprus News Agency