Estonian president to speak about climate, security at UN Security Council

TALLINN - Estonian President Alar Karis is on a working visit to New York this week  to address a high-level meeting of the UN Security Council on peace and security in the context of climate change.

The high-level meeting of the UN Security Council is hosted by Niger, the December president of the Security Council. It will be chaired by Niger's President Mohamed Bazoum and UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres will take part in it, spokespeople for the Estonian president said.

Celia Kuningas-Saagpakk, foreign affairs adviser to the president, said that Estonia's two years in the UN Security Council are almost over. She said this time has given Estonia and its diplomats invaluable opportunities to increase Estonia's visibility, with first-hand experience in operating at the heart of world diplomacy.

"We have achieved the goals we set ourselves when we stood for election, for example by being the first to bring cybersecurity to the UN Security Council. It is therefore important that we show, through the presence of the head of state at this high-level meeting, that we consider the commitments we have made to be essential to the end," Celia Kuningas-Saagpakk added.

In New York, the Estonian head of state will meet with UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, UN General Assembly President Abdulla Shahid and Niger's President Mohamed Bazoum. Karis will also speak at the UN's Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) conference on resolving humanitarian crises and meet with members of the Estonian community.

The president will return to Estonia on Friday evening.