(L-R) Prince Guillaume, Hereditary Grand Duke of Luxembourg; Xavier Bettel, Luxembourg's Deputy Prime Minister, Minister for Foreign Affairs & Foreign Trade, Minister for Development Cooperation & Humanitarian Affairs;
Credit: MAE Luxembourg
As reported by the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs, Defence, Development Cooperation and Foreign Trade, Luxembourg's Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, Xavier Bettel, is currently in New York, where he is representing Luxembourg during the High-Level Week of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA).
The first two days saw Minister Bettel participate in several high-level meetings and hold bilateral discussions with various heads of state, prime ministers and foreign ministers.
Together with Luxembourg Prime Minister Luc Frieden, Minister Bettel first had a bilateral meeting with the President of Senegal, Bassirou Diomaye Faye. Luxembourg's Foreign Minister also had bilateral meetings with his counterparts from Morocco, Oman, Azerbaijan, the Philippines and Singapore.
On the sidelines of the various events, Minister Bettel also met with the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, the Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi, the President of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Felix Tshisekedi, and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.
The ministry noted that these meetings made it possible to strengthen Luxembourg's ties with these different countries and to discuss current international issues.
Ahead of the opening of the general debate of the 79th session of the UNGA, Minister Bettel participated in the informal meeting of EU Foreign Ministers to take stock of the latest developments in Gaza and Lebanon, as well as the situation in Ukraine. The ministers also met with the new Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Andrii Sybiha.
Moreover, Minister Bettel participated in a working dinner, organised by the International Peace Institute (IPI), on the situation in the Middle East. The first day's programme was complemented by a high-level event entitled "Leaving No One Behind, An inclusive Future for All", organised by the UN LGBTI Core Group and attended by the First Lady of the United States, Jill Biden.
Minister Bettel also participated in the opening of the general debate of the 79th session of the UNGA, under the theme "Leaving no one behind: acting together for the advancement of peace, sustainable development and human dignity for present and future generations".
During a high-level ministerial roundtable on the role of small states in strengthening multilateralism and defending the United Nations Charter, Minister Bettel reviewed the various Luxembourg initiatives that have contributed in the past to the defence of the UN Charter, also recalling the importance of always giving primacy to the force of law, and not to the law of the strongest.
The second day concluded with a working dinner hosted by US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, which provided an opportunity to discuss strengthening transatlantic ties, according to the ministry.
Prince Guillaume, Hereditary Grand Duke of Luxembourg, also travelled to New York on this occasion.
