S/PV.8746 Security Council

The Security Council will now begin its consideration of the item on its agenda. The Security Council will now proceed to the consideration of its annual report to the General Assembly, for the period from 1 January 2019 to 31 December 2019. The draft report has been provided to the members of the Council. The introduction to the draft report was prepared by the delegation of the Russian Federation, with the participation of the other members of the Council. The body of the report was prepared by the Secretariat. I should like to express my appreciation to the Russian Federation and to the Secretariat for their respective contributions. I should like to point out that the draft report was prepared in accordance with the note by the President of 30 August 2017 (S/2017/507). I now give the floor to the representative of the Russian Federation, whose delegation was responsible for drafting the introduction to this year’s annual report.

I find it difficult to switch to Russian. I got used to speaking another language and it will be a difficult adaptation to return to the normal procedures. We are indeed very glad that we finally made it to the Council. We are just starting, and I think that it will become more and more regular, even with some adjustments with regard to the Chamber, but we will collectively think about that. (spoke in Russian) The Russian Federation is today presenting the draft annual report of the Security Council to the General Assembly. We hope that all Council members will support its unanimous adoption. The draft report contains information about the actions that the Security Council took in 2019 to maintain international peace and security. The Council carries out that responsibility on behalf of all States Members of the United Nations, as set out in Article 24 of the Charter. We are convinced that the annual report is an important mechanism for keeping other Member States informed of our activities. In 2019, the Russian delegation was responsible for coordinating the introduction to the report. For our part, we sought to be as constructive and balanced as possible in fulfilling that task. We are pleased to say that this year, for the first time, we were able to agree on the draft report by mid-May, thanks to the contributions of all members of the Council. This shows that the Security Council can discharge the matters entrusted to it expeditiously and collectively. In drafting the introduction, we sought to provide a brief but comprehensive description of the key activities of the Council during the reporting period so as to ensure that all Member States and interested parties received as much information as possible about the Council’s work in 2019. I take this opportunity to thank all members of the Council who contributed to the draft report. Last but not least, I would like to express my gratitude to the delegations of Côte d’Ivoire, Equatorial Guinea, Kuwait, Peru and Poland, which were members of the Council in 2019. I also thank the Secretariat for its support during the drafting process, in particular the staff of the Security Council Affairs Division of the Department for Political and Peacebuilding Affairs, who prepared the main part of the report and offered useful recommendations during the drafting of the introduction. We look forward to hearing the views of Members on the report of the Security Council in the upcoming discussion in the General Assembly.

I note that the representative of the Russian Federation is still able to speak in Russian. It is my understanding that the Council is ready to proceed to the adoption of the draft annual report. May I take it that the draft report is adopted by the Council? There being no objection, it is so decided. This decision will be reflected in a note by the President of the Security Council, to be issued as document S/2020/666.