The meeting with António Guterres forms part of Session Week 2020, a series of events at the time the Nordic Council would normally have held its annual Session. Due to the pandemic, the actual gathering has had to be postponed this year.
The theme of the meeting with the UN Secretary General will be the COVID-19 crisis and the challenges the pandemic poses for the global community. Guterres will make a speech Outlining his perspective on the pandemic, after which the Nordic Council party groups will have the opportunity to pose questions directly to him.
Crises call for co-operation
The President of the Nordic Council, Silja Dögg Gunnarsdóttir, Is looking forward to the meeting with the UN Secretary General.
“We will bid the UN Secretary General a warm welcome to the Nordic Council Session Week. It will be absolutely fascinating to hear what António Guterres has to say about International efforts to combat COVID-19. It is not a war that any of us can win on our own. We all need to work together, both at Nordic and global level. We want the United Nations to play a leading role in international crises. The Nordic Region is a great supporter of the international rule of law and a strong UN,” the President says.
António Guterres has been invited to take part in the Nordic Council Session Week 2020 to mark the 75th anniversary of the United Nations. The invitation was extended by Katrín Jakobsdóttir, the Prime Minister of Iceland, and Silja Dögg Gunnarsdóttir, and the President of the Nordic Council. Iceland holds the Presidency of the Nordic Council this year.
Watch the livestream
During the one-and-a-half–hour meeting, the Nordic Council, prime ministers and heads of government will also debate COVID-19 from a Nordic perspective. It will be the first time that Nordic MPs and prime ministers have debated the pandemic together.
The Nordic countries have chosen different strategies to combat the pandemic, which has led to phenomena such as border controls and restrictions on freedom of movement in the Nordic Region, a freedom that lies at the very heart of Nordic co-operation.
The whole meeting will be streamed live on norden.org, 18:00–19:30 (CET), Tuesday 27 October.
