In advance of the United Nations’ Chief Executives Board of Coordination (CEB) meeting, Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg met with United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres on 11 May 2022. In the Federal Chancellery, together with Federal Chancellor Karl Nehammer, they discussed the global challenges to multilateralism. The central focus was on the worldwide impact of the Russian war of aggression on Ukraine.
The fact that this meeting is taking place in Europe, at the only United Nations location in the European Union – at a time when we are also a continent in the midst of war – sends a particularly strong message from the United Nations,
said Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg about the meeting of top UN officials in Vienna.
Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg assured Secretary-General António Guterres that Austria, particularly in times of crisis, would remain a reliable partner for the United Nations. In this spirit, the Foreign Minister announced that Austria, as a home country of the United Nations, will cover the cost of about 30 million euros for urgently needed upgrades to the Vienna International Centre.
We see it as an investment in the future. The future of the UN and of Vienna as a host city – improving our security, increasing the diversity of this city, and serving as an important economic factor,
said Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg.
Thanks to indirect profitability, Austria’s role as a host country provides it with economic advantages. According to an IHS study, the presence of more than 50 international organisations in Austria – about one-third of them related to the UN – secures approximately 19,000 jobs, with gross value creation of about 1.35 billion euros. The employees of the international organisations located in Vienna pay 527 million euros in taxes and fees annually.
Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg also took the opportunity to meet with other top UN diplomats for talks.
Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg hosted Under-Secretary-General for Policy Volker Türk at the Foreign Ministry. Mr. Türk is the highest-ranking Austrian at the UN, reporting directly to the Secretary-General. Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg also met with Philippe Lazzarini, Commissioner-General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, to discuss the effects that the Russian war of aggression is having on the region.
With United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg discussed the human-rights situation in Ukraine. A major topic of this meeting was the opening of the UN Human Rights Council’s Investigative Commission Office for Ukraine this May, in Vienna. The office will help Austria as a host country investigate human-rights violations and breaches of humanitarian international law in the context of the Russian war of aggression.
The CEB provides leaders of the United Nations an opportunity to gather twice a year. This year’s spring meeting will take place from 12-13 May 2022 in Vienna. The informal kick-off of the CEB is a reception at the Belvedere on 11 May 2022, where the CEB representatives will meet in person for the first time since 2019. Following 2010 and 2019, it will be the third time that the CEB meets in Vienna.
