France is a key partner to UN Environment and our second largest contributor to the Environment Fund. I had the privilege of meeting Emmanuel Macron, President of France and Laurent Fabius, President of the French Constitutional Council and a key leader behind the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement.
Together with the European Union and other main European Member States, France is at the forefront of promoting the global and European climate and environment agenda. Over the past couple of years, and as we have done with other nations engaged in the protection of our planet elsewhere in the world, we have stepped up our political engagement with a country which is leading on the issue internationally.
Our discussion focused on recent environmental and climate developments. This included the forthcoming One Planet Summit focusing on climate on the margins of the General Assembly in New York next week as well as the road ahead for implementing General Assembly resolution 72/277 on the Global Pact for the Environment.
On the latter, Member States have entrusted UN Environment with a major role as Secretariat for the negotiations. Under that resolution, we have been asked to (1) prepare a report of the United Nations Secretary-General (2) organize sessions of the ad hoc open-ended working group which will report back to the General Assembly during the first half of 2019.
The report of the Secretary-General will focus on the gaps in environmental laws and environment-related instruments. This is seen as an important tool to chart the way to forward and should be with Member States in all official UN languages by 30 November.
