13 December 2019, New York, USA - The United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) New York Office concluded training for December 12th-13th, 2019, titled “Practical Preparations for Membership in The United Nations Security Council” for the Permanent Mission of St. Vincent and the Grenadines as well as the Permanent Mission of Vietnam. The training which was made possible through the support from the Swedish International Development Agency’s (Sida) towards the UNITAR Strategic Framework Fund (SFF), included sessions titled “Formal and Informal Council meetings, and relations between the Council and the Assembly”, and “Charter Considerations, Subsidiary Organs, Council Documentation, and the Presidency”.

The course facilitators for the different session were Ms. Loraine Sievers, Former Chief of the Security Council Secretariat Branch and co-author of ‘The Procedure of the UN Security Council’; Mr. Davey McNab, Senior Political Affairs Officer, Security Council Subsidiary Organs Branch, SCAD and Mr. Bojan Stefanovic, Security Council Practices and Charter Research Branch, SCAD. On 12 December 2019, Ms. Loraine Sievers led the first session of the second day of training and spoke about formal meeting procedures including voting procedures, social aspects of private meetings and meeting records. She answered delegates’ questions concerning their country’s role in these operations. In the early afternoon session, Ms. Sievers expounded on informal council meeting formats, covering informal interactive dialogues, consultations of the whole, Arria-formula meetings, and other informal formats. Concluding her third and final session of the day, Ms. Sievers spoke about council missions to the field, and ECOSOC’s relationship with the Security Council and Article 65.