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Visa problems to be discussed with UN secretary general — GA First Committee chair

Chairperson of the United Nations General Assembly First Committee Sacha Llorenty Soliz said that "it is a very important issue"

© Valery Sharifulin/TASS

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UNITED NATIONS, October 8. /TASS/. Chairperson of the United Nations General Assembly First Committee and Bolivia’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations Sacha Llorenty Soliz told TASS on Tuesday he would turn to the United Nations General Assembly president and the United Nations secretary general over the problem with US visas for a number of delegations.

"We will contact the PGA [General Assembly president] first and we will try to contact him [the secretary genera] right away today, if it’s possible," he said.

"It is a very important issue. It is an issue not just for Russia, not just for the concern of delegations, but for the whole committee and the organization itself because if any delegation, no matter which delegation, is diminished in its capacity to work in the same way as other delegations, it goes against the work of the whole committee," he said and promised to do his best to resolve this issue.

Earlier in the day, the First Committee, which deals with disarmament issues, adjourned its meeting to Thursday.

The United States failed to issue entry visas to one-third of the members of the Russian delegation to the United Nations General Assembly in due time. Moreover, visas were not issued for members of several other delegations as well. Commenting on this situation, Russian Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations Dmitry Polyansky suggested the venue for the First Committee’s meetings be relocated to Vienna or Geneva from 2020.

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