WORLD
France, Germany take joint presidency of U.N. Security Council
Baku, March 2, AZERTAC
For the first time ever, two countries have taken joint presidency of the United Nations Security Council as France and Germany on Friday assumed the role for March and April, the ambassadors of both countries said.
Tradition dictates that each of the 15 Security Council members take turns holding the month-long presidency in alphabetical order. France will sit in the president's seat first in March and will be followed by Germany in April, but responsibilities will be shared throughout both months.
Top agenda items include a focus on women in conflict situations, strengthening international humanitarian law and fighting terrorism, as well as issues affecting Mali, where both France and Germany have military forces involved in the U.N.'s MINUSMA peacekeeping effort, and the Sahel region, generally.