New Zealand and Philippine UN Ambassadors Named Co-Chairs of General Assembly Revitalization Group

UN General Assembly President Khalilur Rahman announced on 8 October 2026 that he had appointed New Zealand's Victoria Louise Hallum and the Philippines' Enrique Manalo as Co-Chairs of the Assembly's revitalization working group for the eighty-first session.

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On 8 October 2026, the President of the eighty-first session of the United Nations General Assembly, Khalilur Rahman, announced that he had appointed Victoria Louise Hallum, Permanent Representative of New Zealand to the United Nations, and Enrique Manalo, Permanent Representative of the Philippines to the United Nations, as Co-Chairs of the Working Group on the Strengthening and Revitalization of the Work of the General Assembly during the eighty-first session.

Rahman made the announcement in his statement at the plenary joint debate on the implementation of United Nations resolutions and the revitalization of the work of the General Assembly, held in the General Assembly Hall in New York. He thanked Ambassador Hallum and Ambassador Manalo for accepting the responsibility and said he trusted they would receive Member States' full support and cooperation throughout the session.

In the same statement, Rahman commended Ambassador Cornel Feruță of Romania and Ambassador Mutryce Agatha Williams of Saint Kitts and Nevis for their stewardship of the revitalization process during the previous session. He said he had decided to begin the revitalization process at the outset of the eighty-first session, and set out three priorities: closing the implementation gap, improving working methods, and revitalization in the Office of the President of the General Assembly.

According to the UN's meetings coverage of the debate, the representative of Australia, speaking also for Canada and New Zealand, urged Member States to exercise greater discipline in creating and renewing mandates, avoid duplication and move towards biennial and triennial resolutions and reporting cycles where appropriate. The speaker for the Philippines welcomed improvements in the Security Council's annual report to the General Assembly, greater consultation and a more predictable timeline.