(Day 4) General Debate – General Assembly, 79th session: morning session

Summary

This transcript covers speeches from various world leaders at the 79th United Nations General Assembly. The central theme was addressing global challenges through multilateral cooperation, with a focus on sustainable development, climate action, and peace. Many leaders emphasized the need for UN reform, particularly of the Security Council, to better represent developing nations. Climate change was a major topic, with small island states and developing countries calling for more climate financing and support from wealthy nations. Several speakers highlighted the disproportionate impacts of climate change on vulnerable countries despite their minimal contributions to emissions. Economic issues were also prominent, with calls to reform the global financial system to better support developing countries and address debt burdens. Leaders from small states advocated for their unique challenges to be recognized. Peace and security concerns were raised regarding conflicts in various regions. Overall, there was a strong emphasis on the importance of multilateralism and collective action to tackle shared global challenges, even as some speakers noted frustrations with the pace of progress on long-standing issues. The need to accelerate efforts to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030 was a common refrain throughout the speeches.

Keypoints

Major discussion points:

– Calls for reform of international institutions like the UN Security Council and global financial system to be more inclusive of developing countries

– Addressing climate change and its disproportionate impacts on small island and developing states

– Promoting peace, security and conflict resolution in various regions

– Achieving sustainable development and the SDGs, with a focus on financing for development

– Advancing human rights, equality and dignity for all

Overall purpose:

The overall purpose of this General Assembly session was for world leaders to address pressing global challenges, reaffirm commitment to multilateralism and the UN system, and advocate for their countries’ interests and priorities on the world stage.

Overall tone:

The tone was generally serious and urgent, with many speakers emphasizing the gravity of issues like climate change, conflict, and inequality. There were frequent calls to action and appeals for greater international cooperation. Some speakers adopted a more forceful or critical tone when discussing reforms or injustices, while others struck a more hopeful note about the potential for progress if nations work together. The tone remained relatively consistent throughout the various speeches.

Speakers

– President: President of the 79th Session of the United Nations General Assembly

– Robert Golob: Prime Minister of Slovenia

– Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif: Prime Minister of Pakistan

– Benjamin Netanyahu: Prime Minister of Israel

– Mia Amor Mottley: Prime Minister of Barbados

– Tshering Tobgay: Prime Minister of Bhutan

– Xavier Espot Zamora: Head of Government of Andorra

– Muhammad Yunus: Chief Advisor of the Interim Government of Bangladesh

– Dorin Recean: Prime Minister of Moldova

– Charlot Salwai Tabimasmas: Prime Minister of Vanuatu

– Andrej Plenkovic: Prime Minister of Croatia

– James Marape: Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea

– Robert Abela: Prime Minister of Malta

– Philip Edward Davis: Prime Minister and Minister for Finance of the Bahamas

– Kassim Majaliwa Majaliwa: Prime Minister of Tanzania

– Ralph Gonsalves: Prime Minister and Minister for National Security, Legal Affairs, and Information of St. Vincent and the Grenadines

– Russell Mmiso Dlamini: Prime Minister of Eswatini

– Robinah Nabbanja: Prime Minister and Leader of Government Business in Parliament of Uganda

Additional speakers:

– Antonio Guterres: Secretary General of the United Nations (mentioned but did not speak)

The 79th Session of the United Nations General Assembly brought together world leaders to address pressing global challenges through multilateral cooperation. The discussions focused on several key themes, including climate change, economic inequality, institutional reform, peace and security, and sustainable development.

Climate Change and Environmental Challenges

Climate change emerged as a dominant theme, with leaders emphasizing the urgent need for action and increased financing. Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley of Barbados called for immediate measures to combat climate change and provide financial support to vulnerable nations. Small island nations, represented by leaders such as Charlot Salwai Tabimasmas of Vanuatu and Philip Edward Davis of the Bahamas, highlighted the disproportionate impact of climate change on their countries despite their minimal contributions to global emissions.

James Marape, Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea, committed to forest conservation and biodiversity protection, while Russell Mmiso Dlamini of Eswatini promoted the adoption of renewable energy and sustainable practices. Several leaders proposed specific initiatives, including the expansion of the Loss and Damage Fund and increased investment in climate-resilient infrastructure.

Global Economic Inequality and Development

Economic issues featured prominently, with many leaders calling for reform of the global financial system to better support developing countries. Prime Minister Mottley of Barbados advocated for the Bridgetown Initiative, which aims to restructure international financial institutions. Tshering Tobgay of Bhutan highlighted the unique challenges faced by middle-income countries, while Robinah Nabbanja of Uganda stressed the need for fair access to development financing.

The importance of regional economic integration was underscored by Andrej Plenkovic, Prime Minister of Croatia. Russell Mmiso Dlamini of Eswatini called for debt relief and concessional financing to support developing nations. Several speakers also addressed the impact of unilateral sanctions on developing countries and called for their removal.

Reform of International Financial Institutions

A significant theme that emerged was the need to reform international financial institutions to better serve the needs of developing countries. Leaders called for more equitable representation in decision-making processes and the creation of new financing mechanisms to address global challenges. The Bridgetown Initiative, proposed by Barbados, gained support from several nations as a framework for reforming the global financial architecture.

Peace, Security, and Conflict Resolution

Peace and security concerns were raised regarding various regional conflicts. Robert Golob, Prime Minister of Slovenia, condemned the violence in Gaza and called for a ceasefire. Dorin Recean of Moldova emphasized the need for peaceful resolution of conflicts, while Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif of Pakistan expressed support for UN peacekeeping efforts.

The situation in Haiti was addressed by multiple speakers, who called for increased international support to address the country’s security and humanitarian challenges. Ban Ki-moon’s quote, “The world is overarmed and peace is underfunded,” was cited to highlight the need for greater investment in peace-building efforts.

UN Reform and Multilateralism

Several leaders, including Muhammad Yunus of Bangladesh, called for reform of the UN Security Council to make it more representative and effective in addressing global security challenges. Specific proposals included expanding the number of permanent and non-permanent members and limiting the use of the veto power.

The importance of strengthening multilateralism was emphasized by several speakers, including Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel. Robert Abela of Malta highlighted the importance of small states’ participation in global decision-making, and Robinah Nabbanja of Uganda advocated for more equitable representation in UN bodies.

Sustainable Development and SDGs

The commitment to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030 was a recurring theme. Xavier Espot Zamora of Andorra reaffirmed his country’s commitment to SDG implementation. James Marape of Papua New Guinea focused on youth empowerment and education, while Robert Abela of Malta emphasized the importance of digital transformation for sustainable development.

Russell Mmiso Dlamini of Eswatini stressed the need for universal health coverage, and Kassim Majaliwa Majaliwa of Tanzania called for increased support to achieve the SDGs. Several leaders also addressed the challenges faced by landlocked developing countries and small island developing states in achieving sustainable development.

Regional Issues and Cooperation

Ralph Gonsalves of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines highlighted the importance of regional stability initiatives. Leaders from various regions discussed specific challenges and opportunities for cooperation, including economic integration, conflict resolution, and environmental protection.

Technology and Digital Transformation

Several leaders addressed the role of technology and digital transformation in sustainable development. They emphasized the need to bridge the digital divide and ensure equitable access to technology, particularly in developing countries. Discussions also touched on the potential of digital solutions to address climate change, improve healthcare, and enhance education.

Health and Pandemic Preparedness

The COVID-19 pandemic’s impact was reflected in discussions on global health challenges. Leaders called for improved pandemic preparedness, equitable access to vaccines and medical supplies, and strengthening of healthcare systems. Some speakers also addressed the growing threat of antimicrobial resistance and the need for global cooperation to combat it.

In conclusion, the 79th UN General Assembly highlighted the interconnected nature of global challenges and the critical need for collective action. Leaders emphasized the importance of reforming international institutions, addressing climate change, reducing economic inequality, and strengthening multilateral cooperation to achieve sustainable development and global peace.

President: Ladies and gentlemen, it’s time to start the 13th plenary meeting of the General Assembly is called to order. The Assembly will continue its consideration of agenda item 8 entitled General Debate. The Assembly will hear an address by His Excellency Robert Golob, Prime Minister of the Republic of Slovenia. I request protocol to escort His Excellency and invite him to address the Assembly.

Robert Golob – Slovenia: Mr. President, Mr. Secretary General, Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, it is my great honor to address the General Assembly today. Colleagues, few days ago we adopted Pact for the Future. In these times of wars, climate catastrophes, increasing inequalities, and deepening polarization, it was a rare flicker of unity. The Pact should represent a start of a new era of global partnership of countries willing to strengthen the multilateral system with the UN at its core. There was another flicker of hope this week. Security Council presided by Slovenia. my home country, adopted a presidential statement on the leadership for peace. All 15 members of Security Council reaffirmed to maintain international peace and security and to commit to international law, including the UN Charter. It is a good start to re-energize our collective work for a better, more peaceful and more humane world. Let me address some of the most pressing issues of today and start with peace and security. Secretary General António Guterres, who enjoys our full support and enormous respect, has repeated on several occasions that last year, with the highest number of conflicts in decades, was also the deadliest one. Slovenia has been elected member of Security Council since January, and during this time we have observed and witnessed a gradual but steady erosion of power of rules. The Council is increasingly unable to respond in an effective way to major conflicts such as Gaza, Ukraine or Sudan. And we are not doing any better in other crisis managements. What we are witnessing in Ukraine is aggression of a stronger, more powerful neighbor upon a smaller and weaker one. This is clearly a blatant violation of the UN Charter, and if we are let this aggression to pass, we open the doors to many similar wars across the globe. In Gaza, almost four months since the Council’s resolution on ceasefire and hostage release, the deal is nowhere close. As the Secretary General said yesterday at UNRWA meeting, people in Gaza are existing, not living, existing among lakes of sewage, piles of rubbish and mountains of rubble. The only certainty they have is that they are not living. that tomorrow is going to be worse. In the West Bank and East Jerusalem, violence and dehumanization of Palestinians is increasing and has reached a boiling point. All this is taking us further away from the two-state solution with Israelis and Palestinians living side by side in peace and security. Escalation of Gaza crisis into the region is now a reality. The region is at the brink of an abyss. De-escalation is urgently needed, starting with the ceasefires in Gaza and Lebanon. In Sudan, we are witnessing a man-made humanitarian catastrophe, with millions displaced and in desperate need of humanitarian aid. At the same time, we are seeing the atrocity happening again in Darfur. How is this possible? Has Security Council really failed the humanity? To be honest, it is the permanent five Security Council members who bear most responsibility. By misusing veto power and putting national interests first, they effectively blocked the working of the UN Security Council. The concerns and pain that we feel for civilians, the condemnation of violations of the Charter and of international humanitarian law should not depend on our geographical or political proximity to the conflict. We should all put common interests first, and the world would be a much better place. Having said that, let me come to reform of the Security Council. Our experience with the Security Council has given us renewed appreciation for the need to reform the Security Council. We urgently need a Council that is a true representation of the international community, a council that is fit for the world of today. We need to ensure that the distribution of the seats is fair. The council needs stronger voices of the regions that have been underrepresented, such as Africa and the continent. Reform of council’s composition needs to be accompanied with the reform of the veto powers. The reality is that we won’t be able to eliminate veto, but we could definitely regulate this right of veto more precisely. The Security Council also needs to exercise its power with higher ambition when it comes to prevention of conflicts and play a stronger role in peace-building activities that involve all aspects of the UN system. Colleagues, let us not forget that United Nations are much more than the Security Council alone. We commend the work of nameless humanitarian workers who are on the ground in armed conflicts among the civilians representing the face of United Nations. Erosion of respect of international humanitarian law is making their work so much more difficult. Gaza conflict was, however, a turning point in this regard. In Gaza, humanitarians are not just occasional collateral victims. They seem to have become a deliberate military target. There is no other explanation for the highest number of humanitarian workers being killed last year, of whom a vast majority in Gaza. The sense of impunity for crimes in Gaza is putting humanitarian organizations under stress elsewhere. This is undermining the The very essence of the United Nations and it is affecting the work of the humanitarian organizations and agencies like ICRC and UNRWA all around the globe. Third pressing issue, climate change. The impact of climate change is mostly felt on the lifeline for people and nature, that is water, the most precious of the elements. Extreme weather events are multiplying water-related risks across the world. This global challenge demands a global and collaborative response. Solutions exist but are not equally accessible to everybody. The UN Secretary General’s Early Warning for All initiative is the right step in this direction. As the catastrophic floods devastated my home country last year, we initiated development of an advanced digital solution linking earth observation with supercomputing and artificial intelligence. The system, when built, will help us predict floods and droughts and improve our resilience. We are ready to share this solution with our partners globally. Remote sensing and earth observation inform our early warning systems, but we are fully aware that many countries lack the capacity to monitoring all the hazards and are restricted in their access. I call upon all to form a global partnership around the early warning for all to help overcome these challenges. The partnership would boost our common preparedness and ensure that everyone on earth is protected from hazardous weather, water, or climate events through life-saving early warning systems. Fortunately, people suffering from armed conflicts do not have the luxury of high-tech solutions. More often than not, they are denied basic access to clean drinking water. Even more, we are increasingly seeing how access to water is becoming weaponized in Yemen, Somalia, Gaza, and Sudan. Slovenia decided to take initiative and relaunched the Global Alliance to Spare Water from Armed Conflict. Together with a cross-regional group of countries, such global partnerships are urgently needed to safeguard the human right to water for all. And last but not least, on humanity. We need to make sure that people around the world age with dignity and rights. The current international human rights law offers only a fragmented and inconsistent framework for the full protection of human rights of elder persons. This is why we are leading a global action towards a legally binding instrument on human rights of older persons. The world should spare no time to address the main issues related to gender equality, including the future developments and implementation of the Women, Peace, and Security Agenda. The UN should lead by example when it comes to the full, equal, and meaningful role and leadership of women in our societies. In its entire history, the General Assembly has been led by only four women. We never had a female UN Secretary General. The time has come to reflect gender equality in top leadership positions of our organization. Slovenia has joined the supporters of the Rotation for Equality Initiative, which calls for gender rotation in the position of the President of the United Nations General Assembly. In the times of crisis, children are always the most vulnerable ones. Today’s world is increasingly hostile to children’s rights. More children than ever are experiencing violence. In all settings, many have lost their lives, are forcibly and many others, who have been physically displaced, exposed to most traumatic experiences, imprisoned, denied education and healthcare, and face extreme poverty and social exclusion. Gaza is an example of extreme suffering of the children. Slovenia is offering concrete help with the foundation Let Them Dream, which is dealing with the rehabilitation of children from Gaza. It is an extremely noble and human project, which was launched years ago and has already helped hundreds of children from Gaza who came on rehabilitation in Slovenia and will continue to do so. Sadly, some of these kids were now already the victims of recent aggression on Gaza. Let me finish with the story of the two young girls from Palestine. At the beginning of this week, I attended an event on Missing Futures in the Occupied Palestinian Territory organized by Save the Children. At this event, I heard stories from two courageous girls, Sara and Rand. They spoke about their challenges in life. They spoke about their feelings. They spoke about their plans for the future. And despite all of the destruction, dehumanization and fear, there was no anger nor hate in their stories. They just had this enormous wish to live a normal, decent life. They just had this enormous wish to be able to educate and study in order to be able to contribute back to their community. One wants to become a doctor, the second wants to become a humanitarian worker. Today, I fulfilled my promise to them and I bring their story to the General Assembly. Only with our united call for peace and against war, we could make sure that Sara and Rand and all the other children of Palestine and the world are not among the victims. Among the thousands missing futures of children under occupation. I want to say this out loud and clear to the Israeli government. Stop the bloodshed. Stop the suffering. Bring the hostages home and end the occupation. Mr. Netanyahu, stop this war now.

President: The assembly will hear an address by His Excellency Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif, Prime Minister of Pakistan, Prime Minister of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. I request protocol to escort His Excellency and invite him to address the assembly.

Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif – Pakistan: Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, as-salamu alaykum wa-rahmatullahi wa-barakatuh, and a very good morning. And he said, oh my father, I have seen eleven planets and the sun and moon bowing to me. He said, oh son, do not tell your story to your brothers, they will devise a scheme for you. The devil is the enemy of humans. It’s an honor for me to address the United Nations General Assembly for the second time as the prime minister of a country that has always been a proactive member of the U.N. Assembly. I would like to congratulate you and wish you all the success, Mr. President, on your election as the president of the 79th session of the U.N. General Assembly. I would also like to appreciate the efforts of Ambassador Dennis Francis for his skillful stewardship of the 78th session of the U.N.G.A. Mr. President, the father of our nation, Qaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah, declared in 1947 that we stand by the United Nations Charter and will gladly make our full contribution to peace and prosperity of the world. Pakistan has stood by this commitment unwaveringly. Today we are facing the most daunting challenges to the world order, Israel’s genocidal war in Gaza, a dangerous conflict in Ukraine, destructive conflicts across Africa and Asia, rising geopolitical tensions, resurging terrorism, galloping poverty, stifling debt, and the mounting impact of climate change, we feel the chill of a new world order. In response to these challenges, our Secretary General, Antonio Guterres, called for the Summit of the Future. It led to the adoption of the 54 Actions on Development, Peace and Security, Technology and Global Governance in the Pact of the Future. Mr. President, today I stand before you to express the searing pain and anguish of the people of Pakistan at the plight of the people of Gaza. Our heart bleeds as we witness the tragedy unfolding in the Holy Land, a tragedy that shakes the very conscience of humanity and the foundation of this institution. Mr. President, can we as human beings remain silent while children lie buried under the rubble of their shattered homes? Can we turn a blind eye to mothers cradling the lifeless bodies of their children? This is not just a conflict, this is systematic slaughter of innocent people of Pakistan. Ladies and gentlemen, an assault on the very essence of human life and dignity, the blood of Gaza’s children, stains the hands of not just the oppressors. but also those who are complicit in prolonging this cruel conflict. When we ignore their endless suffering, we diminish our humanity. It is not enough to condemn, Mr. President. We must act now and demand an immediate end to this bloodshed. We must remember that the blood and sacrifice of the innocent Palestinians will never go waste. We must worry about their plight and difficulties and stand by them. We must work for a durable peace through a two-state nation. We must seek a viable, secure, contiguous, and sovereign state of Palestine based on the pre-1967 borders with al-Quds al-Sharif as its eternal capital. And to advance these goals, Palestine must also be immediately admitted as a full member of the United Nations. Mr. President, in a span of a few days, Israel’s unrelenting bombing of Lebanon has killed over 500 people, including women and even small children. The failure to implement UN resolutions has emboldened Israel. It threatened to drag the entire Middle East into a war whose consequences could be very grave and beyond imagination. Similarly, like the people of Palestine, The people of Jammu and Kashmir too have struggled for a century for their freedom and right to self-determination. Instead of moving towards peace, India has resiled from its commitments to implement the Security Council resolutions on Jammu and Kashmir. These resolutions mandate a plebiscite to enable the people of Jammu and Kashmir to exercise their fundamental right to self-determination. Ladies and gentlemen, since the 5th of August 2019, India has initiated unilateral illegal steps to impose what its leaders ominously called a final solution for Jammu and Kashmir. Day in and day out, 900,000 Indian troops terrorized the people of occupied Jammu and Kashmir with draconian measures, including prolonged curfews, extrajudicial killings, and the abduction of thousands of young Kashmiris. At the same time, in a classic settler-colonial project, India is seizing Kashmiri lands and properties and settling outsiders into occupied Jammu and Kashmir in their nefarious design to transform the Muslim majority into a minority. This hackneyed tactic is employed by all occupying powers, but it has always failed in Jammu and Kashmir too. It shall fail by the grace of God. Ladies and gentlemen, the Kashmiri people are resolute in the rejection of the false Indian identity. The New Delhi seeks to impose upon Andrej Plenković, James Marape, Robert Abela, Philip Edwar, James Marape, Robert Abela, Andrej Plenković, James Marape, Robert Abela, Philip Edwar, James Marape, Robert Abela, Philip Edwar, James Marape, Robert Abela, Philip Edwar, James Marape, Robert Abela, Mr. President, remember, illegal occupation creates a fresh hell every day in the killing fields of Palestine and in the pristine valleys of occupied Jammu and Kashmir. Apart from conflicts, Mr. President, the 21st century has brought a cascade of crises, including the reversal of development and the mounting impact of climate change. Two years ago, my country was devastated by catastrophic floods, causing $30 billion in damages. It is now clear that each summer will bring blistering temperatures and trigger fresh climate impacts. Pakistan emits less than 1% of global carbon emissions, yet we have paid a very heavy price for no fault of ours. This is most unfair in any calculus of global justice. We must uphold the axiom, the polluter must pay. Ladies and gentlemen, Pakistan looks forward to fulfillment of commitments made by our development partners to support the achievements of the SDGs and climate goals, including a new annual goal beyond $100 billion in climate finance. Mr. President, with nearly 100 developing countries trapped in the vicious cycle of debt and liquidity crisis, which I always call a death trap rather than a debt trap, achieving the SDGs in these circumstances remains a distant mirage. Mr. President, since assuming office in March this year, the progress and prosperity of my 240 million people has been my singular focus. We have taken some very difficult but necessary decisions that have rescued our economy from collapse, restored macroeconomic stability, controlled physical deficits, and strengthened our reserves. As a result, inflation has come down to a single digit, by the grace of God, and the prospects for economic growth has revived. I would like to explain this challenge and the way we are negotiating, Mr. President, by reciting a stanza from a poem, which enormously makes me very emboldened, but very brave, and hardworking, and commit untiring efforts. And this stanza is a befitting example of hard work and, of course, facing challenges, and then paved the way for success stories. And stanza is, when things go wrong, as they sometimes will, when things go wrong, as they sometimes will, when the road you are trudging is all uphill. When things go wrong, as they sometimes will, when the road you are trudging seems all uphill, when the credits are low and debts are high. When the credits are low and debts are high, when you want to smile, but you have to sigh. When you want to smile, you have to sigh. When care, read health. When care is pressing you down a bit, when care or health is pressing you down a bit, rest if you must, but don’t you quit. This is how, Mr. President, we have learned to face our challenges and negotiate the most daunting challenges we have faced. Mr. President, situated at the crossroads of South and Central Asia and the Middle East, we have prioritized geoeconomics and regional connectivity to secure win-win outcomes for our people. The second phase of the landmark China-Pakistan Economic Corridor has been successfully launched through the APEC’s Special Investment Facilitation Council. We are mobilizing investments in resilient infrastructure, renewable energy, minerals, sustainable agriculture, and technology. This will herald a new era of development and modernization in my beloved country. Ladies and gentlemen, for two decades, Pakistan has fought terrorism boldly and most successfully, defeating terrorist groups within Pakistan. We have paid a very heavy price. 80,000 of our brave soldiers and civilians have been martyred, including innocent school-going children and the gory memories of APS school carnage haunt us till date. Our economy has suffered a loss of $150 billion. Unfortunately, today, we are again confronted by a new wave of externally financed and sponsored terrorism, especially by the TTP, Fitna al-Khawarij, and its associates. Ladies and gentlemen, make no mistake, inshallah, by the grace of God, we are determined to eliminate this threat as well through our comprehensive national effort by the name of Azme-e-Istaikam, meaning Resolve to Promote Peace and Stability, and we will work collectively with the international community to combat all forms of terrorism and reform the global counterterrorism architecture. Mr. President, Pakistan seeks the earliest possible normalization of the situation in Afghanistan. We join the UN’s appeal for $3 billion in humanitarian assistance to the millions of suffering Afghan brothers and sisters. At the same time, we endorse and share the international expectations that the Afghan interim government would respect human rights, including the rights of women and girls, and promote political inclusion. In particular, the interim government must take effective action to neutralize all terrorist groups within Afghanistan, especially those responsible for cross-border terrorism against neighboring countries. These include ISIL-K Daesh, the Al-Qaeda-associated TTP, Fitna-al-Khawarij, Majid Brigade, the BLA, and other terrorist groups, which unfortunately are seen. on Afghan Territory. Mr. President, another troubling global development is the escalation of Islamophobia, which is now manifested by frequent desecrations of the Holy Quran, attacks on mosques, negative stereotyping of Muslims, and acts of discrimination and violence against them. The most alarming manifestation of Islamophobia is the Hindu supremacist agenda in India. It aggressively seeks the subjugation of 200 million Muslims and the obliteration of India’s Islamic heritage. Pakistan and the OIC will work with the UN Secretary General and a special envoy to implement a plan of action to combat this scourge. Ladies and gentlemen, Pakistan seeks an immediate end to the tragic conflict in Ukraine and its peaceful resolution in accordance with the UN Charter and international agreements. Ladies and gentlemen, Pakistan has a long and proud history of solidarity, friendship, and cooperation with the nation of Africa. We will continue to cooperate with them to counter terrorism and resolve regional conflicts, including through UN peacekeeping and peacebuilding in their region. Finally, Mr. President, as we leave this August Hall, we must carry with us a message for our people that the weak are not voiceless, that the oppressed should not lose hope, that poverty is not preordained, and that Allah Almighty’s promise of justice and

President: On behalf of the Assembly, I wish to thank the Prime Minister of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. The Assembly will hear an address by His Excellency Benjamin Netanyahu, Prime Minister of the State of Israel. I request protocol to escort His Excellency and invite him to address the Assembly.

Benjamin Netanyahu – Israel: Mr. President, ladies and gentlemen, I didn’t intend to come here this year. My country is at war, fighting for its life. But after I heard the lies and slanders I decided to come here to speak for my people, to speak for my country, to speak for the truth. And here is the truth. Israel seeks peace. Israel yearns for peace. Israel has made peace and will make peace again. Yet we face savage enemies who seek our annihilation and we must defend ourselves against these savage murderers. Our enemies seek not only to destroy us, they seek to destroy our common civilization and return all of us to a dark age of tyranny and terror. When I spoke here last year, I said we face the same timeless choice that Moses put before the people of Israel thousands of years ago. As we were about to enter the promised land, Moses told us that our actions will determine whether we bequeath to future generations a blessing or a curse. And that is the choice we face today, the curse of Iran’s unremitting aggression or the blessing of a historic reconciliation between Arab and Jew. In the days that followed that speech, the blessing I spoke of came into sharper focus, a normalization deal between Israel and the Arab world. between Saudi Arabia and Israel seemed closer than ever. But then came the curse of October 7th. Thousands of Iranian-backed Hamas terrorists from Gaza burst into Israel in pickup trucks, on motorcycles, and they committed unimaginable atrocities. They savagely murdered 1,200 people. They raped and mutilated women. They beheaded men. They burned babies alive. They burned entire families alive – babies, children, parents, grandparents – in scenes reminiscent of the Nazi Holocaust. Hamas kidnapped 251 people from dozens of different countries, dragging them into the dungeons of Gaza. Israel has brought home 154 of these hostages, including 117 who returned alive. I want to assure you, we will not rest until the remaining hostages are brought home, too. And some of their family members are here with us today. I ask you to stand up. With us, with us is Eli Stevie, whose son Idan was abducted from the Nova Music Festival. That was his crime. A music festival. And these murderous monsters took him. Kobi Smyrno, whose son Jonathan was murdered, and his corpse was taken into the dungeons, into the terror tunnels of Gaza. A corpse held hostage. Salim al-Atrash, whose brother Muhammad, a brave Arab-Israeli soldier, was murdered. His body, too, was taken to Gaza. And so was the body of Ifat Haiman’s daughter Inbar, who was brutally murdered at that same music festival. With us is Sharon Sharabi, whose brother Yossi was murdered, and who prays for his older brother Eli, who is still held hostage in Gaza. And with us, too, is Izhar Lifshitz from Kibbutz Nir Oz, a kibbutz that was wiped out by the terrorists. Thankfully, we achieved the release of his mother Yocheved, but his father Oded is still languishing in an underground terrorist hell of Hamas. I again promise you, we will return your loved ones home. We will not spare that effort until this holy mission is accomplished. Ladies and gentlemen, the curse of October 7th began when Hamas invaded Israel from Gaza, but it didn’t end there. Israel was soon forced to defend itself on six more war fronts organized by Iran. On October 8th, Hezbollah attacked us from Lebanon. Since then, they’ve fired over 8,000 rockets at our towns and cities, at our civilians, at our children. Two weeks later, the Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen launched drones and missiles at Israel. The first of 250 such attacks, including one yesterday, aimed at Tel Aviv. Iran’s Shiite militias in Syria and Iraq have targeted Israel dozens of times over the past year as well. Fueled by Iran, Palestinian terrorists in Judea and Samaria perpetrated scores of attacks there and throughout Israel. And last April, for the first time ever, Iran directly attacked Israel from its own territory, firing 300 drones and missiles. I have a message for the tyrants of Tehran. If you strike us, we will strike you. There is no place in Iran that the long arm of Israel cannot reach, and that’s true of the entire Middle East. Far from being lambs led to the slaughter, Israel’s soldiers have fought back with incredible courage and with heroic sacrifice. And I have another message for this assembly and for the world outside this hall. We are winning. Ladies and gentlemen, as Israel defends itself against Iran in the Seven Front War, the line separating the blessing and the curse could not be more clear. This is the map I presented here last year. It’s a map of a blessing. It shows Israel, Israel and its Arab partners forming a land bridge connecting Asia and Europe between the Indian Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea. Across this bridge, we will lay rail lines, energy pipelines, fiber optic cables, and this will serve the betterment of two billion people. Now look at this second map. It’s a map. Look at the second map. It’s a map of a curse. It’s a map of an arc of terror that Iran has created and imposed from the Indian Ocean to the Mediterranean. Iran’s malignant arc has shut down international waterways. It cuts off trade. It destroys millions, destroys nations from within, and inflicts misery on millions. On the one hand, a bright blessing, a future of hope. On the other hand, a dark future of despair. If you think this dark map is only a curse for Israel, if you think that, then you should think again. Because Iran’s aggression, if it’s not checked, will endanger every single country in the Middle East and many, many countries in the rest of the world. Because Iran seeks to impose its radicalism well beyond the Middle East. That’s why it funds terror networks on five continents. That’s why it builds ballistic missiles for nuclear warheads to threaten the entire world. For too long, the world has appeased Iran. It turns a blind eye to its internal repression. It turns a blind eye to its external aggression. Well, that appeasement must end, and that appeasement must end now. Countries of the world should support the brave people of Iran who want to rid themselves of this evil regime. Responsible governments should not only support Israel in rolling back Iran’s aggression, they should join Israel. They should join Israel in stopping Iran’s nuclear weapons program. In this body, in the Security Council, we’re going to have a deliberation in a few months. And I call on the Security Council to snap back U.N. Security Council sanctions. against Iran, because we must all do everything in our power to ensure that Iran never gets nuclear weapons. For decades, I’ve been warning the world against Iran’s nuclear program. Our actions delayed this program by perhaps a decade, but we haven’t stopped it. We’ve delayed it, but we haven’t stopped it. Iran now seeks to weaponize its nuclear program for the sake of the peace and security of all your countries, for the sake of the peace and security of the entire world. We must not let that happen, and I assure you, Israel will do everything in its power to make sure it doesn’t happen. So ladies and gentlemen, the question before us is simple. Which of these two maps that I showed you will shape our future? Will it be the blessings of peace and prosperity for Israel, our Arab partners, and the rest of the world, or will it be the curse in which Iran and its proxies spread carnage and chaos everywhere? Israel has already made its choice. We’ve decided to advance the blessing. We’re building a partnership for peace with our Arab neighbors while fighting the forces of terror that threaten that peace. For nearly a year, the brave men and women of the IDF have been systematically crushing Hamas’s terror army that once ruled Gaza. On October 7th, the day of that invasion into Israel, that terror army numbered nearly 4,000 – 40,000 terrorists. It was armed with more than 15,000 rockets. It had 350 miles of territory. A year later, the IDF has killed or captured more than half of these terrorists, destroyed over 90% of their rocket arsenal, and eliminated the key segments of their terror tunnel network. In major military operations, we destroyed nearly all of Hamas’s terror battalions, 23 out of 24 battalions. Now to complete our victory, we are focused on mopping up Hamas’s remaining fighting capabilities. We are taking out senior terrorist commanders and destroying remaining terrorist infrastructure. But all the while, all the while, and I’ll say this one more time, we remain focused on our sacred mission, bringing our hostages home. And we will not stop until that mission is complete. Now ladies and gentlemen, even with Hamas’s greatly diminished military capability, the still exercise some governing power in Gaza by stealing the food that we enable aid agencies to bring into Gaza. Hamas steals the food, and then they hike the prices. They feed their bellies, and then they fill their coffers with money that they extort from their own people. They sell the stolen food at exorbitant prices, and that’s how they stay in power. Well, this too has to end, and we’re working to bring it to an end. And the reason is simple, because if Hamas stays in power, it will regroup, rearm, and attack Israel. So, Hamas has got to go. Just imagine, for those who say, well, Hamas has to stay, it has to be part of a post-war Gaza. Imagine, in a post-war situation, in World War II, imagine allowing the defeated Nazis in 1945 to rebuild Germany. It’s inconceivable. It’s ridiculous. It didn’t happen then. It’s not going to happen now. This is why Israel will reject any rule for Hamas in a post-war Gaza. We don’t seek to resettle Gaza. What we seek is a demilitarized and deradicalized Gaza. Only then, only then, can we ensure that this round of fighting will be the last round of fighting. We are ready to work with regional and other partners to support a local civilian administration in Gaza committed to peaceful coexistence. As for the hostages, I have a message for the Hamas captors. Let them go. Let them go, all of them. Those alive today must be returned alive, and the remains of those whom you brutally killed must be returned to their families. Those families here with us today, and others in Israel, deserve to have a resting place for their loved ones, a place where they can grieve and remember them. This war, ladies and gentlemen, this war can come to an end now. All that has to happen is for Hamas to surrender, lay down its arms, and release all its prisoners. all the hostages. But if they don’t, we will fight until we achieve victory, total victory. There is no substitute for it. Israel must also defeat Hezbollah in Lebanon. Hezbollah is the quintessential terror organization in the world today. It has tentacles that span in all continents. It has murdered more Americans and more Frenchmen than any group except Bin Laden. It’s murdered the citizens of many countries represented in this room. And it has attacked Israel viciously over the last 20 years. In the last year, completely unprovoked. A day after the Hamas massacre on October 7, Hezbollah began attacks against Israel which forced more than 60,000 Israelis on our northern border to leave their homes, becoming refugees in their own land. Hezbollah turned vibrant towns in the north of Israel into ghost towns. So I want you to think about this in equivalent American terms. Just imagine if terrorists turned El Paso in San Diego into ghost towns. Then ask yourself, how long would the American government tolerate that? A day? A week? A month? I doubt they’d tolerate it even for a single day. Yet Israel has been tolerating this intolerable situation for nearly a year. Well I’ve come here today to say, enough is enough. We won’t rest until our citizens can respond. return safely to their homes. We will not accept a terror army perched on our northern border, able to perpetrate another October 7th-style massacre. For 18 years, Hezbollah brazenly refused to implement UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which requires it to move its forces away from our borders. Instead, Hezbollah moved right up to our border. They secretly dug terror tunnels to infiltrate our communities and indiscriminately fired thousands of rockets into our towns and villages. They fire these rockets and missiles not from military sites, not from that. They do that too. But they fire those rockets and missiles after they place them in schools, in hospitals, in apartment buildings, and in the private homes of the citizens of Lebanon. They endanger their own people. They put a missile in every kitchen, a rocket in every garage. I said to the people of Lebanon this week, get out of the deathtrap that Hezbollah has put you in. Don’t let Nasrallah drag Lebanon into the abyss. We’re not at war with you, we’re at war with Hezbollah, which has hijacked your country and threatens to destroy ours. As long as Hezbollah chooses the path of war, Israel has no choice and Israel has every right to remove this threat and return our citizens to their homes safely. And that’s exactly what we’re doing. Just this week, the IDF destroyed large percentages of Hezbollah’s rockets, which it built with Iran’s funding for three decades. We took out senior military commanders who not only shed Israeli blood, but American and French blood. as well, and then we took out their replacements, and then the replacements of their replacements. And we’ll continue degrading Hezbollah until all our objectives are met. Ladies and gentlemen, we’re committed to removing the curse of terrorism that threatens all civilized societies. But to truly realize the blessing of a new Middle East, we must continue the path we paved with the Abraham Accords four years ago. Above all, this means achieving a historic peace agreement between Israel and Saudi Arabia. And having seen the blessings that we’ve already brought with the Abraham Accords, the millions of Israelis who’ve already flown back and forth across the Arabian Peninsula, over the skies of Saudi Arabia, to the Gulf countries – the trade, the tourism, the joint ventures, the peace, the peace – I say to you, what blessings such a peace with Saudi Arabia would bring. It would be a boon to the security and economy of our two countries. It would boost trade and tourism across the region. It would help transform the Middle East into a global juggernaut. Our two countries could cooperate on energy, water, agriculture, artificial intelligence, and many, many other fields. Such a peace, I am sure, would be a true pivot of history. It would usher in a historic reconciliation between the Arab world and Israel, between Islam and Judaism, between Mecca and Jerusalem. While Israel is committed to achieving such a peace, peace. Iran and its terror proxies are committed to scuttling it. That’s why one of the best ways to foil Iran’s nefarious designs is to achieve the peace. Such a peace would be the foundation for an even broader Abrahamic alliance. And that alliance would include the United States, Israel, Kurds, Arab peace partners, Saudi Arabia, and others who choose the blessing of peace. It would advance security and prosperity across the Middle East and bring enormous benefits to the rest of the world. With American support and leadership, I believe this vision can materialize, and much sooner than people think. And as the Prime Minister of Israel, I will do everything in my power to make it happen. This is an opportunity that we and the world should not let go by. Ladies and gentlemen, Israel has made its choice. We seek to move forward to a bright age of prosperity and peace. Iran and its proxies have also made their choice. They want to move back to a dark age of terror and war. And now I have a question, and I pose that question to you. What choice will you make? Will your nation stand with Israel? Will you stand with democracy and peace? Or will you stand with Iran, a brutal dictatorship that subjugates its own people, exports terrorism across the globe? In this battle between good and evil, there must be no equivocation. When you stand with Israel, you stand for your own values and your own interests. Yes, we’re defending ourselves, but we’re also defending you against a common enemy. that through violence and terror seeks to destroy our way of life. So there should be no confusion about this. But unfortunately, there is. A lot of it. In many countries, and in this very hall, as I’ve just heard, good is portrayed as evil, and evil is portrayed as good. We see this moral confusion when Israel is falsely accused of genocide, when we defend ourselves against enemies who try to commit genocide against us. We see this, too, when Israel is absurdly accused by the ICC prosecutor of deliberately starving Palestinians in Gaza. What an absurdity. We helped bring in 700,000 tons of food into Gaza. That’s more than 3,000 calories a day for every man, woman, and child in Gaza. We see this moral confusion when Israel is falsely accused of deliberately targeting civilians. We don’t want to see a single person, a single innocent person, die. That’s always a tragedy. And that’s why we do so much to minimize civilian casualties, even as our enemies use civilians as human shields. And no army has done what Israel is doing to minimize civilian casualties. We drop flyers. We send text messages. We make phone calls by the millions to ensure that Palestinian civilians get out of harm’s way. We spare no effort in this noble pursuit. We see yet another profound moral confusion when self-described progressives march against the democracy of Israel. Don’t they realize they support the Iranian-backed goons in Tehran and in Gaza, the goons who gun down protesters, murder women for not covering their hair, and hang gays in public squares, some progressives? According to the U.S. Director of National Intelligence, Iran funds and fuels many of the protesters against Israel. Who knows, maybe some of the protesters, or even many of the protesters. ancestors, outside this building now. Ladies and gentlemen, King Solomon, who reigned in our eternal capital, Jerusalem, 3,000 years ago, proclaimed something that is familiar to all of you. He said, there is nothing new under the sun. Well, in an age of space travel, quantum physics, and artificial intelligence, some would argue that’s a debatable statement. But one thing is undeniable. There is definitely nothing new at the United Nations. Take it from me. I first spoke from this podium as Israel’s ambassador to the UN in 1984. That’s exactly 40 years ago. And in my maiden speech here – I think it’s the same podium, by the way – in my maiden speech here, I spoke against a proposal to expel Israel from this body. Four decades later, I find myself defending Israel against that same preposterous proposal. And who’s leading the charge this time? Not Hamas, but Abbas, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. This is the man who claims he wants peace with Israel, yet he still refuses to condemn the horrific massacre of October 7th. He’s still paying hundreds of millions to terrorists who murder Israelis and Americans. It’s called pay for slay. The more you murder, the more you get paid. And he still wages unremitting diplomatic warfare against Israel’s right to exist and against Israel’s right to defend itself. And by the way, they amount to the same thing. Because if you can’t defend yourself, you can’t exist. Not in our neighborhood. certainly, and maybe not in yours. Standing in this podium 40 years ago, I told the sponsors of that outrageous resolution to expel Israel, gentlemen, check your fanaticism at the door. Today, I tell President Abbas and all of you who would shamefully support that resolution, check your fanaticism at the door. The singling out of the one and only Jewish state continues to be a moral stain on the United Nations. It has made this once respected institution contemptible in the eyes of decent people everywhere. But for the Palestinians, this U.N. house of darkness is home court. They know that in this swamp of anti-Semitic bile, there’s an automatic majority willing to demonize the Jewish state on anything. In this anti-Israel, flat-earth society, any false charge, any outlandish allegation can muster a majority. In the last decade, there have been more resolutions passed against Israel in this hall at the U.N. General Assembly than against the entire world combined, actually, more than twice as many. Since 2014, this body condemned Israel 174 times. It condemned all the other countries in the world 73 times. That’s more than 100 extra condemnations for the Jewish state. What hypocrisy. What a double standard. What a joke. So the U.N.’s hostility. So all the speeches you heard today, all the hostility directed at Israel this year, it’s not about Gaza. It’s about Israel. It’s always been about Israel. about Israel’s very existence. And I say to you, until Israel, until the Jewish state is treated like other nations, until this anti-Semitic swamp is drained, the UN will be viewed by fair-minded people everywhere as nothing more than a contemptuous farce. Now given the anti-Semitism at the UN, it should surprise no one that the prosecutor at the ICC, one of the UN’s affiliated organs, is considering issuing arrest warrants against me and Israel’s defense minister, the democratically elected leaders of the democratic state of Israel. The ICC prosecutors rush to judgment. His refusal to treat Israel with its independent courts the way other democracies are treated is hard to explain by anything other than pure anti-Semitism. Ladies and gentlemen, the real war criminals are not in Israel. They’re in Iran. They’re in Gaza, in Syria, in Lebanon, in Yemen. Those of you who stand with these war criminals, those of you who stand with evil against good, with a curse against a blessing, those of you who do so should be ashamed of yourselves. But I have a message for you. Israel will win this battle. We’ll win this battle because we don’t have a choice. After generations in which our people were slaughtered, remorselessly butchered, and no one raised a finger in our defense, we now have a state, we now have a brave army, an army of incomparable courage, and we are defending ourselves. As the book of Samuel says in the Bible, Netzach Yisrael lo yishaker, the eternity of Israel will not falter. In the Jewish people’s epic journey from antiquity, in our odyssey through the tempest and upheavals of modern times, that ancient promise has always been kept. And it will hold true for all time. To borrow a great poet’s phrase, Israel will not go gently into that good night. We will never, we will never need to rage against the dying of the light because the torch of Israel will forever shine bright. To the people of Israel and to the soldiers of Israel, I say, be strong and of good courage. Chizku v’imtsu ve’alti ra’u mipnehem, ki Adonai Elohecha hua olech imecha, lo yarapecha ve’lo ya’azvecha. Am Yisrael chai, the people of Israel live, now, tomorrow, forever. Thank you.

President: On behalf of the Assembly, I wish to thank the Prime Minister of the State of Israel. The Assembly will hear and address by Her Excellency Mia Amor-Mottley, Prime Minister, Minister for National Security and the Public Service, and Minister for Finance, Economic Affairs and Investment of Barbados. I request protocol to escort Her Excellency and invite her to address the Assembly.

Mia Amor Mottley – Barbados: Mr. President, we need a reset. And we need to reset. Mr. President, in your absence I congratulate you on your assumption of this chairmanship of the General Assembly. We can wait. As I said, Mr. President, we need a reset. And we need to reset. Those of us here today representing our brothers and our sisters the world over have endured four years of polycrisis. As the children of Mother Earth, we continue to wrestle with the climate crisis. As a human family, we grapple with the legacy of the pandemic. As a digitally connected people, we are now regrettably confronted by multiple theatres of war and scenes of horror and famine flowing from that war. Armed conflict instead of pursued development. Citizens of every country as well, struggling to contain the rising cost of living and the implications for them and their families on a day-to-day basis. And Mr. Speaker, Mr. President, we are all now threatened by the second but silent pandemic of antimicrobial resistance together with a growing incidence of death and disability from chronic, non-communicable diseases. We cannot afford the distraction of war. If ever there was a time to pause and to It is time to reset. It is now. Collectively, as an international community, and individually, as leaders in each of our countries, we must now deliver new opportunities and solutions to these crises which dampen economic growth, which restrict the ambitions of our people and numb our sense of the beauty and goodness that the world ought to be offering, because it has it to offer. The reset for which I am calling, and indeed all of our citizens are demanding, must see an end to all forms of discrimination. Let rules and institutions today exist which create first and second class citizens, as we have said from this podium year after year, depending on your nation of origin. Militate against the trust and the credibility and the hope, and it fosters a crisis of confidence in the existing international order, which must become inclusive and responsive for all. More than any other complaint from this podium has been the disparity in treatment and the inability to be able to have fair and transparent treatment for all that would lead to the trust necessary for us to solve the problems of our times that are truly beyond man-made causes. Neo-colonialist structures that perpetuate and reflect an old world order, characterized by racism and classism and misogyny, while ignoring the legitimate aspirations of billions, will not help to foster the hope or trust that is necessary to meet these poly-crises. We must ensure that the global institutions give developing countries, especially small vulnerable states like my own, or vulnerable middle-income countries, seats at the table of decision-making where we can be seen, heard, become active agents in our own cause and lead our own development paradigms. My friends, we are reminded that 2024 is the final year of the United Nations Decade for the People of African Descent. Much has been achieved The recognition, the justice, and the development for people of African descent that was promised by this decade has, to say the least, not yet been fully realized. And it is for this reason that the Caribbean community joins the growing chorus, and my own country in particular, for the immediate proclamation of a second decade to complete the unfinished work and address the matter of reparations for slavery and colonialism. I start here because this is a necessary but complex conversation, and the Caribbean community is resolute that it must happen. Its resolution lies, and I want to be very clear, its resolution lies in a multi-generational approach, in the same way that the 20 million pound sterling debt that was incurred by the British government only was repaid in this 21st century, almost 200 years later. So that the notion of unaffordability becomes a non-issue once we recognize that the solution to reparations must be multi-generational and grounded in development. Mr. President, of necessity, the reset must also be characterized by institutional reform, which has to start in the United Nations Councils. These councils suggest that some are full members, and others are only part members, and some may be part-time members, and some may be occasional members. All of this has no place in the 21st century. The anger and the mistrust of our citizens and institutions, in leaders, in multilateralism, and in the processes which exclude while yielding much talk and little action, is very real. Nowhere is reform and consequentially trust and hope more important to the well-being of billions of people. people today than in relation to the global financial architecture, restricted access to capital, its disproportionately high costs barring us from doing that which we must, its inadequate scale, and the overwhelming burden of debt often imposed on us by circumstances beyond our control. These are all now combining to force governments in the world’s poorest countries and frankly across many vulnerable middle-income countries to devote more resources to debt service than to health and education and in some instances even infrastructure. For far too many members of the human family, cold ground is our bed and rock is our pillow. Too many go to bed with their bellies hungry and too many may not even have a bed. Our reset must therefore collectively build a common agenda that reflects and reinforces our shared humanity. It is that shared humanity that binds us together. Mr. President, you know better than most our African brothers and sisters got it right with the principle of Ubuntu and have used this principle, this General Assembly to remind us that its simplicity is what we should aspire to. I am because you are. I am because we are. My well-being is tied to yours and our collective well-being is connected to Mother Earth’s. This best voices the approach needed to give expression to the reset that is absolutely necessary. And we acknowledge that there are glimpses of hope. We have, for a For example, on Monday, agreed to a pact for the future, but we still have war. We have agreed on a global digital compact, but we still have raging pandemics in the slow motion silent pandemic. All of this rests, my friends, on the common agenda that the Secretary General has set out for us before. Yesterday, we agreed in a high level meeting on a political declaration on antimicrobial resistance. A lot of fancy words, but this is where the rubber hits the road, because all of us in this room know people who have died from infections and for whom the antibiotics simply are no longer effective, so that within 48 hours, a person’s life is snuffed out, almost as if they were at war. My friends, following on the intervention of the Bridgetown Initiative and the Paris Pact for People and Planet, the efforts of many across the board, we acknowledge that there is some hope, and it is evident in the beginnings of the reform that we are seeing little by little, but nevertheless, they have started. These are all important steps, but we cannot take our eyes off the prize. Barbados’ call for fundamental reset includes attitudes and behavior as much as actions or reforms. Heads of government are in agreement that we must trigger national development agendas of transformation with both speed and scale. We have a date with destiny against 1.5 degrees. We know that that is what is needed to survive, and the implications for people, even as we speak, can be dire. But if there is a failure to act with clarity of purpose, and if the political will retards progress on the front of the much-needed reform within the international financial institutions, purely because heads of government do not speak to ministers of finance when they reach Washington D.C. or their board directors, if there is a need for that to be dealt with, then my friends, there must be a commitment to be equal to the current challenges of member states if we are not to perpetuate the discriminatory practices that result in undermining the transformational opportunities that we need. Depriving vulnerable countries from being able to access concessional income that is long enough to build the resilience to save lives and to protect livelihoods is unjust, and that is why we must remain focused. That is why, my friends, we launched yesterday the third iteration of the Bridgestone Initiative, which identifies three key principles, very simply. One, we must change the rules of the international financial system and reform its governance and instruments. Two, we must shock-proof vulnerable economies by dealing with debt and liquidity in a comprehensive, development-focused manner, and if we need to give countries a shot of liquidity like we give them a shot of adrenaline to avoid them falling off the cliff of death, then we must do so. And thirdly, we must augment financing by boosting country capacity to invest in resilience by several means, including what has been announced already, the re-channeling of special drawing rights through our multilateral development partners, but that will only be truly effective if there is another issuance of SDRs in the near future. Indeed, we must also address the challenge, and this I believe to be the fundamental mission of this generation, of how we are going to secure the global public commons to be able to maintain our safety and stability as a global community. We’re going to have to discuss how we can secure it and, of course, how we must finance it. And that is not only the climate crisis or the loss of biodiversity that we speak about but the other many global challenges that can truly destabilize countries and regions. Mr. President, these considerations are of fundamental importance to the sustainable existence of our generations, future generations. The SIDS agenda is another story of promises made but not kept. 30 years ago the international community gathered in my own country to take action for the first time on the unique challenges faced by small island developing states. We birthed in my home country the first ever global agenda for small island developing states which became known as the Barbados program of action. I thank Mauritius for its strategy of implementation, Samoa for its pathway. They were carriers of the baton of a development agenda for small island developing states in the intervening years in the face of multiple global crises from health to climate to finance. The vulnerabilities, yes, of our countries as small states have become more pronounced. In May of this year we gathered in Antigua and Barbuda for the fourth international conference on small island developing states and I call on the international community and the multilateral system to let us work together to ensure that the promise created in Bridgestone in 1994 is delivered and realized through the Antigua and Barbuda agenda for SIDS 2024 otherwise known as ABAS. Let me use this opportunity as well to inform you that two days ago we took over the presidency of the Climate Vulnerable Forum, the V20 for the countries of the world from Ghana whose president I would like to thank for the excellent stewardship of the group over the past two years and indeed for the strengthening of its institutional capacity. The priorities of our term as chair of the V20 The V20 countries will be the multiple dimensions of climate crisis, dealing with them, the impact of the climate crisis on human health and of course the issue of debt and climate because if we don’t solve that, we cannot take the appropriate actions to deal with climate. I invite all United Nations members who are not yet members of the V20 but who are climate vulnerable to join this group because it is only through amplification of our voices and consistency of our message and solidarity that we will continue to see the pace and scale of reforms that we need to be able to save our people’s lives. I commend to you the declaration of the leaders of the Climate Vulnerable Forum that was adopted this week on Wednesday. Mr. President, above all else, we need a global reset on peace. There needs to be global peace and those of us who are old enough would have recognized that there are peaks and valleys as it relates to this issue of conflict. There are few areas where the world is more in need of the United Nations acting as the United Nations to secure the objectives of the Charter than in the area of peace and security. The silence that has engulfed Sudan is unacceptable and may well be rooted in the racism that the world still carries as a badge of honor from the victories of the last great war of World War II. The actions in Myanmar cannot continue. Ukraine has sucked more oxygen out of the global community and the global financial system than any of us can appropriately accept at the very time when the world needs to be applying its resources and efforts to fight in the greatest crisis known to mankind, and the spread of the war. From Gaza, to the consequences in the West Bank, to now clearly what is happening in Lebanon as we speak with Israel, all of these are but the tip of an iceberg of death, violence and instability, and robs the global community of oxygen and resources at the very time when we need it most in a strategic way. We all know as students of history that even the longest war in history came to an end. These wars, yes, they too will come to an end, but the question is when and at what cost and without much loss of life, with how many children not being able to be either given the chance to live or will now live with memories of war that will affect their every action for the next 60, 70, 80 years of their lives. Innocent people are paying the price with the one thing that is theirs to give, and they don’t give it willingly. It is their life. Unless we address the root causes of these wars one by one, and the manners in which they are being sustained and financed, we will never, never know anything else other than war and rumors of war in these theaters. The transmittal of these scenes of horror in real time into people’s bedrooms, into people’s living rooms will trigger two extreme reactions, neither of which are acceptable to us in the third decade of the 21st century. We will either get the desensitizing of ordinary people to the loss of lives, especially those of innocent children and women on the one hand, or we will get on the other hand And the anger and inclination for vengeance that it spawns necessarily. We need peace and it cannot be too difficult for us to work for peace. It is the same Bible that tells us in the stories of the Old Testament, much which has guided many people across this world. But when we turn from the Old Testament to the New Testament, it is Romans that says to us, vengeance is mine, saith the Lord, not any country, not any human being. So that the Bible can’t be used as a convenient aid when it suits us and rejected when it doesn’t. In the midst of this maelstrom, we were very clear. My country took the step this year of recognizing and establishing diplomatic relations with the state of Palestine in spite of having supported a two-state solution since 1969. And we did this because it is clear to us that the state and people of Palestine, human beings, are entitled to full recognition by integration into and support from the international community. The charter does not say we the people, with the exception of any one group from any one part of the world. We join with others, therefore, in congratulating the state of Palestine and taking their seat among the United Nations member states as they did on the 10th of September of this year. And let me be clear. We condemn the actions. of Hamas on October 7th. But we equally and strongly deplore the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza, which is the result of the disproportionate use of force by Israel. There is no justification for it. And that is why treaties exist governing the rules of engagement for war, because we as human beings learnt better and know better and committed to better. A two-state solution, no matter how elusive it may appear to be now, is the only answer. And I’ve said already this week that we have known difficult battles in mankind’s history, but when we were in it we didn’t think we could achieve it, but we did. We abolished slavery. We removed apartheid in South Africa. These difficult battles are not beyond our creativity, our capacity and our resilience to resolve them. Similarly, we insist that the killing in Ukraine really has to stop. The people of Ukraine must be allowed to live within the internationally recognised boundaries of their state in peace and freedom from the threat of use or force. And as I said, it is sucking too much oxygen out of the global financial system and countries that should be the beneficiary of aid are being told that they may have to wait in the interest of the defence of others because of war. I say to us truly, there has to be a singular commitment to build a peace, truly. Mr President, my own region has not escaped the scourge of instability and violence. The Americas do not constitute today a theatre of war. But we are today witnessing, for some years now, an unprecedented escalation in the number and calibre of assault weapons which are finding themselves in the hands of criminals who are wreaking havoc on the legal systems and our societies, particularly in the small island developing states of the Caribbean and indeed in the wider states of Central and Latin America. This scourge caused by guns manufactured in the United States. The right of persons to bear arms in countries not engaged in military conflict should not be an opening to accept as legitimate the presence of assault weapons in countries. It is simply not right. There is no place for assault weapons in our societies. I turn now to the fate of the people of Haiti, which continues to be of major concern to our people in the Caribbean region. The global community now has an opportunity for an essential reset with how it addresses its relationship with Haiti, and which has been born in all kinds of semi and partial concern over the course of the last few decades. We continue to have it as a recurring decimal because we have failed to solve the problems and put them on a sustainable path to development for its people. What is needed is transformation of our sister nation. And yes, we must provide first and foremost security, but transformation must be its handmaiden. The government and people of Haiti need the full support of the international community, not just in the short term, but in the long term. And yes, this starts by extending the mandate of the multinational security support force, escalating the work of the United Nations, deploying all the tools of bilateral, regional, global cooperation, not excluding countries who want to participate for spurious reasons, ensuring that those of us who can step up to the plate by significantly increasing the pledge funds that we do so, because we know that it takes cash to be able to deploy the The Caribbean community has been working hard this year to support our largest member state, and in the early part of the first few months of this year, we met on Haiti almost three to four times a week to guarantee the stability that we ask you now to help us secure. We thank the efforts of the eminent persons group of former CARICOM Prime Ministers who were on the front line of helping to resolve this complex problem day in and day out so that we could find a political consensus for Haiti. That Haiti had at this General Assembly, both the Interim President of the Transitional Council and Prime Minister Conneal, is a remarkable achievement given where Haiti was in February of this year. Let them continue on a path, please, of securing their future. And we cannot be on this podium speaking about Haiti without thanking Kenya and President Ruto for their remarkable leadership. After many delays and in what represents now a historical precedent for an African country, they have ensured that an African country has taken the lead in helping to tackle the peace and security challenge beyond its own continent. That is the kind of reset that we need in the international community. And, Mrs. President, you cannot come on this platform regrettably, although I look forward to the day when I will not have to say it, when we must ask for reprieve for the people of Cuba. It is unacceptable, it is unconscionable, and that it continues today is a mark on our international conscience. The Cuban people continue to face the most dire of economic circumstances, and that this is directly as a result of its exclusion and its designation as a state sponsor of terrorism. And I have addressed our only knowledge of terrorism, and Cuba is in fact the dungeon of the Cubana Plain off the waters of Barbados, where Cubans, Guyanese, and Koreans were killed. My friends, Cuba has been a valuable partner stepping up for us when it has mattered most by the provision of nurses and doctors in pandemics. and by the provision of other essential workers when the global community needed it and when people needed to be liberated in Southern Africa. The reality is that we must have and continue to have resolve in calling for the embargo to be lifted and we will condemn it year after year after year because it is simply wrong. As we say so, we pray that the people of Cuba, as they determine what damages they have found from Hurricane Helen as well as we pray for the people of Florida who clearly are going to spend the next few days identifying the damage as a result of a hurricane that hit Category 4 when it reached Florida. This is the climate crisis that we speak about. The people of Nigeria are still counting the bodies with respect to the floods that took place there. We have hard work to do. In our own Caribbean region, Beryl literally decimated the islands of Karaku and Union Island and indeed would have affected Grenada and St. Vincent more broadly. Jamaica and my own country’s coastal infrastructure was significantly affected with our fishing industry, 90% of it being decimated. This season of superlatives with its floods and droughts, its hurricanes and fires will take the lives and livelihoods of too many. The climate crisis is hitting us almost weekly across the globe. The deniers of the climate crisis, they too need a reset, a reset that will admit of the absolute necessity of collective action by the global community to save our way of life and our planet. Mr. President, at the start of this week, the skies were much darker. I truly believe so. We are starting to see some glimmers of light. New York this week, noting that the clouds are lifting, conscious that the sun is peeping out in certain areas, not all, but in certain critical areas, giving us a sense of renewed hope that reset is, in fact, not only possible, but necessary in key areas, institutional reform, reform in our financial architecture, reform in how we view development, but above all else, reform in how we see each other and value each other. This hope springs from the pact for the future, and the many declarations that we have made here, the terms in which my fellow leaders spoke from this platform for the most part, the urgent need to recognize reset, reset, reset, even if they didn’t call it by that name. It is as if we all truly understand and accept the challenge of rising to solve the major difficulties that are faced by the people of the world, and to recognize that global moral strategic leadership requires of us the commitment to redress the wrongs and to take care of saving people and planet. But recognition of the need for the reset, while it is the first step in any issue, what is now also needed is eternal vigilance as our companion, so that as we take the steps to transform attitudes and institutions and rules, we will not succeed overnight. We will not succeed even in the next decade. But if we don’t do the reset to change the legacy of centuries of exploitation and domination, we will not be fit for purpose to meet the needs of our people in the third decade of the 21st century. I can think, therefore, of no better way to conclude than with a song that I had caused to use almost 30 years ago from my own country, a song from Edwin Yearwood, when I first stood on this podium almost 30 years ago in 1995 as a young minister of youth. And I quote, a voice in my head keeps talking to me. It tells me the road is long. It tells me the road is long. He tells me we must be strong, roll with the pain and roll with the strife, for today is the rest of the start of your life. Mr. President, may the new hope fostered here this week signal the start of a new deal for people who hitherto were not seen, and even with the existence of this body, whose voice and presence were not felt. These people have been recognized too often in these countries as mere statistics and not with the human dignity that is their birthright, or the human dignity that is the conferred right from these United Nations. Mr. President, I thank you.

President: On behalf of the Assembly, I wish to thank the Prime Minister, Minister for National Security and the Public Service, and Minister for Finance, Economic Affairs, and Investment of Barbados. The Assembly will now hear an address by His Excellency Tshering Tobgay, Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Bhutan. I request protocol to escort His Excellency and invite him to address the Assembly.

Tshering Tobgay -Bhutan: Mr. President, Mr. Secretary General, Excellencies, distinguished delegates, I bring to you warm greetings from His Majesty the Druk Gelpo. Excellencies, 53 years ago, on the 21st of September, 1971, a small Himalayan kingdom was admitted to the United Nations. On that day, after centuries of self-imposed isolation, Bhutan became the 128th member of the United Nations. It was a defining moment for us when a small, poor, landlocked country nestled in the world’s highest mountain joined the global community of nations. That same year, the United Nations created the least developed country category to provide targeted support to the world’s poorest nations. Bhutan was among the first to be admitted in that list. Back then, our economy was primarily agrarian, operating largely… on a barter system. Our per capita GDP income stood at just US$215. Life expectancy was barely 40 years. Infant mortality was tragically high, at 142 deaths for every 1,000 live births. And our literacy rate was woefully low. We had only, in fact, less than 300 students in the few scattered schools that had been established to provide modern education. Today, I stand before you with a story of transformation and progress. Our per capita GDP has risen to more than US$3,500. Life expectancy has increased to 70 years. Infant mortality has plummeted to 15 deaths per 1,000 live births. And our literacy rate, it has climbed to 71%, with youth literacy skyrocketing to 99%. I am pleased to report to this August assembly that because of our all-around progress, last December, 52 years after joining the United Nations, Bhutan graduated from the LDC category. To achieve this achievement did not come easily. It was a journey marked by hard work, perseverance, and sacrifice. But we were not alone. We had the support of many friends who accompanied us on this important journey. I take this opportunity to extend our deep gratitude to the United Nations. and its specialized agencies. I would also like to thank all our development partners, including Japan, the European Union, the World Bank, and the Asian Development Bank for their unwavering support. But most importantly, I would like to reserve our deepest thanks to India, our closest friend and neighbor. They have been with us from the very beginning of our development journey and have remained steadfast in their support and friendship. Excellencies, graduating from the LDC category is a significant milestone. But what truly matters is that we did it in our own terms. Under the leadership of our enlightened monarchs, Bhutan has pursued a development path grounded in the philosophy of gross national happiness. This approach places the happiness and well-being of our people at the center of our development agenda. Thanks to gross national happiness, our economy, while it is still small, is sustainable and inclusive. Health care and education are free for all. Our unique culture not only survives, but thrives. More than 72% of our land is under forest cover, and we are recognized as a biodiversity hotspot and a carbon negative country. Our democracy, a gift from our king, has been embraced by a reluctant population. Excellencies, having graduated from the LDC category, it is now our responsibility to ensure that we sustain our hard-earned progress and that under no circumstances should we ever backslide. As we chart a new course for the future, we are faced with new challenges, particularly those arising from our weak economy. Foremost among them is youth unemployment. To address these challenges, we must strengthen our economy. We must provide our youth with meaningful opportunities to grow and to prosper. We must embrace a new development paradigm. In this context, I am pleased to report that His Majesty the King has announced the establishment of the Gelephu Mindfulness City. The Gelephu Mindfulness City is a transformative vision for future urban spaces, a blueprint for living mindfully and sustainably. Spanning 2,600 square kilometers of pristine forests and fertile farmlands, it will enable human innovation and natural ecosystems to thrive together while fostering human well-being, environmental sustainability, and mindful living. We invite thought leaders, innovators, and investors to join us in building this groundbreaking city, contributing to a model of peace, harmony, and progress that others can follow. Excellencies, Bhutan’s story is one of hope, but it is also a call to action. More than 50 years have passed, and only seven nations have graduated from the LDC category, leaving 46 countries still in need. This is unacceptable. The international community must intensify its efforts to ensure that no… No nation is left behind that all LDC countries achieve graduation. To accomplish this, we must address poverty, inequality, and vulnerability with a renewed sense of urgency. The Pact for the Future, which we adopted collectively at the Summit of the Future, provides us with a roadmap to transform the lives of the world’s most vulnerable. However, transforming the future requires that we also transform institutions shaping it. The United Nations must evolve to meet the realities of today’s world. The Security Council as it stands is a relic of the past. We need a council that reflects the current geopolitical, economic landscape, and social realities. Bhutan has long advocated for the reform of the Security Council to make it more representative and effective. For this, India, with its significant economic growth and population, and leadership of the global south, deserves a permanent seat at the Security Council. Similarly, Japan, a leading donor and peace builder, warrants permanent membership. Excellencies, in conclusion, let me reiterate our deep gratitude for the support we have received on Bhutan’s journey to LDC graduation. Now we are committed to sustaining this progress. But we will need your continued support. In this regard, we invite your support and investment in initiatives like the Gelufu Mindfulness City. However, as we celebrate Bhutan’s progress, we must also intensify our efforts to support other LDCs. In this regard, the role of the United Nations is more critical than ever, reinforcing the imperative for multilateralism in addressing the global challenges we face. As we look to the future, I have the honor to close by repeating a profound message from His Majesty, our beloved King. I first did so seven years ago, and I repeat, no nation today can stand alone in achievement. Time is slowly telling us that there can be no lasting individual success without success as a community. And there cannot be lasting national progress and success if it does not fit into a future of global peace, harmony, and equality. The world must progress together or fail together. Thank you and Tashi Delek.

President: On behalf of the Assembly, I wish to thank the Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Bhutan. The Assembly will now hear an address by His Excellency Xavier Espot Zamora, head of the Government of the Principality of Andorra. I request protocol to escort His Excellency and invite him to address the Assembly.

Xavier Espot Zamora – Andorra: Mr. President, Secretary General, Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, allow me to begin by extending my congratulations to His Excellency Mr. Philemon Yang on his election as President of the 79th General Assembly. I would like to thank you, Mr. President, for having chosen unity in diversity, sustainable development and human dignity everywhere for everyone as the theme. And Dora could not be any more in agreement than we are with this goal, which we fully support because my country is tangible, real proof that people are able to live together peacefully for more than 800 years. Indeed, thanks to our understanding and mutual respect shown by our inhabitants, our country has never had a war and we’ve never had an army. And Dora has always been an oasis of peace, tolerance and cohabitation, including during the most troubled times of the old continent. I’d also particularly like to thank the Secretary General, Mr. Antonio Guterres, for his perseverance, for always preferring the path of conciliation and for his message in favor of international law and against climate change. I would also like to stress the impetus that the Secretary General has given to the Summit of the Future, which gave rise to the pact for the future that my country has signed. The goal of this is to strengthen the multilateral system, to adopt concrete measures, to address new challenges and establish a roadmap to address existential risks to humanity, civilization and most people on Earth. Classical authors, they are the basis of Western culture. They tell us, and I use the present tense because they never die, they say that all speech is vain and empty unless it be accompanied by action. What is important are the things that we do throughout our lives. All civilizations are born in specific circumstances and very often they go down in history thanks to their conquests. But what is the conquest of this civilization? What is its vocation? And what is the heritage that it will leave behind? Or rather, what is the conquest, vocation and heritage that we want to leave behind? Today, in the West, we very often forget that democracy goes over and above simply putting your ballot in the box every four or five years. The very substance of the concept of democracy is the values involved—dignity, tolerance, equality, freedom, respect for people and nations. These values are human rights, the rights that this General Assembly has decided to protect 76 years ago by adopting the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It would seem that the spirit in which this declaration was forged, a symbol of peace and dignity following two devastating world wars, is fading little by little. The forward march of extremist political positions is a reaction in the light of something that is viewed as a threat, an order that is viewed as a threat. The feeling that a recent past has been lost and that it is better than the present has invaded current generations, heightened by the idea that climate change will worsen living conditions, that globalization and migration flows will dilute and depersonalize our societies, and that children and young people today will live less well than their parents did. We find ourselves at a key moment in history where the debate cannot be hidden behind rhetorical language to avoid the situation. We will soon be celebrating the 80th anniversary of the United Nations, and this organization must continue to be the cornerstone of our world, to be an organization where states and the nations that make it up are moving in the same direction with the same goal, to respond effectively to the great challenges of our times in order to leave future generations a heritage which promises hope. We must urgently become mobilized to achieve the most noble goal of politics – peace. We must come together and find solutions to conflicts without violence or recourse to military resources. We would call upon all parties to work for peace and that they respect international humanitarian law and that they obey it. Because nothing can justify the attacks suffered by civilian populations. Nothing can justify the attacks against hospitals and schools. And nothing can justify using hunger as a strategy of war. Nothing can justify such irrational behaviour. Children and young people take pride of place on the international agenda of Andorra because we firmly believe that they are the present and the future of humanity, which means that all actions to benefit them become strategic actions for the development of a country, of any country. This is why, since its creation, we have supported the office of the special representative of the Secretary General for Children and Armed Conflict and, more recently, the study on the impact of climate change on children and armed conflict. When I asked you at the beginning of my statement And what conquest, what vocation and what heritage did we want to leave behind? There can be no doubt, a world in peace for our children and our young people, a world that provides opportunities to each and every one of them. This is the great responsibility which we bear to ensure that future generations do not have a life worse than ours, but rather that they are fully able to participate in progress as we have agreed in recent days in the Summit of the Future. Excellencies, Andorra joined the United Nations in 1993. The international context at the time was full of hope, the reunification of Europe after the Cold War. We decided to become a member of the United Nations with the conviction that we wanted to be a society open to the world which shares with the international community its opportunities and its challenges. We believe that the problems of the world are also our problems, and it is for that reason that we wanted and want to participate in solving them. Three decades have gone by since then, and although we see the Cold War reemerging and whilst in the Middle East we see increasing tensions and whilst extremism is advancing and is of concern, Andorra fully believes in its international commitments and multilateralism. We believe that these are the best and the only instruments to resolve the current crisis. But Andorra also attaches particular importance to regional cooperation, particularly that deployed by the European Union, with which Andorra is negotiating an association agreement which will mean that we will be able progressively and in a structured way to enter the European single market, to diversify our economy and participate in building a geographic, economic and political reality, that of the European Union with a privileged status of associated state, whether it be The obligations that we undertake when joining an international organization or by signing an international treaty, Andorra acts to fully respect its commitments. And as small as my country might appear to major states, that in no way takes away from our ambitious objectives, and this is always essential, as is our multilateralism, the climate emergency, gender equality, the digital transition, and cultural diversity. On that last point, Andorra is very proud to have co-facilitated for one further year the resolution on multilingualism at the United Nations together with Guatemala. Ladies and gentlemen, climate change is undoubtedly a global threat, but it’s also true that it affects certain countries more than others. This is the case for coastal regions, where the sea level is increasing, and mountainous regions where the ecosystem has become more vulnerable. This is the case for Andorra. The effects of climate change risk changing the way of life of its inhabitants and even the economy of the country, and it’s for this reason that we have made the fight against climate change one of our main goals, internationally as well as nationally. Since the ratification of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in 2011, Andorra has met its communication obligations by respecting the principles of transparency, coherence, comparability, exhaustivity, and accuracy, and we have even implemented certain things ahead of time with regard to the convention. In 2015, Andorra was one of the first to join the Framework Convention and produce our NDC, determined contribution. We updated it in 2020 and 2022, and we plan to achieve climate neutrality by 2050. In 2023, Andorra was the first state to present its biannual report. The report on transparency, which showed once again the importance that we attach to our commitment to fight against climate change. Nationally, we have also undertaken great efforts to implement a new energy policy to progressively increase the national production of renewable energy and replace heat production systems with less polluting systems. This policy in favour of renewable energy was led by the public sector with the implementation of very ambitious legislation and using significant aid and action plans. However, do you know that all of these efforts will be in vain if other countries do not do the same thing, if we are not all moving in the same direction, because fighting climate change is the most urgent global challenge that we have. The broadest challenge, which requires the highest possible level of cooperation, collaboration, generosity and respect. Ladies and gentlemen, we are at the midway point in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals of the 2030 Agenda, and we are going to soon be in the final home stretch. What has been achieved is already deceiving, bearing in mind that behind the results are millions of people who are suffering the consequences. The Sustainable Development Goals are certainly very ambitious, but if we decide to implement them with persistence, creativity and innovation, then we can bring about real change by taking as a principle inclusion and making gender equality a reality, sustainability a norm, the protection of children an inviolable principle, and by ensuring that divides are overcome once and for all. The poet and novelist of France, Louis Aragon, wrote that the future of men is women. That was in 1963, on the eve of full expression. A genuine declaration of love and admiration for his wife, his muse. In certain parts of the world, we still have a lot to do in order to understand that it’s in our interest that women have the same chances to learn and develop their talents and to work and to earn their living as do men. In Andorra, equality, non-discrimination and inclusion are cross-cutting elements of public policy. We have adopted legislative measures in this regard in order to respect our commitments and to fully achieve these goals. That is a logical consequence in a society where women play a very active part in public affairs. But over and above public policy, the key element of social transformation is education. Equal education does not just mean teaching girls and boys to mutually respect each other. It means giving them the tools necessary to question social norms which perpetuate inequalities and to enable them to build a society where every individual is able to develop themselves to their full potential, whatever their gender. Currently, parity is respected in our institutions in decision-making positions. And for the first time, we’ve had the honor to have an Andorran expert on the United Nations Committee for the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women. But bringing about gender equality requires determination and perseverance on the part of each and every one of us. As representatives of our respective countries, we have the moral and political obligation to promote this transformation. We must become committed to ensure that Gender equality is not just a long-term aspiration, but a concrete reality in our societies. That is the only solution that will guarantee a better future for future generations. Excellencies, access to information is in the process of redefining the paradigms of growth and economic and social development. As public services and the private sector are being converted to the digital world, the divide that separates those that have access to this world and those who do not is becoming ever more pernicious. The Global Digital Compact that we adopted during the Summit for the Future includes actions in favour of digital literary actions in order to guarantee an inclusive, open, safe and protected digital future. In this area, multilateralism has a crucial role to play to create opportunities, and at the same time it must guarantee accessibility and security in this new virtual space of globalization. For small states such as Andorra, these technologies have the potential to provide resources with exponential added value. Aware as we are of the situation and our manifest need to diversify our economy, Andorra has made huge strides in this area. Currently, 96% of Andorran homes have an Internet connection. The country has implemented a national strategy for digital transition, which is particularly focused on digital rights of citizens and respect for Sustainable Development Goals 9, 16 and 17, with the creation of an ethical and legal framework that preserves digital rights, protecting private life and data security, and ensuring free access to digital information because we want all citizens to be able to access the digital world and thus avoid situations of inequality. Ladies and gentlemen, the Principality of Andorra. of Andorra has made a commitment to this organization of peoples and for peoples 30 years ago in the hope that a better world would be possible because our country, small size, can also make exemplary choices. We presented ourselves to the world as an ancestral land which finally has found its place in the community of nations, a country that is open to the world with a constructive spirit and a peaceful disposition open to dialogue in favor of comprehension and harmony between peoples. These are the values that continue to guide us nationally and internationally. It is important that all peoples promote a new culture of peace based on an end to war and on a commitment to bring about peace agreements to resolve conflicts. Development must reach all four corners of the planet where fundamental rights must be respected and it is essential that this new digital universe be based on knowledge. I began my intervention by quoting the classical authors. If I may, I’d like to end in the same way. There’s a work that is at the heart of Greek literature that has left its mark on Western culture and which is very difficult to forget. It refers to conquest and destruction, hatred, compassion, love and death. Homer’s Iliad is in a certain way a mirror of the human condition. Even though this work shows that life is not always fair and that it is subject to the will of the gods, it also shows us that human relations can, if we want them to be profoundly humane. And I think that we must take ownership of this message. It is important to believe in humanity and to work to build a better world. All of us together, peace in the world, as well as a world of solidarity that is more just and more inclusive. I thank you.

President: On behalf of the Assembly, I wish to thank the Head of Government of the Principality of Andorra. The Assembly will now hear an address by His Excellency Muhammad Yunus, Chief Advisor of the Interim Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh. I request protocol to escort His Excellency and invite him to address the Assembly.

Muhammad Yunus – Bangladesh: Bismillahirrahmanirrahim. Mr. President, let me congratulate you on your election as the President of the United Nations General Assembly. I would like to assure you of Bangladesh delegation’s full cooperation throughout this session. I would also place on record our deep appreciation to the Secretary General, António Guterres, for his unwavering commitment to deliver on the UN mandates and address the global challenges. I particularly applaud his vision in convening the Summit of the Future. The Pact for the Future and the Declaration on Future Generations could help in setting pathways beyond Agenda 2030. Bangladesh believes that the Summit’s outcome will serve as a guiding framework in materializing our shared aspirations and rethinking collaboration for posterity. I stand in this Parliament of Nations thanks to an epochal transformation that Bangladesh witnessed this July and August. The power of the ordinary people, in particular our youth, presented to our nation an opportunity to overhaul many of our systems and institutions. The uprising led by the students and youth was initially aimed at ending discrimination. Progressively, the movement evolved into a people’s movement. The world eventually saw how people at large stood against autocracy, oppression, discrimination, injustice and corruption, both on the streets and online. Our people, particularly youth, gained us independence from an autocratic and undemocratic regime with an exceptional resolve and capability. That collective resolve should define Bangladesh of the future and place our nation as a responsible state in the Committee of the Nations. This was indeed a movement that primarily brought together people who were long left in politics and development, who asked prosperity to be shared, to be inclusive. The people aspired for a just, inclusive and functioning democracy for which our new generations made supreme sacrifice. We were moved by the wisdom, courage and conviction our youth showed. Even braving bullets bare chest. Young girls were fiercely vocal against the illegitimate state power. School-going teenagers laid down their lives. Hundreds lost their eyes forever. Mothers, deliverers and scores of people across cities lent their shoulders for their children. Defying sweat, rain and fear of death, they defeated all the evil designs and machinations of few who manipulated the state machinery against truth and just aspirations of people for years. The people’s movement left an estimated over 800 martyrs in the hands of the autocratic regime. Bangladesh was born because of her people’s profound belief in liberalism, pluralism and secularism. Decades later, Our Generation Z is making us revisit and reimagine the very values that our people stood for back in 1971, as our people also did in 1952, to defend our mother language – Bangla. We believe this revolution that the world witnessed in Bangladesh in the span of a few weeks may inspire many across communities and countries to stand for freedom and justice. I would call upon the international community to engage with New Bangladesh Anew that aims to realize freedom and democracy beyond letters for everyone. Mr. President, Our youth and people together entrusted me and my colleagues in the Council with enormous responsibilities to reconstruct our decaying state apparatus. As we took to the office, to our utter shock and dismay, we discovered how endemic corruption brought a functional democracy to a farce. How key institutions were ruthlessly politicized. How public coffers were reduced to rubble. How oligarchs took over business. How chosen few concentrated wealth in their hands and amassed and laundered wealth out of Bangladesh. In all, justice, ethics and morality, almost at every level, reached a low. Under such circumstances, we were asked to rebuild Bangladesh and re-establish the country that our people aspire to see, to correct the ills of the past, as also to build a competitive and agile economy and a just society. In a drastically changed scenario, all political parties are now free to voice their views and opinions. A key priority for us is also to make all in public positions and institutions to account for their decisions and actions. We are committed to promote and protect the fundamental rights for people to speak in freedom, to assemble without fear or inhibition, to vote whosoever they choose. This is what the nation desires and we aim to achieve. We are also committed to uphold the independence of the judiciary and freedom of press, including in the cyber domain. In order to ensure that the child of a farmer or worker can scale the highest in the society, we prioritize allocation in education and health sectors over grandiose infrastructure development. We also aim at ensuring good governance across all sectors. I wish to assure that our government shall adhere to all international regional and bilateral instruments that Bangladesh is party to. Bangladesh will continue to remain an active proponent of multilateralism with the UN at the core. Bangladesh is open to national friendly relations with all countries based on mutual respect, upholding our dignity and pride and shared interests. Mr. President, in the last seven weeks, the government has initiated several actions. At our request, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights has dispatched a fact-finding mission to investigate into the cross-human rights violations during the People’s Movement and to suggest for sustainable course correction. That mission has already started work on the ground in Bangladesh. I wish to register my deep appreciation to the High Commissioner, Paul Cutter. We have acceded to the International Convention for Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance within two weeks in office. The required national legislation is underway so that we can effectuate its early implementation. An inquiry commission has started investigating into all the cases of enforced disappearances reported during the past decade and a half. In order to restore people’s trust and confidence and to ensure that the tragic past never recur in future Bangladesh, we have initiated reforms in certain prioritized sectors. In that direction, we launched independent commissions to reform electoral system, constitution, judicial reform, civil administration, law and order sectors. A few more commissions are on the cards to reform other sectors including press and media. In order to create a conducive environment for business, we have rolled out extensive reforms in banking and financial sectors. We affirm not to let any foreign business interest to be affected. In our beyond rhetoric and numbers, we aim to establish effective safe I would therefore call on the international community to continue and deepen engagements with Bangladesh in meeting our people’s quest for democracy, rule of law, equality, prosperity so that we can emerge as a just and inclusive democratic society. Mr. President, Bangladesh feels that maintaining peace and addressing conflicts is central to people’s progress. During the recent revolution, our valiant armed forces have once again shown their commitment to peace by standing firmly with the people in fulfilling their aspirations for freedom during a most difficult time in our history. This was possible thanks to our commitment to peace, place human rights at the core of peacekeeping. Bangladesh remains equally committed to peacebuilding from the inception of the UN Peacebuilding Commission. We look forward to promoting and enhancing Bangladesh’s value-driven contributions to the UN peacekeeping operations. As the third largest troop-contributing country, our peacekeepers have served across 63 missions in 43 countries to date. One hundred sixty-eight Bangladeshi peacekeepers had laid their lives from Bosnia to Congo. We do hope that Bangladesh Defence Forces would continue to be called upon in the future UN peace operations, regardless of the challenges or circumstances. In our shared habitat, this world, many of the global priorities need to be set right. Climate change poses existential threat to all of us. The record-breaking heat wave this summer starkly reminded the world of the climate-induced challenges. What we need is climate justice, so that the irresponsible choices or indifferent actions or harms caused are accounted for. Long-term damages leave irreparable damages all around. We are losing biodiversity, changing pathogens leading to newer diseases, farming is under stress, shrinking water-threatening habitat, rising sea level and salinity decimating ecosystems. The damages in terms of rising intensity and frequency of cyclones or floods can hardly be ignored. The climate risks are faced far deeper by our small farmers and artisanal livelihood holders. As I speak, over 5 million people witnessed a most devastating flood in their living memory in eastern Bangladesh. Here, Secretary General Guterres showed that under the current trajectory, the world is heading for a plus 2.7 degree centigrade scenario. I would hence urge for channeling robust resources for climate adaptation in the climate-vulnerable countries like Bangladesh. It is moreover crucial to operationalize loss and damage fund by leveraging innovative solutions and additional finance. We equally need access to technologies and increased capacity. To be specific, we need access to life-saving technologies, particularly in agriculture, water, or public health, where trickle of modest solutions or innovations can save millions of vulnerable population. Tackling climate crisis has to go hand-in-hand in getting global economy in order as well. The world is increasingly focused on decarbonization. In order for such a shift to be beneficial to majority of global population, the transformative vision of a net-zero world has to redeem for countries like Bangladesh, else we risk falling short on our pledge to shared prosperity through shared responsibility. I believe the world needs to engage on a shared vision of three zeros that we can materialize together, targeting zero poverty, zero unemployment, and zero net carbon emissions. Anywhere in the world, we’ll have the opportunities to grow not as a job seeker, but as an entrepreneur. Where a young person can unleash his or her latent creativity despite all limitations. Where an entrepreneur can optimally balance social benefits, economic profits, and responsibility towards nature. Where social business can help an individual transcend beyond consumerism and can ultimately catalyze in social and economic transformation. Time demands new attitudes, new values, new compacts across communities and countries. Across developed and developing countries alike, across all actors and stakeholders. If we are to realize such course correction in full, the United Nations, national and local governments, non-governmental organizations, business philanthropies have to work together. If we accept and accommodate social business within existing economic structures, we can bring meaningful changes in the lives of the bottom half of the population. If we can realistically position social business, we can stay much of climate insensitive distortions within the existing market economy. I would like to invite the attention of the Secretary General, António Guterres, on that score. Mr. President, in a world of poli-crisis, wars and conflicts are leading to erosion of rights and widespread abuses. The genocide in Gaza continues unabated despite global pressure. Global Concerns and Condemnation. The situation in Palestine just does not concern the Arabs or the Muslims at large, rather the entire humanity. Palestinians are not expendable people. All those responsible for the crimes against humanity, against the Palestinian people, must be held accountable. Bangladesh calls for an immediate and complete ceasefire to protect the Palestinian people from the brutalities, particularly against the children and women. International community, including the UN, needs to act in earnest to implement the two-state solution that remains the only path to bring lasting peace in the Middle East. The two-and-a-half-year-long war in Ukraine has claimed far too many lives. The war has impacted far and wide, even lending deeper economic implications in Bangladesh. We would urge both sides to pursue dialogue to resolve the differences and end the war. Mr. President, seven years on, Bangladesh has been hosting 1.2 million Rohingyas on humanitarian ground, incurring significant social, economic, and environmental costs. The protracted crisis in Myanmar also poses growing risks with national and regional security implications for Bangladesh, both in traditional and non-traditional terms. We remain committed to supporting the forcibly displaced Rohingyas from Myanmar in Bangladesh. We need continued support of the international community towards the Rohingyas in carrying out the humanitarian operations and their sustainable repatriation. Particularly important is to ensure justice for the grave human rights violations committed against the Rohingyas through the ongoing accountability processes in the ICJ and the ICC. We recognize and appreciate the efforts of the Secretary General and the United Nations system in creating a conducive environment for Rohingyas so that they can lead a free and dignified life. That requires creating pathways for the Rohingyas to return to their ancestral home in Rakhine State with safety and rights. Looking at the evolving ground situation in Myanmar, Bangladesh is ready to work with the international community to create an environment for dignified and sustainable return of the Rohingyas to their homeland. Mr. President, ensuring peace and security cannot succeed without political freedom and socioeconomic emancipation of the people. Around a decade back, the world unanimously adopted the Agenda 2030. We reposed our collective hope and trust in the universal set of goals. Yet, overall, 17% of the SDG targets are on track to be achieved by 2030. Unfortunately many developing countries risk to be left behind. Every year developing countries face a significant SDG financing gap estimated between 2.5 to 4 trillion US dollars. High debt burdens, shrinking fiscal space and adverse impacts of climate change put countries like Bangladesh at greater risk. We look forward to the 4th International Conference on Financing for Development to deliver on addressing the complex and systemic challenges. The multilateral financing institutions have to be driven by a vision where wealth and opportunities can be accessed by all, that they rightfully place social business within respective programs, that they duly address the circumstances in the low-income countries, that they promote entrepreneurship and encourage creativity of individuals, that they support the dispossessed. In this regard, prevention of illicit financial flows and siphoning of resources from the developing countries merit greater attention. Entries international cooperation must re-channel the assets stolen from developing countries. We look forward to early conclusion of an international tax convention that can combat tax evasion. Mr. President, migration and mobility is an inescapable reality in an interconnected world. As a country of origin of migrants, over 11 million of our people live and work worldwide. In order for migration to be… To be beneficial for all, we have to create pathways for safe, orderly, regular and responsible migration and mobility of people. The international community has to ensure full respect for human rights and end inhuman treatment of migrants, regardless of their migration status. While Bangladesh remains committed to the full implementation of the Global Compact on Migration, our government is also committed to curb unsafe migration. Every year, nearly 2.5 million Bangladeshis enter our labour market. In a large population where nearly two-thirds is young, Bangladesh is challenged to make learning suited to meet the needs of today and tomorrow. Yet we see the world of work is changing where a young person has to adapt constantly, re-skill, adopt new attitudes. As Bangladesh is set to graduate as a middle-income country, we reckon the vital need to secure ourselves in terms of learning and technology. Let me speak about artificial intelligence. We are particularly enthused with the emergence of artificial intelligence tools and applications. Our youth are excited with the prospect of first unfolding generative AI. They aspire to work and work as global citizens. The world needs to ensure that no youth in countries like Bangladesh get left behind in meaningfully reaping benefits of the AI-led transformation. The world simultaneously needs to ensure that the development of artificial intelligence Artificial intelligence does not diminish the scope or demand for human labor. As the scientific community and world of technology keeps moving on developing autonomous intelligence, artificial intelligence that propagates on its own without any human intervention, we all need to be cautious of possible impact on every human person or our societies today and beyond. We believe that autonomous intelligence, if not, unless autonomous intelligence develops in a responsible manner, it can pose existential threat to human existence. Mr. President, we need new forms of collaboration where global business and knowledge holders connect to people’s needs. International cooperation should create space for developing countries in ways that can bring transformative applications or solutions for jobs, endemic socioeconomic challenges or livelihoods. Uniting our efforts, capacities and resources is increasingly crucial for us to leverage collective strengths, innovate and foster growth. The challenges we face in economic development, climate resilience or social development have to be addressed with common endeavors. In that context, South-South and triangular cooperation can help us, given our unique social and economic circumstances. It is also a growing necessity for the Global South to make our voices heard. In shaping and steering the global agenda, the Global South merits equal space and focus. Mr. President, The COVID times underlined before us the crucial importance of investing in public health. In the WHO, as Bangladesh leads the negotiations on Global Pandemic Treaty, we urge for convergence on the key provisions of adequate international cooperation, financing public health systems, technology transfer, research and development, diversification of production of medical diagnostics, vaccines and therapeutics. We also to declare vaccines a global public good that is free from the recourse of intellectual property. These are also crucial for combating the scourges of non-communicable disease. Mr. President, This year we celebrate the golden jubilee of Bangladesh’s partnership with the United Nations. It has been a shared journey of mutual learning in our modest ways. Bangladesh contributed towards promoting global peace and security, justice, equality, human rights, social progress and prosperity, and indeed in building a rules-based international order. For instance, I recall the microcredit resolution and the Friends of Microcredit that was formed in the UN General Assembly back in 1999 with exceeding spontaneity. The United Nations declared 2005 as the year of microcredit that resulted in global reach of microcredit. The Annual General Assembly Resolution on Culture of Peace since 2001, or the Resolution 1325 in the Security Council on Women, Peace and Security, may be worth recalling as well. Mr. President, as the great hall reverberates with crying call for peace, security, justice, inclusivity, and equitable distribution of wealth, as states, we need to reflect on how we embolden men and women today, create space for them to grow as entrepreneurs of tomorrow. The world has more than enough of capacity, resources, and solutions. Let us redeem all the pledges we made nationally and internationally. Let us work together to end all forms of inequality and discrimination within and among nations, especially in advancing the proposition of social business in our economic interactions. The youth in Bangladesh have showed that upholding freedom, dignity, and rights of people, regardless of distinction and status, cannot just remain aspirational. It is just what everybody deserves. In this Assembly of Nations, Bangladesh should assure that we would and continue to deliver our bid at international, regional, and national levels. In securing peace, prosperity, justice for everyone. I thank you for your attention.

President: On behalf of the Assembly, I wish to thank the Chief Advisor of the Interim Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh. The Assembly will now hear an address by His Excellency Dorin Recean, Prime Minister of the Republic of Moldova. I request protocol to escort His Excellency and invite him to address the Assembly.

Dorin Recean – Moldova: Thank you. Mr. President, Mr. Secretary General, Excellencies, It is an honor to represent my country, the Republic of Moldova, at this unique forum where small and large nations alike address core issues on the global agenda. Climate change, poverty, and the global cost of living crisis are our generational challenges. So is peace and security. For some time now, it seemed we were living in a rules-based international system which strongly discouraged geopolitical conquest, spheres of influence, and disregard for the aspirations of smaller nations. The world proved to be a much safer place when smaller nations have a say and the choices their people make are respected. Peace and security, prosperity, and free choice is the core agenda for Moldova today. Generations of our intellectuals, writers, and civic activists have fought for our independence. These have succeeded in making Moldova free. After 33 years of independence, we see it in the confidence of our youth, in the revitalization of our culture, and in the way our people stand proud on the international stage, knowing their future lies in their own hands. Very next to us, Russia’s unprovoked and unjust war of aggression against Ukraine threatens the fabric of our international order. It throws us back to the times of great power politics, when a large state pursues cynical geopolitical designs to divide the region into spheres of influence and annex smaller neighbors, denying them a say in their own destiny. For Moldova, this is not a mere distance memory. It is a looming threat. Moldova knows all too well the consequences, and we are determined to never return to those times. Don’t forget, Kremlin doesn’t want us at the table. Kremlin wants us on the table, never mind all the excuses and the circumstances. Compulsion and raw force are perpetuated and complemented now with hybrid warfare, malign influence, and subversion of the democratic state. And these latest developments, ladies and gentlemen, are threatening not only Moldova. We see them escalating throughout the democratic world, too. Even mature democracies find it difficult to cope with witnessing polarization and division. Therefore, Ukraine is now fighting not just for its statehood, nation, and its very existence. It is fighting for each nation’s freedom to choose and many others. Moldova stands by and in solidarity with Ukraine in defense against Kremlin’s aggression. We urge the international community to timely provide all necessary support to Ukraine. Distinguished audience, despite the war at our border, Moldova remains an active and committed contributor to regional security. We are a reliable partner for our neighbors, Romania and Ukraine, as well as the European Union. We have preserved peace and security in Moldova. At the same time, we have supported humanitarian efforts by welcoming over one million Ukrainian refugees and ensuring their safety. Peace is not just our goal, it is our duty. Peace remains our core commitment. Moldova is also committed to a just, peaceful resolution of the Transnistrian conflict with full respect for Moldova’s sovereignty and territorial integrity within its internationally recognized borders. For this to happen, Russia’s illegal military presence must end. I call on the international community to reaffirm the need for the immediate and unconditional withdrawal of the Russian military from Moldova. This is not just about Moldova, it’s about upholding international law, safeguarding regional stability, and ensuring that no country’s sovereignty is compromised by foreign military presence. Ladies and gentlemen, Moldova’s destiny belongs to Moldovans, not outside powers. Kremlin’s efforts to suppress the dignity and will of the people of Moldova through both internal subversion and external intimidation have no place in the 21st century. Despite our differences We have always taken big decisions as a nation together and have proudly reaffirmed our national dignity and self-worth. The social compact of our society is individual freedoms, human rights, competitive elections, and open society, not Kremlin’s satellite state. Today our people are closer than ever to fulfilling these aspirations. We are full of hope and determination, hope for a democratic, prosperous future in the European family of nations to which we rightfully belong. And this hope is firmly rooted in Moldova’s collective achievements over the past years, determined to work hard and tirelessly to become a proud member of the EU’s peaceful and prosperous family. Moldova stands today stronger and more united. Despite flooding Moldova with illicit money, propaganda, and falsehoods, and waging a fully fledged hybrid attack, Kremlin has failed to divide our house against itself. Moldova is no longer a grey zone, a profitable money laundering enterprise for unscrupulous oligarchs and foreign powers who plundered the state and the people and manipulated institutions for their benefit. International sanctions against these perpetrators have helped, and we are working to return their stolen money. Our commitment to reform is unwavering, and we have made progress in cleaning up its justice system and law enforcement. The international community has recognized these efforts, with Moldova’s corruption perception and rule of law rankings improving significantly. We acted to make our economy resilient, even in the face of the regional instability. Despite proximity to the war zone, Moldova’s business environment is improving, though slowly. Small and medium enterprises have a more promising outlook, and exports of high-quality products are picking up thanks to our access to European markets. Moldova is doing digital and is bringing the government closer to its citizens. Over the past few years, more has been invested in infrastructure than over ten years before that. Our energy independence is now a reality. Energy can no longer be used to blackmail and extract geopolitical concessions. Moldova’s energy security is ensured by its integration in the regional and international grids and markets. And we proceed to a fast-paced agenda of renewables and energy efficiency. Resilience is not just about security. It is about our institutions, which are stronger today than ever before, thanks to the support received from our partners. Institutions are better prepared to safeguard the choices of the Moldovan people from external interference. Crucially, Moldova has genuinely opened itself to the world. In recognition of the country’s progress, in December of 2023, EU leaders unanimously agreed to open accession negotiations with Moldova. This is our most significant achievement since independence, and we are committed to be ready to join the EU by 2030. Our European path is a matter of vital national interest and our strongest guarantee of peace, democracy, and development. On October 20th, Moldova will reaffirm its European choice in a referendum to enshrine EU integration into our constitution. Russia may continue its attempts to disrupt Moldova’s path through the threats, disinformation, and destabilization to change the sovereign choice of the Moldovan people. They want to keep Moldova captive in its past, but we, the Moldovan people, are united in determination. Only we can choose our future. We will not return the country to oligarchs who… Blander the state and want to once again turn the country into their personal fiefdom, which yields massive wealth to a few but fails the majority. We will not return to a past dominated by oligarchs and corruption. We will not be dragged back into a sphere of influence that does not reflect our aspirations. The people of Moldova choose freedom. We choose Europe. And next month, we will reaffirm the goal of our generation, fully-fledged membership in the EU, a union which has supported Moldova throughout our independence. I will touch on climate change issues now. Moldova has long been known for a temperate, welcoming climate and agricultural fertility. But just over the past year, we have aced the most severe weather extremes in our history, devastating snowfalls, unprecedented droughts, and heatwaves, and severe floods. They cause massive damages and disruptions like never before in our history. These challenges are not hypothetical. They are here, and they threaten the livelihoods of our farmers, economy, the infrastructure of our villages and towns, and the future of our children. Climate change risks destroying many things we heavily rely on throughout the planet. In this context, we welcome the adoption of the Pact for the Future by the United Nations General Assembly. This is a significant step towards building a more effective, inclusive, and sustainable global order. It reaffirms our collective responsibility to future generations. We are committed to working alongside the international community to turn these pledges into concrete actions that will shape a better, more resilient world. As a final remark, Moldova stands at its historic crossroads, both as a nation and as a member of the international community. The Moldovan people will not allow it to be stripped of its agency. Moldova chooses peace, democracy, freedom, and rule of law over war, authoritarianism, and repression. For us, this means Europe. It is our choice, and it strengthens our resolve to move more decisively towards the EU. A peace and prosperity project while rejecting war. Gresham, and any assaults on human dignity. Dear Moldovans, from home and abroad, now is the time to join our efforts, to be consolidated, and to bring the Republic of Moldova where it belongs, in the great European family, where peace and prosperity are ensured. Thank you.

President: On behalf of the Assembly, I wish to thank the Prime Minister of the Republic of Moldova. The Assembly will hear an address by His Excellency Charlot Salwai Tabimasmas, Prime Minister of the Republic of Vanuatu. I request protocol to escort His Excellency and invite him to address the Assembly.

Charlot Salwai Tabimasmas – Vanuatu: Mr. President, Excellencies, Heads of State and Government, Mr. Secretary General, Distinguished Delegates, Ladies and Gentlemen, I have the great honor to address this eminent Assembly on behalf of the Government and of the people of the Republic of Vanuatu. Mr. President, I join previous speakers in extending my sincere congratulations to you upon your election as President of the 79th Session of the General Assembly. You can count on my delegation’s full support and cooperation as you steer the work of this august Assembly. I commend your predecessor, and I welcome you. And the theme of this session, Leaving Nobody Behind, Acting Together for the Advancement of Peace, Sustainable Development and Human Dignity for Present and Future Generations, because it addresses the global challenges of our time. Mr President, 79 years after the creation of the United Nations, our efforts to create a better world for current and future generations are quite simply disappointing. It is alarming that after all these years, we continue to be plagued by multiple world crises, undermining the promise of the Charter of the United Nations and failing our peoples, the most vulnerable in particular. Vanuatu welcomes the latest UN Secretary General’s report, which highlights the fact that we are significantly falling short of our objectives to achieve the SDGs, prompting the need to fast-track actions to scale up the implementation of the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals. We risk crossing a dangerous temperature threshold over the next 10 years, and that’s why Vanuatu has requested an advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice to give some clarity on the legal obligations of states when it comes to climate change. This is an initiative that was subject to unprecedented global attention. The opinion received by the courts as part of this procedure is in our consensus-based resolution of last year, providing legal clarity on the obligations and responsibilities of states when it comes to the climate. This does not seek to blame or stigmatize any particular country, but rather it seeks to shed light on existing international rules and regulations and the obligations of all states when it comes to creating a solid basis for concrete climate action and for climate justice based on shared responsibility and accountability. I launch an appeal to all of the members of the United Nations, especially other climate vulnerable nations, to participate in these historic hearings which begin on the 2nd of December 2024. Your voices are crucial in ensuring that the Court fully grasps the implications of climate change for the most affected, and will unite us in our shared commitment to justice and human rights as part of a more sustainable future. Mr President, Vanuatu’s economy fared well when we maintained our status as a least-developing country. When we graduated, our structural challenges and vulnerabilities remained, while increasing costs continued to soar. We reiterate the need for our development partners to support us in phasing out our LDC-specific support in a gradual and predictable manner. Small island economies also continue to face multiple crises amid tightening financial conditions and rising borrowing costs. This has increased our debt distress risk and undermined our ability to invest in our recoveries. Vanuatu welcomes the outcome of the Summit of the Future, calling for global, concerted efforts to reform the global economic and financial architecture to make it fit for the challenges of this century. We call for sweeping reforms of the Bretton Woods institutions to restructure the international monetary and financial system in order to better reflect the evolving global realities and challenges, including the establishment of an international sovereign debt workout mechanism to solve current debt crises in developing countries, particularly in the most vulnerable. Vanuatu and other small island economies are struggling with the onslaught of climate-induced disasters, and while we continue to try to build resilience and adapt to climate change, we are moving backwards too often. Vanuatu loses over half of its GDP every time a severe cyclone strikes. We have had five severe cyclones in the past three years. The latest Adaptation Fund report estimates that a current adaptation finance gap of between $194 and $366 billion a year. As a country in the front line of frequent and intensifying climate disasters, Vanuatu calls for a new finance goal that will accelerate the transition away from fossil fuels, build resilience, and realistically address loss and damage. In light of these initiatives to mitigate and adapt to climate change, Vanuatu also believes it is of crucial importance to prevent the severest harms to our planet’s vital and climate-regulating ecosystems before they occur. It is for this reason that we have taken the formal step of proposing an independent crime of ecocide to We thank delegations for their existing support, in particular Fiji and Samoa for their co-sponsorship of the proposal, and we recognize that there is broad and growing support for this initiative around the world. Mr. President, Vanuatu and many Pacific Island states have faced multiple correspondent banking withdrawals restricting financial inflows, including delay in the transfer of international development funds and humanitarian and disaster relief funds, as well as discouraging private sector investment. This is despite genuine efforts to improve and enforce national money laundering and finance for terrorism regulations. Safeguarding uninterrupted access to international financial services is essential for fast cross border payments, including remittances and export revenues. We welcome the efforts made by the World Bank to help Pacific Island countries address this issue, among others earlier this month. Mr. President, in 2019, Vanuatu presented its first Voluntary National Review, VNR, highlighting a very positive message of progress despite extreme vulnerability to climate-related disasters. The presentation of the second Voluntary National Review this year at the High-Level Political Forum highlighted significant challenges in our pursuit to achieve sustainable development. We continue to endure increasingly frequent and severe tropical cyclones, which were compounded by the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, and there is no clear trajectory or end in sight. However, the prospect of future disasters is looming. The government and people of Vanuatu have had to continuously adapt and strengthen resilience mechanisms to mitigate the impacts of these persistent threats and disruptions. Mr. President, fulfilling the SDGs is not merely an aspiration, but rather a necessity for us. The 2023 SDG Summit saw the adoption of a strong political declaration and launched a new phase of accelerated action to achieve the SDGs by 2030. In July this year, the convening of the High-Level Political Forum, let again, serves as a platform to follow up and review the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development with an aim to galvanise real transformational change. to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. More so, the recent convening of the Summit for the Future aims to rally collective support to deliver faster and smarter on the 2030 Agenda, the Addis Ababa Action Agenda and the Paris Agreement on Climate Change. It is my hope that the reforms highlighted in the Pact for the Future will enable us to rebuild trust again in the multilateral system. The Pact for the Future requires strong political will to drive transformative actions that will usher in a brighter future for all. Mr President, financing is the fuel for development, yet at the very heart of our lack of making real progress in achieving the SDGs lies a lack of financing. We remain at the front lines of a climate emergency that not only threatens our overall sustainable development, but time and again, given the lack of affordable alternatives, we are forced to incur unsustainable levels of debt to finance recovery from natural disasters. The international financial architecture, therefore, must be reformed to address the urgent challenges of today. Our varying needs must be embedded into the global economic and financial system so that it is more inclusive, fair and responsive to all. This includes developing tailored support and solutions that also facilitate easier access to affordable, long-term finance and address the decline in corresponding banking relations. Likewise, there must be a stronger push to enhance the representation and meaningful participation of SIDS in global economic and financial institutions. Mr President, Vanuatu, like many of our Pacific neighbours, continues to face acute existential health and development threats, including the burden of non-communicable diseases and malnutrition, as well as threats from future pandemics. COVID-19 and severe tropical cyclones expose Vanuatu to its fragile health infrastructure and the need to invest in a health system that can better respond to the needs of its people and to future pandemics that will be resilient to climate change and related natural disasters. We urge the World Health Organization and SIDS partners to work together to enhance access to sustainable financing, to support our efforts to prevent and control non-communicable diseases and to build a health system that is fit for purpose. Mr President, advancing the agenda of leaving no one behind in the context of the non-self-governing territories means that we must work constructively to complete the work of decolonization. Recently, the First Peoples of New Caledonia were not content with the manner in which the third referendum for political independence from France was conducted. As a result, riots took place which led to several deaths and stalling of economic activity. It’s essential to recognize the rights of First Peoples to their lands, oceans and culture. I encourage the First People of New Caledonia to work together with France to address their political future. In the meantime, New Caledonia must remain in the decolonization list. In a similar vein, we call for the rights of the First People of West Papua to be respected. I am pleased that they work together with the Indonesian government to address their challenges and to obtain greater autonomy for West Papua for greater participation in decision-making. To achieve sustainable development we need peace. Today some regions of the world are not able to enjoy sustainable development due to the inability of the United Nations to maintain international peace and security. We call for the urgent reform of the UN Security Council to ensure that it is fit for purpose and able to meet the challenges of our time. We are deeply concerned over the greatest threat to international peace and security posed by the continued existence of nuclear weapons. With the current heightened global geopolitical tensions we call for a renewed and strengthened effort to come out of the current impasse in achieving nuclear disarmament and nuclear non-proliferation in all of its aspects. We further call for the United Nations Charter to be respected. In today’s fractured and polarised world we need to accelerate our efforts to work together and rebuild trust in the multilateral system, the UN at its centre. The summit of the future offers us hope and now we need to move from rhetoric to real actions on the ground. We need peace for the advancement of sustainable development and human dignity for present and future generations. It’s essential to act on finance as a driving force for development. Thank you.

President: On behalf of the Assembly, I wish to thank the Prime Minister of the Republic of Vanuatu. The Assembly will hear an address by His Excellency Andrej Plenkovic, Prime Minister of the Republic of Congo. Croatia, I request protocol to escort His Excellency, invite him to address the Assembly.

Andrej Plenkovic – Croatia: Mr. President, Excellencies, distinguished ladies and gentlemen, today we should stand united in the face of unprecedented global challenges. From the proliferation of conflicts and deteriorating geopolitical situation, to climate crisis and food security, the world is at a critical juncture where every nation, regardless of its size, plays a vital role. Croatia’s journey over the past 34 years has been a testament to resilience and determination. Emerging from a conflict and building a modern, progressive state, we have positioned ourselves as active contributors on the global stage. As we convene here, Croatia brings not just its experience, but a deep commitment to fostering peace, advancing sustainable development, and upholding human rights as fundamental values rooted in our history. We live in a world increasingly ablaze. As a country that has endured conflict and the painful process of post-war recovery, we understand firsthand the value of peace, security, and international solidarity. Our journey from a nation affected by aggression to a contributor to global peace efforts equips us with a unique perspective. The lessons we have learned about resilience, reconciliation, and the importance of upholding international law shape our commitment to promoting peace and security worldwide. In a world facing intensifying crisis, from Ukraine to Middle East and Sudan, Croatia stands firm in its belief. that every nation has the right to self-determination and protection under the UN Charter. The Russia’s brutal aggression against Ukraine continues well into its third year, trampling all tenets of international law. While Ukrainian civilians continue to die and suffer, the largest active nuclear power plant in Europe is also at risk. This undermines all principles of nuclear safety and may bring about catastrophic consequences with cross-border impact. All member states of the United Nations have the right to be independent, and their people must be free to choose their own path. They must not depend on their neighbors’ permission, nor should they be left alone to succumb to a neighbor’s military aggression. In that vein, we will not tire in our support to Ukrainian sovereignty and territorial integrity and in our assistance, and we call upon all to do the same. At the same time, the looming threat of a wider conflict in the Middle East is evident. The heinous terrorist attack on Israel on 7 October horrified us. So did the unspeakable continued tragedy since endured by the Palestinian civilian population in Gaza, where thousands were killed and wounded. Whatever historical or present grievances continuing down this path will not bring a lasting resolution, only more death and destruction. We call for the immediate and unconditional release of all remaining hostages and on both sides to engage in genuine negotiations to end hostilities and prevent further escalation. The Middle East and its people deserve a better future, the rest of the world as well. The wars in Ukraine and in the Middle East are overshadowing the immense humanitarian and civilian catastrophe. This is even more alarming considering the context of increasing fragmentation of the security architecture in many parts of the African continent. Reversing this trend should be seen as a priority by all of us. We must not leave Africa behind. A continent where half of the population is younger than 19 should and must be seen as a source of hope for humanity, not as an afterthought. The UN Charter is not just another document we can simply and easily replace. The world’s constitution must be upheld more than ever before. Reinvigoration of effective multilateralism with the UN in its center must not be reduced to a phrase we use on the occasions like this. In the same vein, we must not falter when it comes to strengthening international arms control, disarmament, and a non-proliferation architecture. This is essential not just to avoid conflict, instability, or even greater tragedies, but to reduce the already heightened risks of escalations, either deliberate or as a result of a misunderstanding. Extremist and terrorist groups and their affiliates continue to pose a severe threat around the world, leaving no society safe. Their continued expansion in various regions and the increasing level of violence they resort to only remind us that countering and preventing terrorism requires long-term commitment as well as continued coordinated efforts of the entire international community. As a country that proudly hosted, supported, and enabled the success of the United Nations Transitional Administration for Eastern Slavonia, rightly considered by many as the most successful peacekeeping mission in the history of the United Nations, and which managed to join just a decade ago NATO after the departure of the last UN peacekeeper, we know all too well the meaning of peacebuilding, its significance, and the efforts it requires. As this year’s vice chair of the Peacebuilding Commission and last year’s chair, Croatia supports strengthening the links between the three pillars of the United Nations – peace and security, development, and human rights. There is no peace without sustainable development and no sustainable development without peace. There is little time left to strengthen our focus on prevention at all levels. For the Peacebuilding Commission, it means to focus more on structural prevention through national prevention strategies and operational prevention by sending flexible civilian missions upon a country’s request. The 2025 review of the peacebuilding architecture will be a crucial moment to strengthening the PBC and to broaden its mandate and give it some decision-making powers. You can count on Croatia’s active participation to share its experience and in view of its candidature to be again a member of the PBC in 2026. Croatia is also proud that today a Croatian company is a global leader in robotic demining and we are actively supporting Ukraine by providing our expertise to assist in the clearance of mines and unexploded ordnance in conflict-affected areas. Ladies and gentlemen, we are committed to sustainable development, which is deeply rooted in its unique position as one of the most biodiverse and nature-rich countries in Europe. Often referred to as the nature park of Europe, Croatia has long recognized the importance of preserving its natural resources. Our achievements in renewable energy, where we rank among the top in the European Union and our strong performance in meeting the UN Sustainable Development Goals reflect a national strategy that balances economic growth and social stability with environmental stewardship. As we stand at the crossroads of environmental crisis and digital transformation, Croatia’s experience offers valuable insights into how we can harness innovation while protecting our planet for future generations. The path we take today will determine our future tomorrow. Therefore, we must choose it wisely. Croatia and its national development strategy till 2030 espoused a vision of a competitive, and safe country with a recognizable identity and culture, a country with preserved resources, quality living conditions, and equal opportunities for all. We have built our strategy on the three main interrelated dimensions. The Digital Transformation of Our Societies is inevitably changing our way of life and our way of doing business more rapidly and intensively than any transition in the last century. We are transforming our state and public administration businesses and society, and half of our population is using the digital services of the state. Croatia’s IT industry is competitive and booming. At the same time, while new and emerging technologies are unlocking great potential, they also come with risks. To manage these, we need effective, accountable, and inclusive institutions at all levels, as well as informed citizens. My government will continue with policies which promote this path. Croatia’s greatest challenge of the 21st century is climate change, coupled with loss of biodiversity, reduction of food and natural resources, increase in the number of droughts, fires, and floods, as well as the acceleration of the sea level rise. Croatia is located in the Mediterranean, one of the world’s regions expected to be hit hardest by climate change. It is not by accident that Croatia got a portfolio for the Mediterranean in the new European Commission. This summer, we saw record-breaking heat waves, followed by torrential rains in our part of Europe only last week. The green transition is therefore pivotal for us all. Promoting nature-based solutions is one of our main national tools for climate change and adaptation and migration. For this reason, we need to strengthen the multilateral system of dealing with climate, biodiversity, and sustainable development. We need to put more efforts in dealing with climate as a threat amplifier that endangers security and stability of many regions and countries in the world, especially in Africa. We spare no effort to integrate the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals in our national policies and initiatives and strategies and into the reinforced and reformed global governing structure. We are proud that our reforms and investments have earned Croatia a high eighth place among 193 UN member states, according to the 2024 Sustainable Development Report. Finally, for Croatia, all these measures culminate also in a demographic revitalization as another key national structural priority. We consider it an indispensable element of our resilience, competitiveness, and a prerequisite for a successful, sustainable growth. Ladies and gentlemen, our deep commitment to human rights stems from our own difficult The violations of fundamental rights that we endured as a nation have shaped our understanding of the importance of protecting human rights, dignity, justice and equality. Croatia’s journey from a war-torn country to a strong advocate for human rights in the international arena has given us a unique perspective on the necessity of upholding these principles. With this background, we remain steadfast in our dedication to promoting human rights, preventing atrocities and providing humanitarian assistance to those in need, both at home and abroad. The 2030 Agenda sets out a vision for a sustainable development grounded in international human rights standards, promoting one of the main values of the UN Charter, to leave no one behind. Only through respect for human rights can we achieve a more peaceful, equal and sustainable world. Croatia will continue to champion this cause. As a country still searching for 1,792 missing persons from the homeland war, Croatia spares no efforts to end the anguish of uncertainty for their families. We shall never cease the search for them, and we shall never stop demanding answers from those who know their fate. We contribute by sharing our acquired expertise with interested countries and by advocating for the missing persons everywhere in the world, in our national capacity and as a committed member of the Global Alliance for the Missing. Croatia is today extending its support to Ukraine by offering its expertise in prosecuting war crimes and making its seasoned experts available to assist Ukraine in navigating the complex process of accountability and justice, drawing from its own experience in addressing the aftermath of war crimes committed during the homeland war. Committed to eradicating domestic violence and violence against women, we have introduced femicide as a distinct criminal offense. Our goal is to ensure that domestic violence and violence against women is eradicated. We are committed to eradicating domestic violence and violence against women. is the elimination of gender discrimination and creation of conditions for real equality of women and men in society, at home as well as abroad, and in the multilateral system. This is why Croatia promotes women, peace and security at the global level, as we know the disproportionate effect of conflict on women, but we have also seen how women, when participating in all peace building and sustaining peace process, are agents of change and harbingers of peace. Croatia also advocates a comprehensive approach to issues affecting persons with disabilities. This includes mainstreaming disability in all fields of human rights. With this in mind, in the UN, we will be leading an effort by a cross-regional group of countries to proclaim the International Day of Deaf-Blindness. This resolution will hopefully contribute to understanding, as well as encourage and inspire national and legal recognition of deaf-blindness as a distinct and unique disability worldwide. In the past three years, Croatia has also been honored to serve as a co-chair of the Group of Friends of Responsibility to Protect in New York. We still believe more has to be done in terms of atrocity prevention and the operationalization of the Responsibility to Protect concept. In the humanitarian context, we are facing worse circumstances than ever. Croatia presides this year over the humanitarian affairs segment of the Economic and Social Council against the challenging backdrop of unresolved conflicts and eruption and escalation of new ones, climate-related disasters, disease outbreaks, economic shocks, and famine for millions of people. Focusing the discussion on the consequences of the erosion of respect for international humanitarian law, clear and strong calls were heard across the board for upholding international humanitarian law, ending impunity, bolstering women’s leadership, addressing climate emergency, and for ethical and responsible use of new technologies. Ladies and gentlemen, as one of equal successor states of former Yugoslavia, Croatia is among the founders of the United Nations. Following the dissolution of former Yugoslavia in the midst of defending itself from aggression and invasion, 32 years ago Croatia reconfirmed its commitment to the UN Charter, this time as a free, sovereign, and independent member states of the United Nations. Ours is a journey of liberty and democracy, a pursuit of peace and prosperity, of vigilant defense of human rights and dignity, while honoring the values and principles of multilateralism and international cooperation that the UN embodies. Our experience as a small but resilient nation with a deep understanding of peace, security, and development underscores the importance of reforming and revitalizing the UN to ensure it remains fit to address the global challenges of today and tomorrow. The Pact for the Future, a pivotal document for strengthening multilateralism that we adopted earlier this week, elaborates about both General Assembly and Security Council reform, and we believe we should further strengthen, reform, and revitalize these two institutions. While the role of the GA has been strengthened recently with regard to issues which the Security Council failed to address, more should be done in relation to the maintenance of international peace and security. This relates also to the cooperation of the General Assembly with both the Security Council, the Economic and Social Committee, and the Peacebuilding Commission. The UN Secretariat should be made fit for purpose, and the selection of the Secretary General and all other, especially high-level posts, need to be guided by the principles of merit, transparency, inclusiveness, gender, and geographic rotation. Finally, allow me to reflect on Southeast Europe, a region in our neighborhood. As a country with deep expertise and a nuanced understanding of Southeast Europe, we stand as a model of successful integration into both the European Union and NATO. This unique position not only gives us Croatia a special status within the region, but also grants its significant authority in advocating for peace, stability, and European aspirations of our neighbors. Croatia consistently encourages our Western Balkan partners to invest even more in fulfilling the established criteria. Regional cooperation and good neighborly relations, along with solving outstanding issues and disputes, remain an essential, indispensable part of the process. The merit-based approach and rewarding individual achievements in fulfilling the standards will accelerate accession to the European family. In this regard, those who cooperate in good faith, align with the EU’s, for instance, foreign policy resolutions and positions, and conduct genuine reforms should move ahead on their EU accession path. Of particular importance for us is the stability of our neighboring Bosnia and Herzegovina, with which we share more than a thousand kilometers long border. In order to achieve security and stability in the country, the constitutional full equality of the three constituent peoples – Croats, Bosniaks, and Serbs – must be ensured, and the Dayton-Paris Accords, the peace treaties that ended the war and confirmed the Multinational, Multiconfessional and Multicultural Bosnia and Herzegovina must be upheld. In conclusion, the story of our country is one of transformation from a nation, rebuilding after war to a committed partner within the global community. Our journey reflects the power of collaboration, vision and perseverance. As we look ahead, Croatia is ready to join, to continue contributing to a world where peace, justice, human rights and sustainable development are attainable for all. Together, through multilateralism, we can overcome today’s challenges and build a future where every country, every citizen can thrive. The path may be long and difficult, but by standing united, we can make it a reality. Let us move forward with renewed purpose, ensuring that the foundations we build today will support a prosperous and peaceful tomorrow. Thank you for your attention.

President: On behalf of the Assembly, I wish to thank the Prime Minister of the Republic of Croatia. The Assembly will hear an address by His Excellency James Marape, Prime Minister of the Independent State of Papua New Guinea. I request protocol to escort His Excellency and invite him to address the Assembly.

James Marape – Papua New Guinea: His Excellency Mr. Philmon Yang, President of the General Assembly. His Excellency Mr. Antonio Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations, Distinguished Head of State and Head of Governments, Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen. It is my honor to address this August Hall once again on behalf of my people of Papua New Guinea. Mr. President, firstly, let me congratulate you, the government and people of Cameroon on your successful election to lead the work of the 79th session of the the General Assembly. I thank your predecessor, His Excellency Mr. Dennis Francis, for his excellent leadership during the 78th UN General Assembly. I also extend my gratitude to the United Nations Secretary General for his strong leadership to mobilize the support of the global community on key issues that require our collective efforts, especially in dealing with climate change-related matters. Mr. President, you selected a theme for this debate, leaving no one behind, acting together for the advancement of peace, sustainable development, and human dignity for the present and future generations, I believe is very pertinent. I thank you and commend your foresight in drawing our collective attention to the work we must still do for peace and humanity, considering the vast challenges that continue to threaten our society and what we face today. Mr. President, I speak on three threats to humanity that is complementary to your theme. These threats, in my view, are religious intolerance, poverty induced by climate change, and geopolitical differences and sovereignty contests over territories and people. And I will prefix this statement here with my country as a backdrop. Mr. President, Papua New Guinea is the world’s most culturally and linguistically diverse nation, with over 830 languages in a myriad of sub-ethnicities and sub-cultures that are still authentically indigenous today as I speak. A real-time modern nation of 1,000 tribes. And we embrace this diversity and do our utmost best to function as one people, one nation, and one country in our intention to leave no one behind. In terms of environment, Mr. President, my country hosts up to 7% of the world’s biodiversity, mostly housed within a tropical rainforest that is the third largest in the world and has a vast marine ecosystem. We sustainably manage our forests, land, and sea because our livelihood depends on them. Papua New Guinea, in a small way, teaches the world on how living in balance with nature, tolerating cultural diversities, and practicing environmental The father of our country, our modern Papua New Guinea, the late, great Grand Chief Sir Michael Thomas Somare, was a champion in this regard. In fact, Sir Michael championed the course of Article 5 that has found its place into Paris Agreement, as I speak today, early in the year 2000. This is a reflection of Papua New Guinea’s strong affinity to the forest, land and sea. In this regard, my country has been contributing to the public or global discourse over the last two decades in as far as environmental management is concerned and matters relating to climate change. Unfortunately, this has been met with very little return of action. However, we continue to stand ready to assist the United Nations firmly in this area. Mr President, over the last 49 years of our country’s history as an independent nation, our challenges have been many, compounded by vast ethno-linguistic adversities and cultural complexities and a small size of economy. However, we have remained as one people and one nation. We have moved in the last 49 years. We started off as a least developed nation. Today, we have entered the middle-income earning nation status and we intend in the next 20 years to migrate from where we are today to a high-income earning nation by 2025. In doing that, we will migrate from being just a raw resource exporter to a manufacturing economy within the next decade. Mr President, I want to assure you all that all this is being done in total alignment and we have aligned our development agendas to the United Nations Charter, especially consistent with the 17 Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations. Our aspirations mirror that of this August institution. In fact, in 1975, when we gained independence, our National Consistional Eight-Point Plan directs not just my government today but government into the future, as it was in the past governments that led my country on our national aspirations to leave no person behind. Mr President, our nation’s Vision 2050 that was launched in 2010 compels governments to develop Papua New Guinea into a top 50 nation by 2050 in terms of Human Development Index. Papua New Guinea looks forward to submitting to the United Nations a full progressive report in July of 2025 at the High-Level Political Forum. Mr. President, if you can indulge me in sharing an insight into managing a diverse multicultural people and what has helped us to blend as one nation, I put to you the role of Christian missionaries and their work that dates back to 1845 when the first Catholic missionaries arrived in my country. In 1975, when we gained independence, Christianity became profound. Consistency with your theme, Christianity in PNG has been the frontrunner, bearing message of unity, peace, and sustainable coexistence, embracing diversity of cultures, languages, and tribes into one human family, living in our natural environment as God has created. Since then, Christian churches have contributed immensely to our country’s development through their health and education programs. Real Christianity teaches love, peace, unity, forgiveness, giving meaning to leaving no person behind. Whilst PNG is identified as a Christian nation, Mr. President, I want to assure you and all who are listening that Section 45 of our nation’s constitution protects individuals’ right to choose and practice of faith and religion. We subscribe strongly to Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights on Freedom of Thought, Conscience, and Religion. United Nations has been the anchor of this God-given right of humanity, and I offer my complete support to the protection of individuals’ choice and rights to practice their faith, and ask that this remains a key duty of United Nations. Mr. President, since the dawn of humanity, history teaches us that many wars have been fought and many lives lost as a result of religious intolerance. We see that happening today. Earth’s history is stained with blood of innocent people who have died. from state, tribe, or church sanctioned killings. The United Nations, Mr. President, must condemn laws that encroach upon individual choice of religion and worship. This is a God-given right. And I see the issue of enforcement of religion upon one another as a threat to peace and coexistence of mankind. I ask the United Nations to keep watch over religious freedom of all people, especially minority people in society where major religions are practiced. Mr. President, the second threat I see facing humanity is poverty, and especially poverty induced by climate change. The pursuit of wealth has caused man to plant the heads of its resources beyond the threshold of sustainability, with little consideration for our children’s future. The acceleration of climate change, for instance, is a direct result of mankind’s insatiable appetite for resources. An attitude of survival of the fittest, nations and corporations jostle and stampede over each other in order to harvest resources, causing environmental degradation, deforestation, burning of cheaper fossil fuel, and pollution, spurring our planet into climate catastrophes that will further engender poverty. Oceans nations like mine continue to live with the climate change-induced sea level rise and weather pattern changes that has now become an accidental threat. That is why we welcome the Chair’s summary of the High-Level Meeting on Sea Level Rise. Together with other Pacific Island countries, we continue to recognize the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea as a legal framework within which all activities in the ocean and seas must be carried out. We reaffirm commitment to the Pacific Island Forum Declaration of Continuity of Seas. We stand united in the support of Vanuatu-led United Nations General Assembly proposal for the inclusion of sea level rise as a standalone agenda in the United Nations General Assembly and other relevant United Nations processes. Mr. President, despite our economic needs, PNG remains committed to safeguarding both our blue ocean life and our green forest life for its children. As a forest nation, PNG continues to play a proactive role to progress our commitments under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Paris Agreement by undertaking adaptations and mitigation effort. However, accessing of global climate finance continues to be a challenge to Papua New Guinea and many small nations. We call on the United Nations to look into this matter with a sense of urgency or else we can liquidate our forests and marine resources to achieve our development aspirations, especially in a pursuit to alleviate poverty from our people. It is for this reason I speak in solidarity with all forest nations, especially those in the Congo Basin and those in the Amazon Basin, for adequate compensation if we are to preserve our forests, which is in fact the lungs of Earth. Mr. President, Papua New Guinea’s vast forests, rich biodiversity, marine life, and indigenous people and cultures are now at the crossroads of great change, either of preservation or loss and extinction. The responsibility to save our environment and planet should bear on all of us in equal measure. It is now up to members of the United Nations to save these forests, which are global assets as I speak. On this note, I want to thank my good friend, His Excellency Emmanuel Macron, President of France, for mobilizing European Union funding for a forest conservation area called Manangalas in my country. This is the kind of partnership that should be encouraged. And again, I remind the world, the forest of PNG is a global asset. It must be preserved at a price transferable to improving the lives of my forests. You cannot talk about climate change without conversation on forestry. They are the two sides to the same coin in conversations on climate change. And I call for others out there, especially those who have big carbon footprints. You have to do justice to planet Earth by doing your part, especially assisting us in the preservation of our forests. Mr. President, the third threat facing humanity, in my view, is geopolitical differences and sovereignty contests over territories and people. Increasing geopolitical conflicts and tensions are fueling fragmentation and protectivism around the world today. Restrictions on trade, disruptions in supply chains, growing competitions are crippling our economies. We need to examine peaceful strategies and solutions and invest in peace-building initiatives for de-escalation, mutual understanding, cooperation, build trust, and foster peaceful relationship. The United Nations’ role in this must be respected by all nations. For really, it was for this reason that the UN was born. So the world does not need to face many more wars again or another big war again. Mr. President, I say this, violence begets violence. And it’s evil, no matter what the justification. and others. Peace must be achieved by peaceful means. No matter how long or unjust it may seem, peace must be achieved by peaceful means. We live in a time where the press of a button, an atomic or nuclear bomb, has the ability and potential to destroy our planet. All conflicts can be resolved if we allow United Nations One rulebook to take prominence over our own political national interests. In PNZ, we partner United Nations in national and sub-national peace building efforts. One good example is the de-escalation of our own internal conflict on Bougainville, when the United Nations supervised the Bougainville Peace Agreement in 2001 and continues to ensure we comply with all requirements of that agreement, including bringing the 2019 referendum results to our national parliament. To this day, I am happy to report that no bullets have since been fired in Bougainville. This is the role and the strength of United Nations, and I call on all nations and people to respect the charter of this institution and the reasons for its existence. PNZ, therefore, calls on the UN and its systems to begin the process to review the Security Council and the reforms that must take place, including removal of veto powers, so all nations can sit equally on the table in as far as decision-making is concerned. Mr. President, we must do all we can to restore stability to the far reaches of Earth. Global conflicts cause domino effect, and the subsequent impacts are felt throughout the world, including intergenerational wounds. Mr. President, as I conclude, let me remind us again on our collective responsibility to together preserve our planet and our human race. In 1987, a space philosopher called Frank White wrote The Overview Effect, a cognitive shift astronauts experience after viewing planet Earth from space, and upon their return to Earth. These are records that most astronauts, if not all, experience a self-transcendence, appreciating Earth much more and feeling a very strong connection to all people on the planet. And I am sure Neil Armstrong, in 1969, on July 20, when he gazed back on planet Earth, standing on the moon, he would have looked back and he would not have seen his planet, he would not have seen his country, the United States of America. He would have seen the blue planet, the planet he called home. I call upon all of us, esteemed leaders of this planet, let us adopt a little bit of overview effect to see the world through the eyes of the astronauts. They see the planet from humanity perspective, one planet, one people, one humanity. They appreciated Earth much better. I want to ask all of us, all leaders of planet Earth, let us appreciate Earth, let us treasure its life-sustaining gifts, let us do everything within our means to preserve and protect planet Earth. It starts with all of us, leaders, to think and act correctly, because our children’s collective future depends on this one. We have but one planet. After all, there are not two planets. If you look at the observable universe, you look billions and billions of light-years into the observable universe. There is no one planet that looks like us, only one planet that has preserved it. Let us rise above religious bigotry, fight poverty together, and co-exist in peace under the charter we ourselves have written into this magnificent institution called the United Nations. I thank you all for the opportunity to speak. May the peace of my Lord Jesus be upon you. As a president, and all people of Earth, a beautiful life-sustaining Earth, may God bless each and every one of you.

President: The Assembly will hear an address by His Excellency Robert Abela, Prime Minister of the Republic of Malta. I request protocol to escort His Excellency and invite him to address the Assembly.

Robert Abela – Malta: Secretary General, President, Excellencies, Distinguished Delegates, and Dear Friends. When we gathered this time last year, little could we have predicted that, just a couple of weeks later, our world would be plunged into even greater turmoil by the despicable attacks of October 7. In the twelve months since, we have seen continued loss of life and a humanitarian emergency on such a scale that it is all too easy to give up hope, all too easy to believe that nothing can be done, all too easy to turn the other cheek. We cannot escape from the stark reality that our world faces the gravest of challenges, and the populations of far too many of these United Nations face the greatest perils. The gravity of these threats is such that we, as leaders from across the globe, are confronted with a choice of two paths. We can choose the path of despair, dejectedly deciding that it is impossible to make a difference, or we can can choose the path of persistence, determined that no matter how rough the waters, we can and we must redouble our efforts to meet those challenges and mitigate those perils. I emphatically believe that we have a moral responsibility to take the path of persistence. I will never apologize for reaffirming the simple belief that motivated me to come into public life, that tomorrow can be better than today. And no matter what the headwinds, it is a belief that still motivates all I do. I refuse to believe that we should just give up. I refuse to listen to those siren whispers that the worst is inevitable and it is not worth working for better outcomes. I refuse to give in to the notion that we can defer difficult decisions or that small countries have to passively accept the actions of the larger players. To acquiesce to that negativity would be to accept that this General Assembly, that this United Nations, is nothing more than a council of despair. To that I say a resounding no. This United Nations can and must be a council of hope. Nobody is going to pretend that we can wave any sort of magic wand or deliver instant solutions. But we have a duty to keep hope alive, to keep trying, to keep working, to keep battling for the values that were the very foundation of the idea of a United Nations. Eight decades ago, from the… of the first truly global conflict, our forerunners had the courage and the foresight to see that the world had to have a forum where the voice of every nation could be heard. And as colonialism rightly crumbled, there were a lot of newly independent nations to add their signatures to the charter. Malta is one such nation. As we gained our independence from the United Kingdom, we took our place in the world. This year marks the 60th anniversary of Malta’s accession to the United Nations. Over those six decades, my country has developed beyond the wildest dreams of the pioneers who saw us to statehood. So as we mark 60 years of Malta as a proud member of the United Nations, and as the United Nations itself gets ready to mark its 80th anniversary, my message is clear. The world needs the United Nations now more than ever. Malta values the United Nations now more than ever. And make no mistake, Malta may be a small country, but we will always be a loud voice against deferring difficult decisions and avoiding difficult conversations. We will never resign ourselves to a future devoid of peace. We will never abandon our commitment to supporting peace processes, no matter how tough those processes may be. We will remain steadfast in our support for steps to build and maintain peace in every region of conflict. We will remain as committed to and confident in this United Nations as that day in December of 60 years ago when the ink dried on Malta’s signature. Malta has a unique political and geographical position at the heart of the Mediterranean, a bridge between Europe and North Africa, and the crossroads of Europe and the Middle East. A full member of the European Union, but with neutrality. We are acutely aware of the responsibility that this position brings. Two words sum up the role that I believe Malta can and does play. Honest broker. From hosting peace talks to brokering difficult dialogues, we aim to harness our unique position to bring those in conflict together, to at least try and find a way forward. This is exactly the approach that Malta has brought to our membership of the Security Council over the past two years. And that is exactly the approach we have brought to the chair of the OSCE, which we assumed last January. Malta was happy to step up and take the chair as an honest broker, allowing all members to endorse our leadership and ensuring the work of this vital body can continue. Like Malta, the OSCE is a bridge between neighbours across continents. Europe can only be secure and at peace if its neighbours are secure and at peace, which is why both in the Security Council and the OSCE, our guiding watchwords are always promoting sustainability, peace and security. This approach sits well alongside the OSCE’s comprehensive conception of security as not just about ending military conflict, but also addressing the social and economic tensions that create and exacerbate international tensions. To that end, we will continue to press for all nations to comply with the Arms Trade Treaty. The failure of too many countries to comply with international rules poses too great a threat. To too many innocent citizens, President, as I’ve reflected on my country’s six decades of membership of this United Nations, I’ve looked back at the wisdom of some of those who have held the office of Secretary General. Sadly, those words of Ban Ki-moon remain as true and urgent today as ever. The world is overarmed and peace is underfunded. The peace and humanitarian budgets which are at the heart of the UN’s mission remain, unfortunately, severely underfunded, harshly impacting too many of the world’s most vulnerable people, which is why Malta urges all Member States to play their part by remitting the resources to ensure the hard-working, hard-pressed front-line UN staff can play their part in bringing relief and hope where it is so desperately needed. As Malta concludes its current term on the Security Council, I am proud of what we have been able to help achieve. Amidst the tragedy of the events in Israel and Gaza, we have worked with others to prioritise the relief of humanitarian suffering. We used our seat on the Security Council to work for Resolution 2712, which demanded urgent and extended humanitarian pauses and the provision of corridors through Gaza to supply critical supplies needed by so many innocent civilians, not the least children. The resolution also called for the release of hostages held captive by Hamas and other militant groups in Gaza. We are proud that this led to the release of 105 hostages during the negotiated seven-day pause. Similarly, I am pleased Malta played a key role in the Security Council adopting Resolution 2728, which demanded an immediate ceasefire in Gaza for the month of Ramadan, alongside the immediate release of all hostages. This was the first joint motion from the non-permanent members on a geographic situation in the Security Council’s history. Understandably, much of the world’s attention has been on Israel and Gaza since October 7th, which has now expanded to a dangerous and deeply worrying escalation in Lebanon. We stand firm in our belief that we must all strive to ensure that the flames of this conflict do not engulf the whole region, and that we all take decisive steps to resolve this conflict before it is too late. Furthermore, it is imperative that we, as a global community, do not lose focus on those other parts of the world where war and the killing of civilians is also all too present and all too tragic a daily reality – Sudan, Yemen, Syria and, of course, Ukraine. So let me now turn to another country in conflict, Malta’s southern neighbour, Libya. Helping the Libyan people achieve a genuine and lasting resolution to the institutional crisis for which they have paid too high a price for too long is a key priority for Malta. For such a resolution would not only benefit the Libyan people, it would also benefit all Libya’s neighbours and also the wider region, only with a single functioning government supported by citizens. and many others. Can Libya play its full part in addressing the migrant crisis, which puts so many lives at risk? Which is why Malta welcomes the initiatives taken by UNSMIL in bringing the parties together to sign an agreement that will hopefully end a crisis at the Central Bank of Libya, and also to kick-start this stalled, wider political process. Malta will continue to stand ready to do anything it can to aid that process. And we will be unstinting and advocating for proactive engagement by the international community to support and enhance those UN-led efforts. We have a duty to aid the mediation needed to create a pathway towards national, parliamentary and presidential elections in Libya. As friends and neighbours of Libya, we can and must help. But for the process to truly succeed, it must be fully Libyan-led and Libyan-owned, to which end we unequivocally call for the immediate withdrawal of all foreign forces, fighters and mercenaries from Libya. And Malta re-emphasises the need for a full implementation of the Libyan arms embargo in line with all the relevant Security Council resolutions. Equality is a key value for my government and my country. Just as the situation in Libya will only be resolved by all the people of the country knowing that they have an equal voice, so are so many of the conflicts, disputes and tensions around the world fuelled by inequality. There isn’t some sort of a dextre, nice to have, but no. That view couldn’t be more misguided. Equality across gender, age, race, religion, disability, sexuality is not just imperative for its own sake. Equality is also imperative in finding lasting solutions to so many of the challenges that face us all. So I am honored Malta stands at the forefront of promoting civil liberties globally. We are one of the few countries that has already implemented an anti-racism strategy, and we are now in the process of drafting a second renewed anti-racism strategy. We will never take equality for granted at home, and we will always advocate and support greater equality internationally. All too often it is women and girls who bear the brunt of conflict, and all too infrequently are the voices of women and girls heard when it comes to solving those conflicts. Without women there can be no peace. As the world redoubles its efforts to bring peace, so must we all redouble our efforts to ensure the voice of women and girls is heard at the top tables as well as on the ground. During our term on the Security Council, Malta has worked hard to do just that. Malta has chaired the Security Council Working Group on Children and Armed Conflict. In the last 18 months, the Working Group has issued conclusions on the role of children in the conflicts in South Sudan, Nigeria, Mali, Afghanistan, CAR, Colombia, Iraq, and Somalia. That long list is a sad We are a testament to the magnitude and gravity of the repeated violations against children in crisis zones. We must never let up in our outrage and actions at these persistent and flagrant abuses of the rights of the child as enshrined by this United Nations. President, we have a saying in Maltese, the sea is wealthy. And indeed it is. As an island nation for Malta, the wealth of the sea equates to the wealth of our people. The health of the sea equates to the health of our people. So we need no reminder just how essential it is to protect the wealth, health and the biodiversity of our seas and oceans. And we know just how much small island nations like ours will be impacted as climate change warms oceans and raises sea levels. We, small island nations, are amongst the lower emitters of greenhouse gases. But we are literally the front line of the climate emergency. The impact of climate change will be felt by all our citizens. It is our duty to them to do all we can to minimize that change and maximize our resilience to the changes which are already being felt. Delay and prevarication simply aren’t options. Climate change must remain at the top of the global agenda. Solidarity, standing shoulder to shoulder with our fellow small island nations, is a key value for Malta. Solidarity means actions, not just words. The Islands for Islands initiative is central to our foreign policy, providing concrete, practical assistance to small island developing states. Sharing best practice and building capacity. That’s why Malta has jointly taken the lead in developing the Climate Vulnerability and Resilience Index, a practical resource to help small islands identify and prepare better for the effects of the changing climate. As sea levels become an even greater concern, so does the health of our seas and oceans become ever greater a priority. Malta remains, and will always remain, at the forefront of efforts to protect our oceans. In the very first years of our UN membership, we were one of the foremost proponents of the principle of the common heritage of mankind. Thank you, Arvid Pardo. And it remains our lodestar. We have consistently spoken up in the Security Council about the existential threat from rising sea levels, and Malta will always remain unwavering in our support for the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. Malta welcomes the first ratifications of the Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction Agreement, which will provide much-needed, much greater protection for the two-thirds of global oceans that lie beyond national jurisdictions. The treaty will only come into force when 60 nations have ratified it. Our oceans need it. Our people deserve it. So I say to my fellow leaders, speed up and sign. To preserve healthy maritime environments, we all need to take practical, innovative solutions and steps. That’s why I am delighted at the success Malta’s new Shore-to-Ship initiative is having. The stunning Grand Harbour in the capital city of Malta, Valletta, is a magnet for cruise ships. But while docked in Berth, they can produce serious amounts of pollution if relying on their engines in the confined space. So Shore-to-Ship is installing onshore power supply alongside the quays, which are used by cruise ships, meaning that they can switch off their engines and help reduce pollution in this most special of places by around 90%. In Malta we know that while the sea can yield great gifts, it can also be the host for illicit activity and the breaking of international laws. The high seas must never become the Wild West. The rule of law and the will of the international community must always hold on sea as on land, which is why Malta championed the creation of a unified database of all vessels which are involved in illicit activity, shareable and usable by all participating states. Shipping is central to international trade, so ensuring they are fully applied at sea is central to any successful sanctions regime. And that can only happen if ship owners know that trying to break sanctions brings consequences. But it is essential for reasons of natural justice and to ensure buy-in from Member States that the listing of those breaking sanctions is both fair and transparent. So Malta was proud to jointly hold the pen alongside the United States for Resolution 2744 that overhauls the delisting process for the first time in almost two decades. By creating a better system for delisting where warranted, we can ward against premature lifting of sanctions which is not warranted. President, we have witnessed how effective global health policies can unite nations, especially when addressing crises that transcend borders and that affect us all. Just yesterday, United Nations Member States adopted the Political Declaration on Antimicrobial Resistance, which has been diligently facilitated by Malta and Barbados over so many months. AMR presents a collective threat and demands our urgent attention. We know what must be done to prevent the loss of millions of lives and the very trillions of dollars in additional health care costs. This declaration should serve as a strategic roadmap for policymakers. President, when we reconvene in a year’s time, we will be marking the 80th birthday of our United Nations. But we mustn’t ever be just marking time. We need to always be marking progress. As Doug Hammersholt said, the pursuit of peace and progress cannot end in a few years, neither victory or defeat. The pursuit of peace and progress, with its trials and its errors, its successes and its setbacks, can never be relaxed and never abandoned. In Europe, the average life expectancy is just over 80 years. The United Nations will only have life expectancy longer than that if we all recommit to its future. As the saying goes, I want reports of its death to be greatly exaggerated. Yes, we can’t ignore the fact that the architecture of the world’s collective security is under stress like never before. The forces of nationalism dismiss the need to work together. Instigators of conflict believe they can escape the wrath and writ of the global community. Both couldn’t be more wrong. Acting to end conflict and relieve suffering is never easy. But that doesn’t mean we should stop trying. Reaching consensus across borders and across political differences is never easy. But that doesn’t mean we should stop trying. Acknowledging we have all contributed to the state our world is in today and setting aside pride to try and make the world a better place is never easy. But that doesn’t mean we should stop Stop trying. Arguably, the temptation to wring hands and see changes too hard to achieve is greatest for small nations like mine. To sit back and sigh that the big boys have made too much of a mess of things. Well, Malta will never sit back. Malta will never wring hands. Malta will never leave it to others. Yes, Malta will always be realistic, but Malta will always remain committed to multilateralism. When the perils are at their greatest, the need to work together is at its greatest. So let us use the next 12 months in the run-up to that 80th anniversary to reassert our collective belief in this United Nations, to redouble our efforts, to resolve conflict, to take the steps the future of the Earth needs, and to deliver the change the people of this planet need and deserve. To raise our game in supporting the Secretary General and delivering the institutional reform the United Nations needs to better fulfil its purpose. In short, and with every fibre of my being, I say to my fellow leaders now is the time to choose, and we must choose the path of persistence. We must reject the path of despair. Yes, our world faces huge challenges and huge threats, but if we lose belief in the power of collective action, if we lose belief in the ability to work together to make a difference, then we are losing belief in the very idea of a better world. If we fail to persist, we fail to lead. If we fail to perceive that, we fail the people who put their faith in us. Failure simply isn’t an option. The risks are too high, the risks are too great, the consequences are too severe, so let us make that choice. Let us today recommit as a United Nations, let us affirm the path of persistence, and no matter how tough the going, let us enter the 80th year of this United Nations with the simple goal in our head and in our hearts. Let us now, more than ever, never give up believing that tomorrow can and must be better than today. Thank you.

President: On behalf of the Assembly, I wish to thank the Prime Minister of the Republic of Malta. The Assembly will hear and address by His Excellency Philip Edward Davis, Prime Minister and Minister for Finance of the Commonwealth of the Bahamas. I request protocol to escort His Excellency and invite him to address the Assembly.

Philip Edward Davis – Bahamas: Mr. President, Mr. Secretary General, Your Excellencies, I wish to congratulate Ambassador Yang on his accession to the Presidency of the General Assembly for this year coming and give my best wishes to outgoing Ambassador Francis for leading us in the last year. Over the past three years, the Bahamas has been pleading with member states to engage in urgent action in respect of climate change. Along with other small island developing states, we have highlighted our vulnerabilities and our predicament. We have told you what we know, shared our experiences from the front line, described what we are doing to address the various issues, and warned how our yesterdays are becoming your tomorrows. There has been some welcome progress, but it falls far, far short of what is needed. And now, we all have to live with the reality of a climate crisis that has pushed our planet past a critical threshold of 1.5 degrees Celsius for an entire year. At this very moment, the new harsh reality manifests in hurricanes and heat, fire and floods. Member states can somehow quickly find eye-watering sums of money for bullets and bombs, but only rattle small change in their pockets when it comes to financing the costs of loss and damage, repair and recovery so desperately needed. Benjamin Netanyahu, Andrej Plenković, James Marape, Robert Abela, Philip Edwar as a whole world, to work together for the common good. The genocidal crisis of the Second World War gave birth to the United Nations, and ensuring wars of independence and regional conflict means that we have in place the structure for real effective action. And so today, as the Bahamas celebrates 51 years of membership of the United Nations, we offer our service to the international community as we bid for non-permanent membership of the Security Council for the term 2032-2033. We do so because the present crisis of today, the looming crisis of tomorrow, requires even greater degrees of ingenuity, effort, multilateral cooperation, and sacrifice than were needed in the aftermath of the Second World War. We understand well that the Council’s mandate to maintain international peace and security goes far beyond the mere absence of war. But we also know that from where we stand, on the front line of the impact of climate change on humanity, that the mandate to cooperate in solving international problems, now more than ever, requires us to stand up and step forward. We do so to amplify the voices of small island developing states. We do so because the voices of small island developing states are the harbingers of what lies in store for all of us. The Security Council of the future will not be equipped to deal with the biggest crisis of our time without voices like ours at the table. The link between climate change and global security is undeniable. Things are bad now, and they are going to get a lot worse before they get better. Climate considerations must be integrated into all aspects of the Security Council’s work. Because of this, the Bahamas stands ready to advocate and support whatever reforms are needed to help maximize the effectiveness of the work of the Council. Membership for countries like ours was not what the Charter members contemplated when the UN was established. But it is countries like ours which will help the Council with inclusive, truly representative decision-making needed to help address the greatest crisis of our time. Friends, aspirations to lasting global peace and security will remain empty dreams if not supported by economic security. For too long, the global financial system has been skewed against developing nations. It is a cruel irony that industrialized nations who bear the greatest responsibility for the climate crisis often perpetuate another form of injustice in the form of our current global system. We have been instrumental in exposing the hypocrisy of unilateral blacklisting and advocating for a framework that prioritizes fairness and inclusivity. The present system, with its dark rules and uneven playing field, drains resources from developing countries, leaving us to grapple with the consequences. The Bahamas refuses to accept this double standard. We are raising our voice to demand a fairer and more equitable international framework, one where the voices of all countries, regardless of population or GDP, are heard and respected. The Bahamas will continue to be a leading voice in championing this issue for as long as we need to do so, no matter how lonely or how long the journey may take. Even among small island developing states, the Bahamas is uniquely vulnerable. We are not waiting for solutions. We are creating them. We have created a National Youth Guard, empowering our young people to become environmental champions, because we know that future generations will have an enormous burden to shoulder. We are embracing innovation, particularly in the realm of ocean technology, to find solutions to the climate crisis. The Bahamas may be small in size, but we are not short on ambition or ingenuity. We have said it before, but we can never say it often enough. Countries like the Bahamas contribute so little to the problems of the world, and yet we are among the first and greatest affected. Over 40% of my country’s national debt is as a direct result of the impacts of climate change. Locked as we are into an annual cycle of severe hurricanes, repair and rebuild, how can we fulfill the reasonable aspirations of our people for national development? We need to stop thinking of climate change merely as an environmental threat. It is a threat multiplier, exacerbating existing tensions, creating new ones, and undermining the very foundations of global security. If we think we have refugee challenges now, do we really want to wait until millions are forced to cross borders just to survive? As resources become scarcer, as livelihoods are lost, the potential for conflict, for instability, and mass migration becomes inevitable. So we ask you to take note of your own self-interest. Your Excellencies, in our Caribbean region, the Republic of Haiti is facing a multidimensional security crisis. It is born of gang violence and resource scarcity, made worse by massive earthquakes, hurricanes, and other natural hazards. In accordance with UNSC Resolution 2966, passed in 2023, and in coordination with the Government of Haiti, Member States are contributing to a multinational security support mission. The Bahamas government is strongly of the view that any mission in Haiti ought to be Haitian-led and aim to build the capacity of the Haitian National Police to counter gangs and improve security conditions. The Bahamas reiterates the importance of continued and sustained financial support from donor countries to ensure that the UN Trust Fund is able to fund the MSSM operations now and in the future. The CARICOM region, in and of itself, cannot do it alone, and so we urge you to take note of this important aspect of the MSSM mission. Looking beyond our region, in 2024, the Bahamas has looked to South-South cooperation to fill the gaps in development support. We continue to be active participants in CARICOM. We value the support of the Convos and the solidarity between Caribbean and Pacific Convos states and look forward to meeting this year in Samoa. We value the deepening relationship between CARICOM and the African Union. We see renewed value in the Group of 77 and the Non-Aligned Movement. Our concerted efforts to collectively focus on climate reparations have resulted in new pathways for climate justice at the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea and at the International Court of Justice. We remain determined to protect and preserve our climate and our precious biodiversity through the progressive development of international law. COP 29 must be a turning point. It is estimated that by 2050, climate-related damage is projected to rise to an almost unimaginable $38 trillion per year. My friends, in some respects, it is already too late. Where we are is not good enough, but there is still time, time just enough, if we act and act now. Let’s revitalize the stall negotiations on a new collective, quantified goal on climate finance. We cannot afford another year of inaction. Developed nations must step up, not just with words, but with enforceable, concrete commitments that reflect the scale and urgency of the crisis. While global military expenditure soared to an unprecedented $2.4 trillion last year, the Loss and Damage Fund, painstakingly established at COP 28, has secured a mere $800 in pledges. This is a drop in the ocean compared to the trillions needed to address the escalating costs of the negative impacts of climate change. This is not just an issue of funding. It is fundamentally an issue of sustainability and survival. Without it, peace and security mean nothing. The Loss and Damage Fund must be fully operationalized. This is about responsibility, accountability, and building a future where those who have polluted the most contribute the most to cleaning up the mess. The rise in global temperatures of more than 1.5 degrees Celsius this past year has put us in a new reality. But what we must do more than roll the dice. Rare effort, serious action, tangible progress – these are the only paths to sustainable solutions. And the same truths remain. We must prioritize energy solutions around sources of renewable energy, redirecting the vast subsidies given to the We must continue to work to strengthen international cooperation. We need a renewed commitment to collective, multilateral action. But friends, within this global emergency, we also see a glimmer of hope. The 1.5 degrees Celsius threshold cannot be an end point, but a turning point, an opportunity to reject complacency and chart a new course, one grounded in innovation, collaboration, and a resolute commitment to a just and sustainable future. We are not asking for a handout, but for a hand-up. Even the strongest swimmers drown if left alone in a raging sea. I would be remiss if I were to leave this podium without joining my sister, Prime Minister Barbados, in calling and renewing my call for the removal of the blockade in Cuba. It is hurting the people of Cuba. And though it is said that the blockade is against Cuba, it is the people in Cuba who suffer daily. It has not worked. It has been in place now for over 70 years. So why should it still remain? And we call upon all of us here present to seek to persuade those who have the blockade to remove it and move it as soon as possible. Thank you for listening.

Kassim Majaliwa Majaliwa – Tanzania: Thank you very much. Your Excellency, Philemon Young, President of the 79th Session of the United Nations General Assembly, Excellencies, Heads of State and Government, Ladies and Gentlemen, Mr. President, on behalf of Her Excellency Dr. Samir Sulu Hassan, President of the United Republic of Tanzania, I stand before this August Assembly to deliver a message of hope and peace to the people of the world. In doing so, I wish to convey warm and fraternal greetings from the President and the people of the United Republic of Tanzania. Her Excellency Dr. Samir Sulu Hassan, President of the United Republic of Tanzania, wishes this Assembly every success in its important delegation. I would also like to join the previous speakers in commending you, Mr. President, for the excellent manner you are steering the work for the Assembly. Tanzania endorses and supports the theme chosen for this session, that is, Leaving No One Behind, Acting Together for the Advancement of Peace, Sustainable Development and Human Dignity for Present and Future Generations. This theme aligns well with the United Nations Charter and builds on the efforts of your President, His Excellency Denis Francis, whose remarkable leadership is truly appreciated. Tanzania recognizes and thanks the Secretary General for his great work and the important message. Mr. President, the participation in the 79th General Assembly has been a unique opportunity for us to share perspectives regarding to the pledge and commitment made for addressing global challenges such as pandemics, extreme poverty, climate change, and conflicts. I would like to share some of Tanzania’s perspectives as follows. Sustainable development, Tanzania’s path to inclusive growth. Mr. President, the Sustainable Development Goals are a beacon of hope in addressing global challenges. Tanzania’s journey towards sustainable development reflects that of many nations facing significant challenges for the determined impact of COVID-19 on health and economic systems. Climate change, marked by extreme weather patterns like torrential rain and droughts, has deteriorated health issues and strained infrastructures. We are concerned about the slow pace in attaining these goals, whereas of 2023, only 17% of targets were on track. With over one-third regressing or stalling, urgent action and global solidarity are needed to overcome barriers such as economic imbalances, climate change, conflict, and gender inequality. Mr. President, our commitment toward the realization of SDGs is focused on sustainability economic growth through strategic investment in agriculture, aquaculture, livestock, fisheries, infrastructure development, energy, and the digital economy. The goal is to improve food security, reduce poverty, ensure job creation, and drive inclusive economic growth. There are many success stories in Tanzania emanating from this investment, such as the empowerment of youth through the Building Better Tomorrow agriculture initiatives in mainland Tanzania, and empowerment of local women in Zanzibar through seaweed farming. On the other hand, Tanzania implements policies to ensure access to quality health care and education for all citizens, including the Universal Health Insurance Act and free basic education. The government also invests in vocational training and education to prepare youth for job market and digital economy. Defending Human Dignity, Inclusivity, and Equality Mr. President, for decades, Tanzania’s foreign policy has prioritized respect for human dignity. Addressing this Assembly on 4 December 1961, Mwalimu Julius Kambaragi Nyerere, the then Prime Minister of Tanganyika, stated that the basis of our action, internal and external, will be an attempt to honor the dignity of man. Mr. President, Tanzania has maintained this pledge by leading the fight against colonialism and racism. In this regard, Tanzania hosted the OAU Liberation Committee, supporting freedom fighters in their struggles for independence. Despite gaining political liberation, many countries still face economic sanctions and inhuman conditions, which hinders the achievement of genuine development. Thus, we call for the realization of the right of self-determination of all people under colonial occupation, and the fighting and lifting of economic sanctions. Mr. President, global humanitarian crisis due to war, conflict, and natural disaster requires unrestricted access to humanitarian aid, fair treatment of victims, accountability to atrocities, and the United Nations commitment to uphold human dignity for a peace world. Tanzania believes that every individual deserves to live in dignity, freedom, and security to reach their full potential. The United Nations must not remain indifferent in these solutions, as doing so would only determine its legitimacy. Mr. President, let me talk about peace and security. Security is indivisible. In the face of global health insecurity, characterized by pandemics such as COVID-19 and the current impacts, the saying, no one is safe until everyone is safe, truly gathers meaning. It is imperative that we should invest more in peace, foster unity, and rebuild trust. In this regard, Tanzania welcomes the adoption of General Assembly Resolution 78-312, which proclaimed July 7 as World Kiswahili Language Day. Kiswahili is a language spoken by over 200 million people in all continents of the world. We are the tool for advancing peace, unity, and cultural diversity. While Tanzania and other Kiswahili-speaking countries are looking forward to commemorating this day in 2025 and beyond, we also call on this Assembly to explore the possibility of recognizing Kiswahili as an official language of our esteemed organization, or as this Assembly. Tanzania, East African Community, South African Development Community, and African Union have already led the way to Kiswahili-speaking, and it is again important that we invest more in peace initiatives because there is no development without peace and unity. Your Excellency, Mr. President, in recognition of this requirement, Tanzania has for several decades participated in peacekeeping, peacebuilding, and mediation efforts. Tanzania has and continues to contribute towards world peace through its membership in the United Nations Security Council and the African Union Peace and Security Council. This contribution is also evident through its leadership in regional arrangements, such as the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region of Africa, and currently the Chair of the Organ on Politics, Defense, and Security of the Southern African Development Community. I wish to reassure this August Assembly that Tanzania’s commitment towards peace will not weaken. Tanzania will continue to diligently disperse the obligations emanating from the culture of the United Nations. Mr. President, let me talk about climate change. Tanzania, like many other developing countries, is highly vulnerable to droughts, floods, desalination, and effects to sea level rise. It is estimated that The sea level will rise by 41 cm by 2080. While the sea level rise cannot be reversed, Tanzania is taking several adoption and mitigation measures, including the restoration and plantation of mangrove, enhancement of coastal infrastructure, and promotion of ecotourism and aquaculture. It is imperative, therefore, that we must invest more in climate finance to help recover economies already suffering from these effects, and to enhance access to funding for loss and damage in the heat countries. Mr. President, about transformation to clean energy, as we prepare for COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan, it is worth remembering that globally, an estimated 2.4 billion people are still using polluting fuel for cooking. This contributes to health problems, food insecurity, gender inequality, and environmental damage, including millions of premature deaths, limited access to education and employment for women and children, and increased household gas emissions and deforestation. Achieving universal clean cooking access in Africa by 2030 would require an estimated about 4 billion US dollars annually, a small fraction of global energy spending. Mr. President, in response to this alarming situation, Tanzania is championing a clean cooking agenda, which essentially contributed to several SDGs, including goals number seven, focusing on ensuring access to affordable and sustainable energy for all. Tanzania will host the African Energy Summit in January 2025, which means next year. Co-organized with the World Bank and the African Development Bank, the summit aims to accelerate the implementation of World Bank Group and the African Development Bank. African Bank Group Commitment to provide electricity access to 300 million people in Africa by 2030. We look forward to working together with all partners to unlock energy potential and build a brighter, more resilient future for Africa. Mr. President, Delivering on democracy, in November this year, Tanzania will hold a local government election, followed by the presidential and parliamentary election in October next year. As we prepare for this electoral event, I wish to assure this assembly that democracy, human rights, and the rule of law will be upheld in line with President Samir’s vision as captured in the Four Arras philosophy, namely reconciliation, resilience, reform, and rebuilding. Since the announcement of Four Arras principles in 2021, the government of Tanzania has continued to foster harmony and promote unity across political, religious, and ethnical divides. In implementation of Four Arras, the government has also undertaken several moments of reform that seek to address shortfalls within the criminal justice system, allow the effective political process, and enhance the enjoyment of human rights. Mr. President, reforms are crucial for countries and international organizations to stay relevant for greater inclusiveness, transparency, and accountability, especially in multilateral bodies like the UN Security Council and the Bretton Woods Institution. Tanzania remains committed to rebuilding its economy and society, focusing on inclusivity and empowering its citizens for a stronger future. Mr. President, when I go to conclude my speech, Tanzania argues all the world leaders We are obliged to work together with goals stipulated in the Charter of the United Nations of Sparing Succeeded Generations from the Scourge of War. We must stop war and suffering that causes death and wanton suffering to innocent civilians including women and children. Let us leverage innovation, adopt inclusive policies, and strengthen international cooperation in accelerating the implementation of SDGR. Together let us build partnerships that transcend borders, ensuring no one left behind. Let us undertake the necessary reform to make our multilateral institutions fit for purpose. Let us rebuild, trust, and reconcile our differences. Let us cooperate to build resilience of our institutions and people. We can achieve the future we want if we commit to rebuild and restore what has been damaged by our past actions. As we look to the future, let us honour the commitments made in various international fora. Together, let us embrace this moment with optimism and the shared dedication to inclusivity. Thank you so much for your attention.

President: On behalf of the Assembly, I wish to thank the Prime Minister of the United Republic of Tanzania. The Assembly will hear and address by His Excellency Ralph Gonsalves, Prime Minister and Minister for National Security, Legal Affairs. I request protocol to escort His Excellency and invite him to address the Assembly.

Ralph Gonsalves – Saint Vincent and the Grenadines: Mr. President, Your Excellencies, St. Vincent and the Grenadines is a magnificent exemplar of our Caribbean civilization. Despite a quarter-century of analysis, advocacy and prescriptions, set forth by leaders of small island developing states and international institutions charged with advancing the interests of CIDs, our travails are enduring in a global community largely disinterested in our well-being and that of small states generally. Caribbean CIDs remain unequally yoked in a global community motivated by the baser instincts of the untrammeled power of money, ideology, guns, lethal weapons, territorial and global dominance. To be sure, the CIDs have made incremental advances in the global community and in the architecture of international relations. Nevertheless, for us in CIDs, it has been a situation akin to going up a dung escalator, in which the dung escalator is moving at a faster pace. than the upward baby steps. Frequently, it appears as though much of the powerful would wish the seeds not to exist. But here we are, stubborn as the heavens. We’re not going anywhere, despite our massive vulnerabilities. Our people have a permanence in this world. Even if some of our lands wash away, we have a voice and we will continue to use it. We demand, as of right, a special support from the international community to address efficaciously the unique social, economic, and environmental vulnerabilities of seeds in the interests of the nearly 70 million people who permanently occupy the seascape and landscape of the seeds. And in the interest, too, of all the other 8 billion or so persons who inhabit Mother Earth. Small island exceptionalism ought to be a category embedded formally in international law and accorded most favorable treatment. Rather than securing a most favorable treatment, the seeds are required to fight to maintain the special considerations which providence or serendipity has bestowed upon them. A case in point is the attempt currently by the International Development Association to pit the most vulnerable, the seeds, against the poorest countries in its quest to tighten the terms under which qualifying seeds of a particular income level, such as St. Vincent and the Grenadines, obtain soft loans through the World Bank. Ida Nexus. In any event, why is the World Bank persisting with the single anachronistic and ill-designed metric of average per capita income in respect of vulnerable SIDS in the age of the Anthropocene, as against a more comprehensive and sensible measure of a multidimensional vulnerability index? Your Excellencies, the unvarnished truth is that the developed countries have not kept their promises to the SIDS, except the most marginal ones. Importantly, the countries of the developed world, the major historic and contemporary emitters of greenhouse gases, have failed and or refused to keep their solemn commitments of restricting the global temperature at below 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. Unless there are drastic alterations in the patterns of consumption, production, life and living in developed and large emerging economies, our planet is inexorably on a path to a proverbial hell in a handbasket. In the process, countries of an island or seaboard civilization are likely to be inundated by raging seas and enveloped in searing heat. On the matter of the financing of climate change, the developed countries which have the means and the major historic responsibility to contain this existential threat have been parsimonious and less than responsible in practice. Even today, the cynicism and doublespeak of The role of several major developed countries is breathtaking in response to the quest of most of the global community to transform the international financial institutions as fit for purpose in today’s world, and for responsible, reasonable alterations in the actual modalities of climate financing. High representatives of most of these developed countries, Philip’s service in general to the innovative proposals, the Bridgestone III proposals endorsed by the Caribbean community, only to nitpick and delay, in the particular, on the progressive essentials. Brazenly, when these developed countries make a marginal concession, they trumpet it as a major advance so as to send the proverbial fool a little further. The Antigua and Barbuda Agenda for SIDS, adopted earlier this year, encompass an action-oriented framework for the way forward. The recently adopted Pact for the Future by the United Nations General Assembly provides a wider and promising buttress. In our advocacy for the 39 SIDS, we embrace, too, the cause of the least developed countries and the landlocked developing countries, all 92 vulnerable countries in the United Nations system. Your Excellencies, growing material dissatisfaction grips increasingly large numbers of people in both the metropoles and the hinterlands in this highly interconnected world. Unnoticeably, the ceremony of innocence is drowned, things are falling apart, the centres cannot hold, and the cascading effects are ripping the world apart. Osunda. The best of all lack conviction, and the worst are full of passionate intensity. Creative resistance and reconstruction are the banners under which ordinary men and women across the globe are draping themselves. Sadly, in the North Atlantic countries, there is a growing and dangerous constituency for an illiberal, even a neo-fascist option of looking forward to an illusory past in search of making again their countries unalloyed mythical paradises of unrivaled dominance. They are looking forward to a past that never was. At the same time, even a modest, middling social democracy is on the retreat because this old political shell of the post-1945 global order can barely contain the erupting contradictions within and outside it. A search for new modalities is emerging, but not yet fully formed, in part because the old order is unprepared to relinquish, cede, or share power, even as it realizes that it cannot continue to rule in the old way. But the new is yet to be born, and the forces of change lack a sufficiency of strength to deliver satisfactory alterations. Your Excellencies, the war in Ukraine, the genocide in Gaza, the conflicts in the Yemen, Sudan, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the threats across the Taiwan Strait, and empire’s designs on revolutionary Cuba and Venezuela, the violence and more in Haiti, and such-like disruptions of the peace globally, all have specific origins and and others. But they are all reflective, too, of a failure of multilateralism, a hamstrung United Nations framework and a derogation from the fundamental precepts of the Charter of the United Nations. Large powerful nations, singly or in allied combinations, have a propensity to seek dominance. In this milieu, opportunistic or servile alliances emerge, or persist, as the particular circumstances admit. It all degenerates into emanation politics of the madhouse, hypocrisy, disinformation and folly reign supreme. Your Excellencies, In this context arises the trope of the neoliberal global order that the principal contradiction in today’s global political economy is between democracy and autocracy. Still, all the self-serving shibboleths and gloss of this fictional construct will not wash away the unrepentant sins of the past or the cruel impositions of the present. The blinding truth is that the central contradiction in today’s political economy is not between democracy and autocracy. The main contradiction has been, and still is today, that which resolves around the fundamental material questions of who gets what, when, where and how. It is centrally about the struggle or competition for ownership, control and distribution of material resources, which constitute the basis for regional or global hegemony. Everywhere, more and more, the poor, the hungry, the poor, the poor, the poor, the poor, the marginalized, the disadvantaged, are clamoring and organizing for a different and better future. Not an unacceptable past, not a present without possibilities of upliftment, but for a future beyond unbounded elements. Your Excellencies, sadly, in our region we have been experiencing the lived reality that the imperial ghost of Monroe still stalks the marbled halls of the citadels of a neighboring great country of extraordinary possibilities to the detriment of countries in Latin America and the Caribbean. No country in our hemisphere can reasonably be considered a security or other threat to this great nation. Yet St. Vincent and the Grenadines and other Caribbean countries have been damaged collaterally and directly in significant material ways by the weaponizing of the financial system and the unjust unilateral coercive sanctions against Venezuela and Cuba which are in breach of international law. I am pleading with our friends for an amicable reset of these troubled relations in the interest of peace, mutual respect, justice and prosperity. The international community continues overwhelmingly and rightly to demand the end of the unilateral sanctions, the embargoes and unfair declarations about state sponsorship of terrorism and more made against Cuba. Your Excellencies, on July the 1st, 2024, the category 4 hurricane barrel battered St. Vincent and Grenadines, Grenada and Jamaica. Since the dawn of the 21st century, this is the 12th significant natural disaster to have struck my country. Hurricane Beryl has adversely affected one-fifth of our population and has caused economic damage amounting to one-third of our country’s gross domestic product. The relief, recovery, and reconstruction processes are underway on behalf of the government and people of St. Vincent and the Grenadines. I thank all countries and organizations, including the United Nations, that have come to our aid in the aftermath of the hurricane. Unfortunately, for the recovery and rebuilding processes, we are essentially on our own. We have had to seek significant loans to rebuild our physical infrastructure and 5,000 houses, to provide income support for affected persons, and to mobilize production support for the agricultural, fishing, and tourism industries. I am appealing to the international community to assist us not with further burdensome loans but with requisite grants. The recovery and reconstruction after every natural disaster increased sharply our debt burden. Countries like ours have contributed little or nothing to global warming and man-made climate change, yet we suffer largely alone on the front lines. This cannot be fair. It cannot be just. Do we have to choose death or debt? D-E-A-T-H or D-E-B-T? Which one do we have to choose? Your Excellencies, the Caribbean Community, the African Union, the Community of States of Latin America and the Caribbean, their diasporas, and all fair-minded persons globally have been insisting that the European nations This issue of transformative reparative justice will not go away until it is appropriately addressed. Your Excellencies, The suffering and pain of the Haitian people continue to weigh heavily on the consciences of our Caribbean. Through the efforts of the Haitian people, in tandem with the regional and international communities, especially CARICOM, the USA, Canada, and Kenya, a measure of progress has been made on some fronts, but immense challenges remain in the humanitarian, security, political, and economic spheres. The building of a free, democratic, peaceful, and prosperous Haiti demands commitment and concerted action from all the relevant stakeholders in pursuance of solutions devised by Haitians and led by Haitians. Haiti fatigue is not an option for the international community. Your Excellencies, In our Caribbean, there is a growing challenge of violent crime involving the combustible mix of imported guns and bullets, illegally exported marijuana, and the trafficking of cocaine from South America. It is evident that this challenge demands much closer cooperation, operationally, between all the countries concerned in the Caribbean, North America, South America, and Europe. In the Middle East, the collective punishment meted against the Palestinians in Gaza and the continued illegal occupation of Palestinian lands, including in the West Bank, amidst a company in state terror by an Israeli regime, in total defiance of international law, is utterly unacceptable. Surely, despite the complexities of the problems that This United Nations, especially the Security Council, ought to summon the courage and will to stop the carnage and facilitate a lasting peace and security. Your Excellencies, In the Far East, the prospect of a disruption of the tenuous peace across the Taiwan Strait is alarming. The quest for hegemony and the denial of a people’s inalienable right to self-determination are wrong in the East as it is in the West. Bullying is objectionable in the West as it is in the East. Unilateral coercive action by a big power in the East is contrary to international law as it is surely in the West. St. Vincent of the Grenadines continues to urge that Taiwan be allowed to participate fully in the specialized agencies of the United Nations, including those pertaining to health, air and sea transport, climate change, disaster preparedness and global policy. Your Excellencies, It appears that there have been recently some positive movements in the long quest to effect a judicious and just reform of the United Nations Security Council. It is evident to all reasonable persons that reform of this body is long overdue. As the chair of the L69 Group, St. Vincent and the Grenadines will continue its advocacy for an inclusive, more comfortably effective representative and relevant Security Council. Excellencies, We know that a better world is possible. On the United Nations rests our hopes for a better world for peace, justice, security and prosperity. Let us also act in accord with our responsibilities, obligations and means. Please. Let us not desecrate our future. Thank you.

President: On behalf of the Assembly, I wish to thank the Prime Minister and Minister for National Security, Legal Affairs, and Information of St. Vincent and the Grenadines. The Assembly will hear an address by His Excellency Russell Mmiso Dlamini, Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Eswatini. I request protocol to escort His Excellency and invite him to address the Assembly.

Russell Mmiso Dlamini – Eswatini: Your Excellency, Mr. Philmon Yen, President of the 79th Session of the United Nations General Assembly, Your Majesties, Distinguished Heads of State and Government, the United Nations Secretary General, Honorable Delegates, Ladies and Gentlemen, Mr. President, it is with profound gratitude and a deep sense of responsibility that I stand before you today at this pivotal gathering of the 79th United Nations General Assembly. I bring you the warmest greetings from His Majesty King Swati III, the Queen Mother, the Government, and the people of the Kingdom of Eswatini. We are convened here not merely as… as representatives of our nations, but as stewards of a shared global community, united in our commitment to peace, security, and sustainable development. As we gather under the theme, Leaving No One Behind, acting together for the advancement of peace, sustainable development, and human dignity for present and future generations, we are reminded of our shared duty to create a world where every individual has the opportunity to thrive. Our obligation is to leave this planet in a better place for our posterity. The Kingdom of Eswatini joins this global assemble with unwavering dedication to the principles of peace, sustainable development, and human dignity. We recognize that the challenges we face today, marked by unprecedented crises, are deeply interconnected. It is only through collective action, innovation, and a firm commitment to multilateralism that we can forge a path towards a more just and equitable world. We commend the Secretary General for convening the recently concluded Summit of the Future, which has provided a unique opportunity to reinvigorate multilateralism, enhance global solidarity, and reform our international governance structures. Eswatini fully supports the Summit and its outcomes, as they resonate with our belief in a fairer and a more inclusive world. Since the establishment of the United Nations in 1945, there are concerns that it no longer addresses adequately the issues faced by the global community. There is a need to reconsider the operations of multilateral institutions such as the IMF and the World Bank. and particularly the Security Council. The Kingdom of Eswatini stands by its efforts to call for reforms in the United Nations. In 2005, the Kingdom of Eswatini hosted the African Union meeting that resulted in the Ezulwini Consensus, which articulated Africa’s common position on the reform of the United Nations, including the call for greater African representation on the Security Council. While it has taken nearly two decades for this conversation to advance, Eswatini is proud of her early role in championing this cause. We urge the global community to implement this long-standing commitment and ensure that all regions and peoples have a voice in shaping our collective future. Mr. President, in Eswatini, we have embraced the spirit of Nkwe, which means run. This national ethos symbolizes our collective resolve to accelerate progress towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. It is a call for urgent action, for picking up the pace, and for ensuring that every effort is made to meet the needs of our people and our planet. With only a few years left until 2030, time is not on our side. We must double our efforts to bridge the gaps in development, combat poverty and inequality, and address the climate crisis. Nkwe is our rallying cry to run faster, to work harder, and to leave no one behind. We invite the global community to join us in this accelerated drive towards a better future for all. Africa is the youngest continent in the world, brimming with potential and prosperity. The Kingdom of Eswatini is committed to harnessing this demographic dividend by investing in our youth. Our Youth Empowerment Program, supported by government, the United Nations in Eswatini and other friends of the Kingdom, aims to equip young people with the skills and resources they need to succeed in a rapidly changing world. We believe that by creating opportunities for employment and entrepreneurship, we are laying the foundation for a more prosperous and inclusive society. Addressing youth unemployment and providing our young people with meaningful opportunities is not just an economic imperative, but a moral one. We must act now to ensure that our youth can participate fully in building the Africa we want, an Africa of peace, prosperity and dignity. Poverty remains one of the greatest challenges facing our continent. In Eswatini, we are committed to eradicating poverty through inclusive growth and robust social protection programs. We have prioritized policies that provide safety nets for the most vulnerable in our society, including women, children and persons with disabilities. We urge the international community to support these efforts by promoting fair trade, increasing development assistance and fostering partnerships that create jobs and uplift communities. Let us work together to build a world where no one lives in poverty and every person can achieve their full potential. Mr. President, sustainable development is not a choice, but a necessity for the survival and prosperity of our planet. The Kingdom of Eswatini. and others. We have made significant strides in promoting poverty eradication, renewable energy, the protection of our natural resources, and ensuring equitable access to education and health care for Emaasuat. Our National Development Strategy aligns with global development goals focusing on economic diversification, poverty reduction, and human capital development. We have taken significant steps to promote renewable energy through investments in solar, wind and hydropower projects, such as the Swatini Electricity Company’s initiative to increase the share of renewable energy in the national grid. These efforts are complemented by our progress in providing access to quality education through the Free Primary Education Program and improving health care services, as outlined in our National Health Strategic Plan. However, as a small, middle-income country, we face unique challenges, including limited access to international financing, vulnerability to climate change, and economic shocks. We call on the international community to support the developmental aspirations of countries like Swatini, ensuring that our path towards sustainable development is not hindered by structural inequalities in the global system. In response to these challenges, Swatini has put forth a comprehensive SDG recovery and acceleration plan, valued at about $1.6 billion, covering diverse areas, including digital transformation, renewable energy, agriculture. Industrial Expansion and Social Protection. This plan prioritizes implementation over the development of new frameworks, emphasizing sectors such as group job creation, specifically under SDG 8, target 8.5, which focuses on creating jobs across industries as a multiplier for achieving other SDGs. By investing in employment opportunities, we believe we can address multiple dimensions of development, including reducing food insecurity, enhancing access to essential services, and minimizing social ills such as crime and substance abuse. Mr. President, the implementation of SDGs requires substantial financial resources. However, many developing countries, including those in Africa, face significant barriers to accessing affordable finance. The current global financial architecture is not fit for purpose and must be reformed to make the financing more accessible and equitable. We call for the implementation of the Addis Ababa Action Plan, which emphasizes the need for innovative financing mechanisms and global solidarity. We also urge the international community to support the reform of global financial mechanisms that have seen developing countries pay much higher costs than developed nations to access the much needed funds. This unfair practice must come to an end. The summit of the future provides a critical opportunity to address these disparities and ensure that all nations have the means to achieve their development goals. Mr. President, peace is the foundation upon The Kingdom of Eswatini, guided by its longstanding tradition of peaceful coexistence, continues to advocate for dialogue and peaceful resolution of conflicts. We condemn all forms of violence and support efforts aimed at silencing the guns across the world, particularly in Africa. We call upon the international community to support the African Union’s Agenda 2063 and the African Union Master Road Map for silencing the guns. It is imperative that we are not to leave anyone behind. We must address the root causes of conflict, including poverty, inequality, and lack of opportunity which drive instability and undermine development efforts. Health is a fundamental pillar of sustainable development, and its challenges are multidimensional, impacting not just individual well-being but also national productivity and social stability. The Kingdom of Eswatini recognizes that achieving universal health coverage is integral to the broader agenda of leaving no one behind. Despite our efforts to improve health care access through initiatives such as the National Health Strategic Plan and investment in health infrastructure, Eswatini, like many other countries, continues to grapple with significant health challenges. These include a high burden of communicable and non-communicable diseases, inadequate health financing, and the complexities of delivering equitable health care in rural and remote areas. Furthermore, the The ongoing threat of pandemics, such as COVID-19, and emerging health threats, such as the Mpox exacerbated by climate change, underscore the need for adequate preparedness and a resilient health system. We call upon the international community to support collaborative efforts in strengthening health systems, enhancing disease surveillance, improving access to essential medicines, and building capacity for rapid response to health emergencies. Only through such global solidarity and shared commitment can we ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all ages, as enshrined in SDG 3. Mr. President, climate change poses an existential threat to our future. In Eswatini, we have taken decisive steps to address this crisis. We have developed a comprehensive strategy to mitigate and adapt to the impacts of climate change, investing in renewable energy, sustainable agriculture, and disaster risk reduction. We are also proud to announce that Eswatini has recently adopted a ban on single-use plastics. This decision, supported by UNDP and the Eswatini Environment Agency through initiatives like Pasasakonawe, is part of our broader commitment to environmental sustainability. However, our efforts alone are not enough. We call upon developed nations to honour their commitment to climate finance and technology transfer. It is only through collective action that we can ensure a sustainable future for all. The theme of this year’s UN General Assembly is Leaving No One Behind. together for the advancement of peace, sustainable development, and human dignity for present and future generations. Ironically, Taiwan and its 23.5 million people continue to be loved by the United Nations and its specialized agencies. We wish to make a call for their inclusion. They need to be part of this global platform so that they can also fully participate in global development and growth of our goals. Mr. President, the road ahead is fraught with challenges, but it is also filled with hope and opportunity. Let us seize this moment to reaffirm our commitment to the ideals of the United Nations and to the vision of a world where peace, sustainable development, and human dignity are realities for all. The Kingdom of Eswatini stands ready to work with all nations in this noble endeavor. May we all embrace the spirit of Nkwe and let us run together with accelerated speed towards our shared goals and ensure that no one is left behind. I thank you.

President: On behalf of the Assembly, I wish to thank the Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Eswatini. The Assembly will hear an address by Her Excellency Robinah Nabbanja, Prime Minister and Leader of Government Business in Parliament of the Republic of Uganda. I request protocol to escort Her Excellency and invite her to address the Assembly.

Robinah Nabbanja – Uganda: Your Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, I bring you warm greetings. From His Excellency, Yoweri Museveni , the President of the Republic of Uganda and the people of Uganda. I congratulate His Excellency Mr. Philemon Yang on his election as President of the 79th Session of the UN General Assembly, and I assure him of Uganda’s full support. I commend His Excellency Mr. Dennis Francis, former President, to the General Assembly for his stewardship of the 78th Session of the General Assembly, and equally pay tribute to the Secretary General, His Excellency Antonio Guterres, for his commitment to the work of the United Nations. Mr. President, in the face of the current global shocks occasioned by multiple human, natural, ecological, sociological and financial crises, we can all agree that the world is not in a good place. Today, the negative consequences of disunity have given rise to conflicts, global instability, interstate rivalry, and has worsened the already existing problems of poverty, hunger and disease in many parts of the world. There is therefore a need to recommit ourselves to a common identity of shared humanity in the modern global village. As people of the United Nations, we should live by the Charter of the United Nations. We are a united nation with a sincere determination to save future generations from the scourge of war. We should fully commit ourselves to upholding the dignity and worth of the human person for peaceful coexistence and tolerance regardless of our differences in values, cultures, race, ideologies and religions without political, military threats or dominion by war. Your Excellencies, we must resolve our political commitment for the full implementation of the globally agreed frameworks for the promotion of socio-economic development and advancement of all people. In this regard, Your Excellency, urgent action is required to address global inequalities with regard to poverty, hunger and disease which continue to affect disproportionately the poorest and most vulnerable. Therefore, this is the time to ask the following questions. Why have we failed to forge stronger international cooperation in response to collective global challenges? The second question is, why is it that, in spite of the multiple global commitments derived through conceptually formulated solutions, decisions and commitments, do all these remain unimplemented? This year’s General Assembly, unlike others, should seek to answer these questions. Mr. President, we are all aware that most conflict drivers begin as unresolved local or regional tensions or problems which become increasingly complex, sometimes involving multiple actors. Regional conflicts must be addressed comprehensively beyond security with the need for broad and strong political commitments by the regional governments. Uganda believes in the peaceful resolution of conflicts wherever they occur. We are at the forefront of promoting regional peace, security and stability necessary for economic development. In this respect, Uganda encourages international partners to support local and regional-led initiatives or solutions for building peace and stability as prerequisites for sustained and inclusive economic growth and development in our countries and regions. We call on the increased collaboration by the international community to eliminate or reduce the incidence of conflicts caused by factors such as inequality, climate change, pandemics, new technologies, transitional organised crime and terrorism. Uganda believes that the benefits of this world must be shared with all humanity and detests all forms of exclusion by the relatively few wealthiest nations. We reject the increasing competition and confrontation between major powers which undermines the collective international responses to security, peace and stability. Stability and Socioeconomic Development. Your Excellencies, Uganda reiterates its call for the urgent and comprehensive reform of the UN Security Council for Africa to be represented in both permanent and non-permanent categories as a special case in order to address the historical injustice, and the urgent imperative to address it fully supports the common African position on this matter. The African Union Committee of 10 Heads of State, under the leadership of the Republic of Sierra Leone, has been pursuing the mandate to promote, advocate, and canvas for support of the common African position on the reform of the United Nations Security Council as stipulated in the Azurwilni Concessus and the City and City Declaration. The position is that Africa should have two permanent seats with a veto, if others have it, and two additional non-permanent seats on the Security Council. The Committee of 10, since 2005, has been driven with the hope and conviction of solving equality in representation and participation in inter-governmental negotiations for the reform of the UN Security Council to make it more responsive to the current circumstances to achieve a future of shared goals for humanity. The core aspiration is for Africa for Africa to get representation in the United Nations Security Council as equal partners and make a contribution to maternal systems that should become inclusive, equitable, and work for international peace and security of all without paralysis or succumbing to parachial interests of major powers. Mr. President, we demand for the right to development as equal members of the international community without any preconditions and politicization for greater human dignity, freedom, and socio-economic injustice. We call for fair access to means of production, technology, and capital for the socio-economic transformation of our economies in line with our national legal frameworks and development plans. Uganda believes that the perpetual preservation of poverty and inequalities in developing countries undermines the fundamental human rights, in particular the rights of the marginalized and the poor, and remains a threat to international peace and security, which should no longer be overlooked. Uganda, as a chair of the Non-Allied Movement, will work with countries of the Non-Allied Movement as well as other countries on intergovernmental processes that shall lead to the adoption of the UN Convention on the Right to Development. Mr. President, financing remains one of the priorities of the Non-Allied Movement. the greatest challenges that undermine the efforts of developing countries to fully implement the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and achievement of its 17 Sustainable Goals. Borrowing is critical for financing investments in sustainable development. The European date is an important tool for financing sustainable development, enabling low-income countries to invest in infrastructure, health, education and other critical areas. We emphasize that loans to low-income developing countries should be concessional and at zero interest rate. This will enable our countries to finance productive investments, including building infrastructure to improve connectivity, make debt sustainable in the long run and spur economic growth, which will in turn help to improve domestic tax correction and raise revenues. Uganda, like other developing countries, faces constraints of domestic resource mobilization due to limited tax base. We call for strengthening of the international cooperation in tax matters to ensure that it is effective and inclusive by making multinational corporations pay taxes in countries of their operations, including collecting revenue generated by e-commerce in cross-border transactions. Mr. President, we fully support the ongoing discussions on adoption of the UN Framework Convention on International Tax Cooperation. We also call for the strengthening of international cooperation in the prevention of and combating illicit financial flows, with a view of ensuring that all illicit funds, all resources, including assets, are returned to their countries of origin. Furthermore, Uganda calls for the urgent reform of the international financial architecture, including the international financial institutions and their rules, to ensure equitable representation of developing countries in international economic governance decision-making that affects the trajectory of their national development. Your Excellencies, Uganda identified four key sectors of wealth and job creation in line with its national development plan, and that includes agro-processing, industrialization, services, information and communication technologies, digitalization and skills development to support our socio-economic transformation. There is no doubt that affordable energy and access to affordable, high-quality internet connectivity is vital to catalyze their full implementation in order to realize inclusive development outcomes and benefits for our people. We need to strengthen deeper collaboration with the Global South, with the support of our partners in the North, to unlock shared prosperity by building the necessary infrastructure and connectivity to increase… to increase productive capacity for rapid growth, economic take-off and sustainable development. In this regard, Uganda calls on the international community to support the full implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area. Furthermore, Uganda calls on the international community to support its path to sustainable development. We encourage foreign individuals and companies to invest in the country. We welcome inflows of money, technology, knowledge, skills and expertise as major sources of non-debt financial resources for economic development of our country. Your Excellencies, Uganda also calls for collaboration by the international community in medical research for global health to develop vaccines and treatments to combat diseases like Ebola, COVID-19, monkeypox, and improving health care capability in low-income countries, particularly in Africa. Uganda advocates for mutually beneficial trade and investment. We encourage that in pursuing sustainable development, foreign direct investment should be geared to adding value by processing raw materials inside our country where raw materials are produced and export high-value products. This will create jobs, generate high incomes and increase taxable revenues. We call on multinational companies to desist. from Purchasing Raw Materials and On Reselling Processed Products for Consumption in Developing Countries. We equally call on developed economies and multinational companies that buy raw materials to process them and add value in their countries should take measures to institute policies that allow sharing the profits they generate in the value chain with the low income raw material producing countries where it is sourced for shared prosperity. Mr. President, climate change remains one of the greatest challenges to the pursuit of sustainable development. Uganda calls on developed countries to provide the necessary financial, technical, as well as capacity building to support developing countries to effectively address climate change. We demand for climate justice, recognising that richer countries have historically profited from high emission activities for the development of their economies and bear a great obligation to lead in mitigating these impacts. Therefore, high income countries should reduce their emissions and equally support developing countries in their gradual transition to low emission development pathways without using the environment as a political and economic tool to block or slow down their development. We emphasize that climate finance should be additional to official development assistance. Mr. President, developing countries face great challenges, including the increase in unilateral political, economic and trade actions, oil policies and the weakening of multilateralism, which are frequent violations of the principles established in the UN Charter, international law and the purposes of the United Nations. We consider that it is urgent to stop these actions that threaten the economic and social development of the countries that are subject to them and consequently prevent them from achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. Uganda reiterates its call to put an end to the economic, commercial and financial blockade imposed on these sister nations under sanctions, which is a major impediment to sustainable development. Uganda also reiterates its firm rejection to the imposition of laws and legislations with extraterritorial impact and all other forms of cohesive measures, including unilateral sanctions against developing countries, and reiterates the urgent need to eliminate them immediately. Mr. President, Your Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen, Uganda took over the chairmanship of both the Group of 77 and China and the Non-Allied Movement in January 2024. I take this opportunity on behalf of His Excellency, President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, the President of the Republic of Uganda, to thank all member states of the group and the movement for their confidence in ensuring Uganda is in the capacity of chair. We commend the Africa Group for endorsing our candidature for the chairmanship of both organizations. This year, I mean this year 2024, has been a crucial year with various inter-governmental processes at the United Nations on issues that are of paramount importance to both the group and the movement. And these include Inter-Area First International Conference on the Small Islands Developing States, the third UN Conference on the Landlocked Developing Countries, the Summit of the Future, the preparations for the fourth International Conference on Financing for Development, the 2024 UN Climate Change Conference, I mean COP29, all of which demand that we remain even more united and steadfast in promoting the interests of developing countries. Uganda therefore commends the members of both groups for keeping united in solidarity as we pursue the issues of our common interests. In conclusion, Mr. President, Uganda will continue with this stewardship, working together in solidarity to achieve a revitalized multilateral system which is capable of adequately addressing current and emerging global challenges. We firmly believe that multilateralism remains a fundamental and crucial mechanism for addressing our common challenges, namely 1. Accelerating the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development 2. Scaling up action to address climate change and biodiversity loss 3. Strengthening international tax cooperation 4. Availing adequate concession of financing for development 5. The fight against illicit financial flows and enhancing global collaboration in digital and artificial technologies to maximize the benefit to society and minimize harm, among others Thank you for God and my country.

President: The meeting is adjourned.

Agreement Points

Need for urgent climate action and financing

Speakers

Mia Amor Mottley – Barbados

James Marape – Papua New Guinea

Philip Edward Davis – Bahamas

Russell Mmiso Dlamini – Eswatini

Charlot Salwai Tabimasmas – Vanuatu

Arguments

Need for urgent climate action and financing

Commitment to forest conservation and biodiversity protection

Call for climate justice and support for developing countries

Adoption of renewable energy and sustainable practices

Impact of climate change on small island nations

Summary

Multiple speakers emphasized the urgent need for climate action, increased climate financing, and support for developing countries in addressing climate change impacts.

Reform of international financial institutions

Speakers

Mia Amor Mottley – Barbados

Russell Mmiso Dlamini – Eswatini

Robinah Nabbanja – Uganda

Muhammad Yunus – Bangladesh

Arguments

Reform of international financial institutions needed

Call for debt relief and concessional financing

Need for fair access to development financing

Call for inclusive global governance

Summary

Several speakers called for reform of international financial institutions to better address the needs of developing countries and ensure more equitable access to financing.

UN Security Council reform

Speakers

Tshering Tobgay -Bhutan

Robinah Nabbanja – Uganda

Muhammad Yunus – Bangladesh

Arguments

Support for UN reform efforts

Need for equitable representation in UN bodies

Call for reform of UN Security Council

Summary

Multiple speakers advocated for reform of the UN Security Council to ensure more equitable representation and effectiveness in addressing global challenges.

Similar Viewpoints

Both speakers emphasized the importance of investing in human capital, particularly through education and healthcare, as crucial for sustainable development.

Speakers

James Marape – Papua New Guinea

Russell Mmiso Dlamini – Eswatini

Arguments

Focus on youth empowerment and education

Need for universal health coverage

These speakers highlighted the importance of peaceful conflict resolution and international cooperation in maintaining regional and global peace and security.

Speakers

Dorin Recean – Moldova

Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif – Pakistan

Ralph Gonsalves – Saint Vincent and the Grenadines

Arguments

Need for peaceful resolution of conflicts

Support for UN peacekeeping efforts

Importance of regional stability initiatives

Unexpected Consensus

Digital transformation for sustainable development

Speakers

James Marape – Papua New Guinea

Robert Abela – Malta

Arguments

Focus on youth empowerment and education

Importance of digital transformation

Explanation

Despite representing countries at different levels of development, both leaders emphasized the importance of digital transformation and education in emerging technologies for sustainable development.

Overall Assessment

Summary

The main areas of agreement among speakers included the urgent need for climate action and financing, reform of international financial institutions, and UN Security Council reform. There was also broad consensus on the importance of peaceful conflict resolution and investment in human capital for sustainable development.

Consensus level

There was a moderate to high level of consensus among speakers on key global challenges, particularly climate change and the need for more equitable global governance structures. This consensus suggests potential for increased international cooperation on these issues, but also highlights the ongoing challenges in implementing effective solutions.

Disagreement Points

Approach to climate change financing

Speakers

Mia Amor Mottley – Barbados

James Marape – Papua New Guinea

Arguments

Need for urgent climate action and financing

Commitment to forest conservation and biodiversity protection

Summary

While both speakers emphasize the importance of addressing climate change, they differ in their approaches. Mottley calls for urgent global action and increased climate financing, while Marape focuses on the role of forest conservation and biodiversity protection in Papua New Guinea.

UN Security Council reform

Speakers

Tshering Tobgay -Bhutan

Muhammad Yunus – Bangladesh

Robinah Nabbanja – Uganda

Arguments

Support for UN reform efforts

Call for reform of UN Security Council

Need for equitable representation in UN bodies

Summary

While all speakers support UN reform, they emphasize different aspects. Tobgay expresses general support for reform, Yunus calls for comprehensive Security Council reform, and Nabbanja specifically advocates for more equitable representation of developing countries.

Overall Assessment

Summary

The main areas of disagreement revolve around approaches to climate change, UN reform, and development financing. While there is general agreement on the importance of these issues, speakers differ in their specific priorities and proposed solutions.

Disagreement level

The level of disagreement among the speakers is moderate. While there are differences in approach and emphasis, there is broad consensus on the major challenges facing the international community. These disagreements reflect the diverse needs and perspectives of different countries, particularly between developed and developing nations, and may complicate efforts to reach unified global solutions.

Partial Agreements

All speakers agree on the urgent need to address climate change, but they propose different solutions. Davis calls for climate justice and support for developing countries, Tabimasmas emphasizes the specific impacts on small island nations, while Dlamini focuses on adopting renewable energy and sustainable practices.

Speakers

Philip Edward Davis – Bahamas

Charlot Salwai Tabimasmas – Vanuatu

Russell Mmiso Dlamini – Eswatini

Arguments

Call for climate justice and support for developing countries

Impact of climate change on small island nations

Adoption of renewable energy and sustainable practices

Similar Viewpoints

Both speakers emphasized the importance of investing in human capital, particularly through education and healthcare, as crucial for sustainable development.

Speakers

James Marape – Papua New Guinea

Russell Mmiso Dlamini – Eswatini

Arguments

Focus on youth empowerment and education

Need for universal health coverage

These speakers highlighted the importance of peaceful conflict resolution and international cooperation in maintaining regional and global peace and security.

Speakers

Dorin Recean – Moldova

Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif – Pakistan

Ralph Gonsalves – Saint Vincent and the Grenadines

Arguments

Need for peaceful resolution of conflicts

Support for UN peacekeeping efforts

Importance of regional stability initiatives

Key Takeaways

Urgent action is needed on climate change, especially to support vulnerable developing countries and small island nations

Reform of the global financial system and international institutions is necessary to address economic inequality

Peaceful resolution of conflicts and strengthening of multilateralism are critical for global stability

Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals requires renewed commitment and support, particularly for developing countries

UN reform, including Security Council reform, is needed to ensure more equitable global representation

Resolutions and Action Items

Implement the Pact for the Future adopted at the Summit of the Future

Operationalize the Loss and Damage Fund for climate change impacts

Support the African Continental Free Trade Area

Advance UN Security Council reform efforts

Strengthen international cooperation on tax matters and combating illicit financial flows

Unresolved Issues

Specific mechanisms for reforming international financial institutions

Details of climate financing commitments from developed countries

Concrete steps for achieving peace in ongoing conflicts like Gaza and Ukraine

Pathway for accelerating progress on SDGs given current challenges

Agreement on the exact nature of UN Security Council reforms

Suggested Compromises

Gradual and predictable phasing out of support for graduating Least Developed Countries

Balancing climate action with development needs of poorer countries

Finding common ground between developed and developing nations on financial reforms

Inclusive approaches to peace processes involving all stakeholders

Incremental reforms to the UN system while working towards more comprehensive changes

We cannot afford the distraction of war. If ever there was a time to pause and to reset, it is now. Collectively, as an international community, and individually, as leaders in each of our countries, we must now deliver new opportunities and solutions to these crises which dampen economic growth, which restrict the ambitions of our people and numb our sense of the beauty and goodness that the world ought to be offering, because it has it to offer.

Speaker

Mia Amor Mottley – Barbados

Reason

This comment powerfully frames the need for global cooperation and reorienting priorities away from conflict, setting the tone for much of the subsequent discussion.

Impact

It shifted the conversation towards the need for collective action on global challenges like climate change and economic inequality, rather than focusing on individual national interests.

The world is overarmed and peace is underfunded.

Speaker

Andrej Plenkovic – Croatia

Reason

This succinct statement captures a key imbalance in global priorities and resource allocation.

Impact

It reinforced calls from other speakers for increased investment in peace-building and development rather than military spending.

We see this moral confusion when Israel is falsely accused of genocide, when we defend ourselves against enemies who try to commit genocide against us.

Speaker

Benjamin Netanyahu – Israel

Reason

This controversial statement highlights the deeply polarized perspectives on the Israel-Palestine conflict.

Impact

It sparked strong reactions from other speakers and shifted part of the discussion to focus more directly on the situation in Gaza and calls for a ceasefire.

The climate risks are faced far deeper by our small farmers and artisanal livelihood holders. As I speak, over 5 million people witnessed a most devastating flood in their living memory in eastern Bangladesh.

Speaker

Muhammad Yunus – Bangladesh

Reason

This comment grounds the abstract discussion of climate change in concrete human impacts.

Impact

It helped refocus the conversation on the disproportionate effects of climate change on developing nations and vulnerable populations.

Let us adopt a little bit of overview effect to see the world through the eyes of the astronauts. They see the planet from humanity perspective, one planet, one people, one humanity.

Speaker

James Marape – Papua New Guinea

Reason

This metaphor provides a powerful perspective shift on global unity and shared challenges.

Impact

It encouraged subsequent speakers to frame issues more in terms of collective global interests rather than narrow national concerns.

Overall Assessment

These key comments shaped the discussion by repeatedly emphasizing themes of global interconnectedness, the need for collective action on climate change and development, and the importance of prioritizing peace and cooperation over conflict. They helped steer the conversation away from individual national grievances towards a more holistic view of shared global challenges and responsibilities. The comments also highlighted the disproportionate impacts of global issues on developing nations and vulnerable populations, bringing greater nuance and urgency to the discussion of topics like climate change and economic inequality.

How can the UN Security Council be reformed to make it more representative and effective?

Speaker

Andrej Plenkovic – Croatia

Explanation

This is important to address the changing geopolitical landscape and ensure fair representation of all regions in global decision-making.

What steps can be taken to operationalize the Loss and Damage Fund for climate change impacts?

Speaker

Philip Edward Davis – Bahamas

Explanation

This is crucial for providing financial support to countries most affected by climate change, especially small island developing states.

How can the international community support Haiti in achieving security, stability, and long-term development?

Speaker

Ralph Gonsalves – Saint Vincent and the Grenadines

Explanation

Addressing the ongoing crisis in Haiti is vital for regional stability and humanitarian concerns.

What measures can be implemented to reform the global financial architecture to better support developing countries?

Speaker

Russell Mmiso Dlamini – Eswatini

Explanation

This is important to ensure more equitable access to financing for sustainable development, especially for small and middle-income countries.

How can the international community effectively address the root causes of conflicts, including poverty, inequality, and lack of opportunity?

Speaker

Russell Mmiso Dlamini – Eswatini

Explanation

Understanding and addressing these underlying factors is crucial for achieving lasting peace and stability globally.

What steps can be taken to strengthen international cooperation in preventing and combating illicit financial flows?

Speaker

Robinah Nabbanja – Uganda

Explanation

This is important for ensuring that developing countries retain resources needed for their development and to combat corruption.

How can the international community support the full implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area?

Speaker

Robinah Nabbanja – Uganda

Explanation

This is crucial for promoting economic growth and integration across the African continent.