A/78/PV.10 General Assembly

The Assembly will now hear an address by the President of the Republic of North Macedonia.

On behalf of the General Assembly, I have the honour to welcome to the United Nations His Excellency Mr. Stevo Pendarovski, President of the Republic of North Macedonia, and to invite him to address the Assembly. President Pendarovski (spoke in the Macedonian language; English interpretation provided by the delegation): It is indeed a particular honour and pleasure to speak on behalf of the citizens of the Republic of North Macedonia here in the heart of the United Nations at the general debate of the General Assembly. At the outset, allow me to wish every success to Mr. Dennis Francis, President of the General Assembly at its seventy-eighth session. Every year at this time, the eyes of the world turn towards the largest gathering at which the political leaders of nations elaborate on their visions for the future. This year, the focus on all of us is perhaps greater than ever before because the lowest common denominator of the emotional state of humankind today is fear — fear of wars, famine, poverty, environmental disasters; fear for the future of our next of kin. It is an undeniable fact that international order has been shaken to its core in various parts of the world. The aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine continues with unabated and tireless ferocity, in flagrant violation of the Charter of the United Nations and of the principles of international law. This is the biggest security crisis since the Second World War, with global consequences that are felt, more or less, on all continents. With each passing day, the suffering of the Ukrainian people becomes greater, material goods are destroyed and the danger of escalation grows ever more imminent. We most strongly condemn the aggression against Ukraine, as has been done by a great number of Members of our Organization. We stand for the unconditional withdrawal of Russian occupying troops and respect for Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity within its internationally recognized borders. The Charter of this world Assembly is crystal clear in that regard — all open issues anywhere in the world must be resolved by peaceful means, with negotiations and dialogue and by renouncing the use of force. The war in Ukraine is the most blatant but, unfortunately, not the only example of a threat against world peace and security. The planetary security architecture, the basis of which is the Organization, is especially shaken when a State, a permanent member of the Security Council, illegally attacks another State Member of that same Organization. It was no accident that the Secretary-General recently warned that the risk of a nuclear disaster is today at the highest level since the end of the Cold War. That alert, coming from the highest level of the Organization, should be a wake-up call for all reasonable political leaders and for a global mobilization to preserve peace, which is undoubtedly the greatest value of humanity. It is high time to silence the drums of war, to respect the Charter of the United Nations, guided by respect for the independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of States as the fundamental principles and the main raison d’être of the world Organization. Peace is the fundament of everything. However, the world is facing challenges of various kinds and addressing them requires not only peace among States, but also mutual trust and cooperation. It is certain that trust, built throughout decades and mostly in this building, has been seriously undermined and that we will need time, effort and, above all, political will to reinstate it. Independent of all differences among us  — be they political, economic or cultural  — we must act together in the interest of the peace, stability and prosperity of current and future generations. The alternatives to dialogue among nations are frightening, and every delay will again lead us to the same threat, with the difference that the price to be paid then will be much higher. The war in Ukraine creates a state of general unpredictability and a constant loop of crises, especially in food and energy supply. The shortage of food supplies endangers the poorest and threatens to provoke humanitarian disasters with unprecedented magnitude in many parts of the world. We give our full support to the efforts of the Secretary-General to restore the agreement for export of Ukrainian grain via the Black Sea, because we find it completely unacceptable to use food and energy as weapons for the realization of military or political objectives. In parallel with the efforts to achieve the peaceful resolution of conflicts, it is necessary to redouble our efforts to realize the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The Sustainable Development Goals Summit held a few days ago on the sidelines of this year’s general debate is a step in the right direction, but it is crucial to turn words into actions. It is beyond understanding that, in the third decade of the twenty- first century, millions of people are left with their basic human needs unmet. What will our authority as political leaders be when we discuss democracy, human rights and prosperity, while at the same time millions of people do not have access to drinking water, food or education? Global solidarity is not a novelty idea or a concept that needs special elaboration. I myself come from Skopje, the capital of North Macedonia, which, exactly 60 years ago, was struck by a devastating earthquake. Skopje rose from the ashes, among other things, thanks to global solidarity. We learned the hard way how precious a hand extended in times of trouble is. The devastating earthquake in Turkey in February brought us back to the very essence of humanism: vulnerability when faced with natural disasters, but also the primordial need of humans to help the weak and the suffering. None of us knows what tomorrow will bring, but we do know that we will face all challenges far more efficiently if we use the mechanisms we have already built. Along those lines, it is necessary to address the issue of climate change far more resolutely. Those changes do not acknowledge or recognize borders; therefore, an efficient response absolutely requires joint action. The region of South-East Europe, where I come from, is facing phenomena unknown to date: so-called supercell storms verging on tornadoes, which are a direct consequence of climate change. Global warming, as the Secretary-General has said, is now becoming global boiling. There is no doubt whatsoever that the world finds itself before an existential challenge, and a successful counter-response is possible only if we rally around a single, global platform. The necessary instruments, such as the Climate Solidarity Pact, whereby developed economies provide financial and technical support to those in development have already been set; an equitable transition towards a green economy is possible, but only through their adequate implementation. According to the Climate Action Acceleration Agenda, developed countries should not only achieve a level of zero net emissions by 2040, but also keep their promises to the countries in development by doubling the resources for adaptation and funding of the Green Climate Fund. The greatest threats of the present — geopolitical turbulence, wars, terrorism, climate change and massive migration waves — are arising at a time when international organizations and the entire multilateral system are going through an identity or a functionality crisis, and most often, both. The only real answer can be renewed and reinforced multilateralism that will value the individual needs of every country, but will also offer a clear vision of the big picture, of the things uniting us and of the greater good. There is no better place for that joint endeavour than the United Nations. One urgent need of humankind today is to restore predictability, early warning and prevention in international relations. It is certain that a prerequisite to that are internal reforms of the United Nations system, with respect for the principle of greater representation and inclusiveness, in order to reflect the reality of the world today. Moreover, it is necessary to establish mechanisms for better functionality while also reducing the options for paralysing the work of the Organization. In that context, we offer our full support to the ministerial meeting convened in preparation for the Summit of the Future, to be held in 2024. Of course, the need remains to solve old problems while addressing new challenges, although some, like fake news and cyberthreats, have already become part of our lives. Some others, although of newer date, such as artificial intelligence, are already causing major changes in our lives. There should be no doubt in our minds that without a joint pact for the future, no country or group of countries will have the potential to offer or implement responses to those challenges alone. Since day one of our independence, more than 30 years ago, my country has been manifesting, in the best possible way, its attachment to the principles of peace, profound regional cooperation and the resolution of open issues by means of dialogue. In 1991, we started a process of internal democratic maturation by affirming the rights of ethnic communities to the highest degree possible and fostering a culture of dialogue when resolving internal issues, but also in the relations with our neighbours. We accepted compromise as a way of solving problems, not as an expression of weakness but, on the contrary, as an expression of self-confidence in our ability to protect our own interests without damaging the interests of others. Respecting the principles that we believe in, we continue to make an active contribution to peace, stability, democratic values, sustainable development and economic prosperity. This year, we hold the chairpersonship of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, the largest regional security organization, at a time of unprecedented challenges. Even in such conditions, we strive to maintain the relevance of the Organization, led by the fundamental principles of the United Nations Charter and the Helsinki Final Act. We remain among the biggest promoters of regional cooperation in South-East Europe, working at the same time on the fulfilment of the criteria for membership of the European Union, not later than 2030. There is no doubt in our mind that strengthening the democratic institutions, in continuity and with the guaranteed equity of all citizens is the only possible way to a greater cohesion in a multiethnic society. At the beginning of my statement, I mentioned that fear of the future is perhaps the predominant feeling today. However, that must not be accepted as normal. We political leaders gathered here today have a responsibility to substitute that feeling of fear with one of hope and faith in a more just world. A precondition to that is to achieve, as soon as possible, a renewed agreement for respecting the fundamental values and humanistic ideals for which the Organization was established seventy-eight years ago.

On behalf of the General Assembly, I wish to thank the President of the Republic of North Macedonia for the statement he has just made.

The Assembly will now hear an address by the Prime Minister of the State of Israel.

I have great pleasure in welcoming His Excellency Mr. Benjamin Netanyahu, Prime Minister of the State of Israel, and inviting him to address the Assembly.

Over three millenniums ago, our great leader Moses addressed the people of Israel as they were about to enter the Promised Land. He said that they would find there two mountains facing one another: Mount Gerizim, the site on which a great blessing would be proclaimed, and Mount Ebal, the site of a great curse. Moses said that the people’s fate would be determined by the choice they made between the blessing and the curse. That same choice has echoed down the ages not just for the people of Israel but for all humankind. We face such a choice today. It will determine whether we enjoy the blessings of a historic peace of boundless prosperity and hope or suffer the curse of a horrific war, terrorism and despair. When I last spoke at this rostrum five years ago (see A/73/PV.10), I warned about the tyrants of Tehran. They have been nothing but a curse — a curse to their own people, to our region and to the entire world. But at that time, I also spoke about a great blessing that I could see on the horizon. I said that the common threat of Iran had “brought Israel and many Arab States closer than ever before, in [a] .. friendship that I have not seen in my lifetime” (A/73/PV.10, p.39). I said that the day would “soon arrive when Israel [would] be able to expand peace ... beyond Egypt and Jordan to other Arab neighbours” (ibid.). Now, in countless meetings with world leaders, I made the case that Israel and the Arab States shared many common interests and that I believed that those many common interests could facilitate a breakthrough for a broader peace in our region. Some may applaud now, but at the time many dismissed my optimism as wishful thinking. Their pessimism was based on a quarter-century of good intentions and failed peacemaking. Why were those good intentions? Why did they always meet failure? Because they were based on one false idea  — that unless we first concluded a peace agreement with the Palestinians, no other Arab State would normalize its relations with Israel. I have long sought to make peace with the Palestinians, but I also believe that we must not give the Palestinians a veto over new peace treaties with Arab States. The Palestinians could greatly benefit from a broader peace. They should be part of the process, but they should not have a veto over the process. And I also believe that making peace with more Arab States would actually increase the prospects of making peace between Israel and the Palestinians. The Palestinians are only 2 per cent of the Arab world. As long as they believe that the other 98 per cent will remain in a warlike State with Israel, that larger mass, that larger Arab world, could eventually choke, dissolve and destroy the Jewish State. So when the Palestinians see that most of the Arab world has reconciled itself to the Jewish State, they too will be more likely to abandon the fantasy of destroying Israel and finally embrace a path of genuine peace with it. For years, my approach to peace was rejected by the so-called experts. Well, they were wrong. Under their approach, we did not forge a single peace treaty for a quarter-century. Yet in 2020, under the approach that I advocated, we tried something different, and in no time we achieved a remarkable breakthrough. We achieved four peace treaties, working with the United States. Israel forged four peace agreements in four months with four Arab countries: the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, the Sudan and Morocco. The Abraham Accords were a pivot of history. And today, we all see the blessings of those accords. Trade and investment with our new peace partners are booming. Our nations cooperate in commerce, energy, water, agriculture, medicine, climate and many, many other fields. Close to a million Israelis have visited the United Arab Emirates in the past three years. Every day, Israelis save time and money by doing something they could not do for 70 years. They fly over the Arabian peninsula to destinations in the Gulf, India, the Far East and Australia. The Abraham Accords ushered in another dramatic change. They brought Arabs and Jews closer together. We see it in the frequent Jewish weddings in Dubai, in the dedication of a Torah scroll in a synagogue in Bahrain, in the visitors flocking to the Museum of Moroccan Judaism in Casablanca. We see it in lessons that are given to Arab students about the Holocaust in the United Arab Emirates. There is no question, the Abraham Accords heralded the dawn of a new age of peace. But I believe that we are at the cusp of an even more dramatic breakthrough — an historic peace between Israel and Saudi Arabia. Such a peace will go a long way to ending the Arab-Israeli conflict. It will encourage other Arab States to normalize relations with Israel. It will enhance the prospects of peace with the Palestinians. It will encourage a broader reconciliation between Judaism and Islam, between Jerusalem and Mecca, between the descendants of Isaac and the descendants of Ishmael. All those are tremendous blessings. Two weeks ago, we saw another blessing already in sight. At the Group of 20 Summit, President Biden, Prime Minister Modi and European and Arab leaders announced plans for a visionary corridor that will stretch across the Arabian peninsula and Israel. It will connect India to Europe with maritime links, rail links, energy pipelines and fibre-optic cables. That corridor will bypass maritime chokepoints and dramatically lower the costs of goods, communication and energy for over 2 billion people. That is an historic change for my country. The land of Israel is situated on the crossroads between Africa, Asia and Europe, and for centuries my country was repeatedly invaded by empires passing through it on their campaigns of plunder and conquest elsewhere. But today, as we tear down walls of enmity, Israel can become a bridge of peace and prosperity between those continents. Peace between Israel and Saudi Arabia will truly create a new Middle East. So everyone should understand the magnitude of the transformation that we seek to advance. Here I display a map of the Middle East in 1948, the year Israel was established. Here is Israel in 1948. It is a tiny country, isolated and surrounded by a hostile Arab world. In our first 70 years, we made peace with Egypt and Jordan. And then in 2020, we made the Abraham Accords, peace with another four Arab States. Now let us look at what happens when we make peace between Israel and Saudi Arabia. The whole Middle East changes. We tear down the walls of enmity. We bring the possibility of peace to the entire region. But we do something else. A few years ago, I stood here with a red marker to show the curse  — a great curse, the curse of a nuclear Iran. But today, I bring this marker to show a great blessing — the blessing of a new Middle East between Israel, Saudi Arabia and our other neighbours. We will not only bring down barriers between Israel and our neighbours; we will build a new corridor of peace and prosperity that connects Asia through the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Israel to Europe. That is an extraordinary change, a monumental change, another pivot of history. As the circle of peace expands, I believe that a real path towards a genuine peace with our Palestinian neighbours can finally be achieved. But there is a caveat. It has to be said here forcefully. Peace can be achieved only if it is based on truth. It cannot be based on lies. It cannot be based on the endless vilification of the Jewish people. Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas must stop spreading the horrible antisemitic conspiracies against the Jewish people and the Jewish State. He recently said that Hitler was not an antisemite. You cannot make this up. But he did. He said that. The Palestinian Authority must stop glorifying terrorists. It must stop its ghoulish pay-to- slay policy of giving money to Palestinian terrorists for the murder of Jews. That is all outrageous. It must stop for peace to prevail. Antisemitism must be rejected wherever it appears, whether on the left or on the right, whether in the halls of universities or in the halls of the United Nations. For peace to prevail, the Palestinians must stop spewing Jew-hatred and finally reconcile themselves to the Jewish State. By that I mean not only to the existence of the Jewish State but to the right of the Jewish people to have a State of their own in their historic homeland, the land of Israel. And let me say, the people of Israel yearn for such a peace. I yearn for such a peace. As a young soldier over half a century ago, my comrades and I in Israel’s Special Forces faced mortal danger on many fronts and on many battlefields. From the warm waters of the Suez Canal to the frozen slopes of Mount Hermon, from the banks of the Jordan river to the tarmac of Beirut airport. Those experiences and other experiences taught me the cost of war. A fellow soldier was killed next to me. Another died in my arms. I buried my older brother. Those who have personally suffered the curse of war can best appreciate the blessings of peace. There are many hurdles on the path of peace. There are many hurdles on the extraordinary path to peace that I have just described. But I am committed to doing everything I can to overcome those hurdles, to forge a better future for Israel and all the peoples in our region. Two days ago, I discussed that vision of peace with President Biden. We share the same optimism for what can be achieved, and I deeply appreciate his commitment to seizing this historic opportunity. The United States of America is indispensable in that effort. Just as we achieved the Abraham Accords with the leadership of President Trump, I believe we can achieve peace with Saudi Arabia with the leadership of President Biden. Working together with the leadership of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, we can shape a future of great blessings for all our peoples. Now we all know that there is a fly in that ointment, because we may rest assured that the fanatics ruling Iran will do everything they can to thwart this historic peace. Iran continues to spend billions to arm its terror proxies. It continues to extend its terror tentacles in the Middle East, Europe, Asia, South America and even North America. It even tried to assassinate the Secretary of State of the United States of America. It even tried to assassinate the National Security Advisor of the United States of America. That tells us all we need to know about Iran’s murderous intentions and Iran’s murderous nature. Iran continues to threaten international shipping lanes, hold foreign nationals for ransom and engage in nuclear blackmail. Over the past year, its murderous goons have killed hundreds and arrested thousands of Iran’s brave citizens. Iran’s drones and missile programme threaten Israel and our Arab neighbours. And Iran’s drones have brought and bring death and destruction to innocent people in the Ukraine. Yet the regime’s aggression is largely met by indifference in the international community. Eight years ago, the Western Powers promised that if Iran violated the nuclear deal, the sanctions would be snapped back. Well, Iran is violating the deal but the sanctions have not been snapped back. To stop its nuclear ambitions, that policy must change. Sanctions must be snapped back and, above all, Iran must face a credible military threat. As long as I am Prime Minister of Israel, I will do everything in my power to prevent Iran from getting nuclear weapons. Equally, we should support the brave women and men of Iran who despise the regime and yearn for freedom, who have gone out bravely on the sidewalks of Tehran and Iran’s other cities and faced death. It is the people of Iran, not their oppressors, who are our real partners for a better future. Whether our future will prove to be a blessing or a curse will also depend on how we address perhaps the most consequential development of our time — the rise of artificial intelligence (AI). The AI revolution is progressing at lightning speed. It took centuries for humankind to adapt to the agricultural revolution. It took decades to adapt to the industrial revolution. We may have but a few years to adapt to the AI revolution. The perils are great, and they are before us: the disruption of democracy, the manipulation of minds, the decimation of jobs, the proliferation of crime and the hacking of all the systems that facilitate modern life. Yet even more disturbing is the potential eruption of AI-driven wars that could achieve an unimaginable scale. Behind that perhaps looms an even greater threat, once the stuff of science fiction  — that self-taught machines could eventually control humans instead of the other way around. The world’s leading nations, however competitive, must address those dangers. We must do so quickly, and we must do so together. We must ensure that the promise of an AI utopia does not turn into an AI dystopia. We have so much to gain. Let us imagine the blessings of finally cracking the genetic code, extending human life by decades and dramatically reducing the ravages of old age. Let us imagine health care tailored to each individual’s genetic composition and predictive medicine that prevents diseases long before they occur. Let us imagine robots helping to care for the elderly. Let us imagine the end of traffic jams with self-driving vehicles on the ground, below the ground and in the air. Let us imagine personalized education that cultivates each person’s full potential throughout their lifetime. Let us imagine a world with boundless clean energy and natural resources for all nations. Let us imagine precision agriculture and automated factories that yield food and goods in an abundance that ends hunger and want. I know that sounds like a John Lennon song, but it could all happen. Let us imagine that we can achieve the end of scarcity, something that has eluded humankind for all history. It is all within our reach. And here is something else within our reach. With AI, we can explore the heavens as never before and extend humankind beyond our blue planet. For good or bad, the developments of AI will be spearheaded by a handful of nations. And my country, Israel, is already among them. Just as Israel’s technological revolution provided the world with breathtaking innovations, I am confident that AI developed by Israel will once again help all humankind. I call upon world leaders to come together to shape the great changes before us, but to do so in a responsible and ethical way. Our goal must be to ensure that AI brings more freedom and not less, prevents wars instead of starting them, and ensures that people live longer, healthier, more productive and peaceful lives. That is in our reach. As we harness the powers of AI, let us always remember the irreplaceable value of human intuition and wisdom. Let us cherish and preserve the human capacity for empathy, which no machine can replace. Thousands of years ago, Moses presented the children of Israel with a timeless and universal choice, “Behold, I set before you this day a blessing and a curse” (The Holy Bible, Deuteronomy, 11-26). May we choose wisely between the curse and the blessings that stand before us this day. Let us harness our resolve and our courage to stop the curse of a nuclear Iran and roll back its fanaticism and aggression. Let us bring forth the blessings of a new Middle East that will transform lands once ridden with conflict and chaos into fields of prosperity and peace. And may we avoid the perils of AI by combining the forces of human and machine intelligence to usher in a brilliant future for our world, in our time and for all time.

On behalf of the General Assembly, I wish to thank the Prime Minister of the State of Israel for the statement he has just made.

The Assembly will now hear an address by the Prime Minister, Minister for Defense, Home Affairs, and External Communications, Minister for Rodrigues, Outer Islands, and Territorial Integrity of the Republic of Mauritius.

I have great pleasure in welcoming His Excellency Mr. Pravind Kumar Jugnauth, Prime Minister, Minister for Defense, Home Affairs, and External Communications, Minister for Rodrigues, Outer Islands, and Territorial Integrity of the Republic of Mauritius, and inviting him to address the Assembly.

May I begin by congratulating Mr. Dennis Francis on his election as President of the General Assembly at it seventy- eighth session. I also wish to convey my appreciation to Mr. Csaba Kőrösi for his sterling leadership of the seventy-seventh session of the General Assembly. Secretary-General António Guterres also deserves our gratitude for his inspiring and commendable initiatives in furthering the objectives of our Organization. It is a matter of great pride to see a fellow islander preside over the proceedings of the seventy-eighth session of the General Assembly, especially at a time when the world is faced with a myriad of interlocking challenges amidst conflicts, climate chaos, inequality and hunger. Let me assure him of the commitment of Mauritius to the principles that the United Nations stands for, and the hopes and aspirations that we all have in the United Nations. Mauritius is firmly committed to fulfilling its responsibilities as a Member of the United Nations. Let me also seize this opportunity to express to the Governments and the peoples of the Kingdom of Morocco and the State of Libya our solidarity at this tragic moment. The theme of this year’s general debate could not be timelier. It is about how we can together restore confidence in our shared future — confidence between people and leaders, confidence in our institutions and among countries. Unless we urgently begin to rebuild this trust, it will prove impossible to tackle the challenges we have to face. No country, no matter how powerful or wealthy, can succeed in tackling the current challenges on its own. Our fate and fortunes have never been so closely linked. Indeed, the world is at a critical inflection point as it faces unprecedented and interlocking crises, with the multilateral system being under greater strain. The information and communications technology revolution has increased connections and complexities in our daily lives. The list of problems is daunting, from a lingering coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, climate change, declining biodiversity, food and energy insecurity, cybercrime, terrorism, large-scale migration, gender inequality and a general pushback against human rights, to inadequate development financing, increasing debt burdens and geopolitical crises. Our national borders are no match for those challenges. Effective multilateral response is the only way to address geopolitical challenges and rescue our common agenda. We have to give new direction to multilateralism and to the United Nations. We need to restore trust in multilateralism. As leaders of the world, we should lead by example, show our unwavering commitment and honour the promises made. More importantly, we need to uphold fairness and justice. In that regard, finding consensus on such crucial priorities as poverty eradication, renewable energy, education and women’s empowerment is paramount. The Sustainable Development Goals serve as our guiding compass on that journey. In a world marred by inequalities, our commitment to uplifting the marginalized and empowering the vulnerable must remain steadfast. We must ensure inclusivity where every individual feels safe and secure. Our society’s strength lies in its diversity. An efficient education system is vital in order to achieve such inclusivity. Everyone will need to possess an evolving pool of knowledge, skills and capacities, or else we will have a two-speed world deepening inequalities and exacerbating global instability. We need to build an integrated system of lifelong learning and ensure equity, access and inclusion in relevant curricula. We should work together towards harnessing digital tools and increase investment in education so that it is recognized as a global public good. The surge in health challenges, from non-communicable diseases to global pandemics like COVID-19, underscores the importance of global unity. By fostering cooperation and sharing resources and expertise, we can ensure universal access to the highest standard of health care in order to protect the vulnerable and strengthen our global resilience. Scaled-up action to reduce emissions to align with goals set forth in the Paris Agreement on Climate Change is becoming imperative. Even within the 1.5°C goal, the small island developing States (SIDS) are facing an existential threat. Exceeding that threshold would be catastrophic. To secure a sustainable future, we must collectively phase out fossil fuel usage and hasten the just transition to sustainable energy sources, targeting net zero emissions globally by 2050. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change sixth assessment report has already warned that further delay will mean missing “a brief and rapidly closing window of opportunity to secure a liveable and sustainable future for all”. SIDS like Mauritius wrestle with coastal erosion, marine pollution, and coral bleaching. Sea-level rise and climate-related disasters loom large. Mauritius is facing a rise in sea level of 5.6 millimetres annually, almost twice the global average of 3.3 millimetres. Those compounding challenges heighten our inherent vulnerabilities and imperil our sustainable development objectives. As leaders, it is our duty and responsibility to save the planet for our future generations. Mauritius is spending about 2 per cent of its gross domestic product (GDP) on environment and climate change-related policies. Our Climate Change Act serves as the cornerstone of our commitment to fulfilling our obligations under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the Kyoto Protocol, the Paris Agreement, and other related instruments on climate change. In order to build our resilience, Mauritius has implemented a series of adaptation measures such as coastal rehabilitation, mangrove propagation and flood management programmes. We have also formulated a nationally appropriate mitigation actions for low-carbon strategy. Mauritius is also committed to implementing a series of adaptation and mitigation measures aimed at reducing its greenhouse-gas emissions by 40 per cent and achieving 60 per cent of energy production from green sources by 2030. In order to ensure the successful implementation of our national determined contributions, a total of $6.5 billion is required. Despite the economic constraints, we have been able to commit $2.5 billion. Our challenge is to secure the remaining $4 billion. Indeed, all SIDS need adequate and predictable support, including climate finance, from the international community. We call on the international financial institutions and development partners to ensure that access to climate finance by SIDS is simplified and made easier. We look forward to the swift operationalization of the Loss and Damage Fund agreed upon at the twenty-seventh Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. That facility represents hope for those in urgent need and cannot remain a mere promise. Developed countries must urgently deliver on their promise made 14 years ago at the United Nations Climate Change Conference, held in Copenhagen, to provide climate finance of $100 billion per year. As it is, that amount is no longer sufficient, so there is a need to make the scale of climate finance commensurate with the challenge through the new collective quantified goal on climate finance. We urge the international financial institutions to recognize that GDP per capita is not the sole measure of a country’s development. We call on the international financial institutions and development partners to use the multidimensional vulnerability index developed by the United Nations as a tool in further integrating SIDs vulnerability into their decision-making. SIDs are hopeful that the fourth International Conference on SIDS in Antigua and Barbuda will deliver a more focused, measurable and fully resourced programme of action that is tailored to the circumstances of SIDs. We look to the Summit of the Future in 2024 to address issues of financial stability, promote financial inclusion and debt sustainability and embrace sustainability. We call for an inclusive and equitable global governance and not a finance divide. Mauritius believes firmly that the SDG Stimulus and the Bridgetown Initiative can accelerate progress towards the SDGs and the Paris Agreement. The United Nations report SIDS in Numbers: Biodiversity and Oceans projects that Mauritius will become a water-stressed country by 2025, barely two years from now. It is my Government’s top priority to ensure the continuous supply of clean and safe water to every citizen. We will continue to invest in water storage capacities to face the effects of climate change and achieve long-term water security. The ocean, on which we are all dependent, is a critical reservoir of marine biodiversity. Mauritius welcomes the adoption of the agreement under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea on the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity of areas beyond national jurisdiction, and I am pleased to inform the Assembly that Mauritius has signed the agreement. That historic legally binding instrument is a victory for multilateralism and international law and a game-changer towards the conservation and sustainable use of marine resources. We encourage all countries to sign and ratify the agreement so that it can enter into force as soon as possible. In the same vein, Mauritius reiterates its invitation to States, non-governmental organizations and other stakeholders to support the marine protected area that Mauritius will be establishing around the Chagos archipelago. We also look forward to the finalization of the international, legally binding instrument on plastic pollution, including in the marine environment, and to ensuring its effective implementation. Democracy, the rule of law and respect for human rights are fundamental values that every country must respect and abide by. The instability in some parts of Africa is detrimental to progress. Upholding the rule of law is essential to restoring faith in governance, fostering stability, and enabling sustainable progress on the continent. The peaceful transition of power through democratic means is the only way to ensure peace, development and prosperity. We proudly welcome the admission of the African Union as a member of the Group of 20. We reaffirm our solidarity with the Palestinian people and reiterate our unwavering support for the two-State solution, as we recognize its potential to bring lasting peace and stability to the region. We commend the recent step taken to seek an advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice and hope that the Palestinian people will be able to live in freedom in their own State. As we navigate through an increasingly complex path, it is crucial that we adapt our global institutions to effectively address the challenges of the twenty- first century. The Security Council has a vital role to play in maintaining international peace and security. However, it no longer reflects the realities of the modern world. Urgent reform of the Security Council and the revitalization of the General Assembly are essential to strengthen the United Nations for future generations. Amidst the Ukraine-Russia conflict, the international community must relentlessly pursue peaceful dialogue. We commend African nations and other mediators for their vital role in that regard. It is now four years since the International Court of Justice gave its advisory opinion on the legal consequences of the separation of the Chagos archipelago from Mauritius prior to its independence. The International Court of Justice made it clear that the Chagos archipelago is an integral part of the territory of Mauritius and invited the colonial Power to withdraw its administration from the archipelago as rapidly as possible. Ever since, the Government of Mauritius has made a strong commitment to implementing a programme of resettlement in the Chagos archipelago for Mauritian nationals, in particular those of Chagossian origin, who have suffered historic injustice by being forcibly removed from their birthplace. We are hopeful that they will soon be able to resettle in the Chagos archipelago. Indeed, Mauritius and the United Kingdom have started negotiations on the exercise of sovereignty over the Chagos archipelago, on the basis of international law. We hope that those talks will lead to the completion of the decolonization process of Mauritius and enable Mauritius to implement its resettlement programme. We also appeal to France to resolve the dispute over Tromelin, which forms an integral part of the territory of Mauritius, in the spirit of friendship that characterizes the relations between the two countries. We are at a crossroads. We do not want to be judged by the next generation for having been complacent. Let us seize this opportunity to recommit to forging the future we want for us and for our future generations. I remain confident that we will discover the common purpose needed to restore trust in our shared future.

On behalf of the General Assembly, I wish to thank the Prime Minister, Minister for Defense, Home Affairs, and External Communications, Minister for Rodrigues, Outer Islands, and Territorial Integrity of the Republic of Mauritius for the statement he has just made.

The Assembly will now hear an address by the Prime Minister and Minister of Finance of Malaysia.

I have great pleasure in welcoming His Excellency Mr. Anwar Ibrahim, Prime Minister and Minister of Finance of Malaysia, and inviting him to address the Assembly.

When the Assembly was established almost 80 years ago, the world was still reeling from the horrors of a catastrophic bloodletting that our nations resolved should never be repeated. A decision  — profound in wisdom, magnanimous in intent and bold in ambition  — was made so that the General Assembly would become the main deliberative, policymaking and representative organ of the United Nations. That decision manifested no less than the very strength and courage of our convictions. By giving equal voice to the sovereign nations of the world, the founders of the United Nations pursued a vision of a more democratic world, predicated on the dictates of equity and justice. It was a vision that consigned to the past the predations of the strong over the weak, of the rich and powerful over the poor and the marginalized, and of the big Powers over the rest. That vision, in my opinion, has been utterly shattered to pieces. Today, we find that the major Powers and those that aspire to greater international status are increasingly casting the United Nations aside for smaller, supposedly more efficacious platforms. As the Powers continue to pay lip service to the imperative of multilateralism, we see the emergence of minilateralism instead, effectively becoming fragmented configurations of power. We are living in a deeply polarized world. We are seeing major Power rivalry unfolding with consequences that will negatively impact nations, especially the smaller ones, in the regions of conflict. The upshot is that we are confronted with a geopolitical and geostrategic dilemma. While the major Powers continue to assure us that a binary choice is not being imposed, the reality for many is that it is the only choice offered. Unchecked, that will ultimately lead once again to a world where the masses are unrepresented, where the few rule over the many, and the many resent the few. The lofty ideals and principles enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations call upon nations to resolve their disputes through peaceful means and to refrain from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity and sovereignty or political independence of any State. We condemn unequivocally the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The conflict in Ukraine, for example, underscores the imperative to make peace and settle differences amicably through negotiations. Nevertheless, time is not on our side, and owing to the protracted failure to deal with the Russia-Ukraine crisis, I urge a concerted multilateral effort led by the United Nations to resolve it. We cannot choose our neighbours, but we can choose to live in peace with them. And peace cannot happen without the cessation of hostilities by all parties. It is imperative for all parties to return to dialogue and resolve their differences through the negotiation table. The extent of the Ukraine conflict has radiated throughout the world as food prices have skyrocketed, leading to shortages and hunger, further malnutrition and despair. As in other conflicts elsewhere, be it in the Middle East or South-East Asia, forced migrations take place, piling on the problems of refugees and statelessness. In the Middle East, the politics of dispossession continue with a vengeance with more illegal settlements being built, stripping Palestinians of land that rightfully belongs to them. That constitutes a gross violation of international law. It also poses an insurmountable obstacle to a two-State solution, not to mention the continued killings. There is also flagrant hypocrisy in dealing with the issue of Palestine. The international community must speak up against the atrocities committed towards the Palestinians even as they so vehemently speak out against human rights violations, injustice and abusive regimes. On Afghanistan, Malaysia remains deeply concerned over the dire humanitarian situation in the country. That is especially so given that the country is grappling with its third consecutive year of drought and a devastating locust infestation that has severely undermined wheat harvests. On our part, Malaysia is committed to continuing its existing people-to- people relations with Afghanistan, including through the provision of humanitarian aid. However, we remain resolute and firm in our call on the authorities of Afghanistan to reverse their exclusionary and discriminatory policies against women and girls. Denying their right to go to school is a violation of the teachings of Islam, not to mention the Charter of the United Nations and the multilateral framework of human rights. They are also profoundly detrimental to the future of Afghanistan. We are deeply horrified by the continued post-coup violence and instability in Myanmar. The situation in that country is currently among South-East Asia’s biggest strategic and humanitarian challenges in recent years. The barbarism and depravity inflicted upon the people of Myanmar are indefensible and go against the values and principles shared by the peoples of the region and globally. The support of the international community, including the United Nations, is crucial to urge continuously and maintain the necessary pressure on the military authorities to reverse their course. In as much as the principle of the centrality of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) dictates that the continued atrocities must end, Malaysia calls on Myanmar to immediately implement the ASEAN five-point consensus towards achieving peace and stability in the country. ASEAN is navigating the rivalry between major Powers in the Asia-Pacific. Malaysia believes that any strategy undertaken should neither start nor exacerbate a race for dominance. Instead, such strategies should contribute to peace and stability, security and prosperity in the region. Scientists have confirmed that the world has just experienced its hottest summer in history. We have heard Secretary-General Guterres gravely declare that climate breakdown has begun. Even Malaysia is seeing an increase in the adverse impacts of climate change, with increasing temperatures, rising sea levels, intensified monsoons and erratic weather patterns disrupting livelihoods and degrading local ecosystems. As such, we have not a moment to lose. Malaysia is doing its part by developing low- carbon and renewable energy road maps to implement mitigating and adaptation strategies. The newly launched National Energy Transition Roadmap should aid us in achieving our nationally determined contributions, as well as lighting the path towards our net zero aspirations. Discussions on climate change in the absence of equity, justice and the necessary means to assist and empower countries to undertake greater climate action are an exercise in futility. We also urge the developed countries to fulfil their commitment to mobilizing $100 billion a year to support the climate ambition endeavours of developing countries, while recognizing that trillions of dollars per annum will be needed in the near future. The Sustainable Development Goals Report 2023 has confirmed that we are falling behind, with nearly a third of the targets either in a state of inertia or, worse, regressing. The global economy is also projected to continue to be weighed down by geopolitical uncertainties, supply chain disruptions, increase in commodity prices and challenging financial conditions. That has widened the gap between economic growth and income, leading to a continuous disparity. As the growth in incomes fails to match economic growth, households become burdened with debt. We now have the super-rich living side by side with the ultra-poor. The contrast lies starkly in the things that matter: food on the table, shelter, access to quality education and health care. Those factors cry out for drastic, systemic reform  — a total reset of the global institutions that impact our lives  — or else we will continue to face widening inequality setting apart nations and peoples. We are concerned over the emergence of a new form of racism characterized by xenophobia, negative profiling and the stereotyping of Muslims. That is manifested in an alarming trend of hatred, intolerance, and acts of violence against Muslims and their sanctities. We are appalled by the legitimization of these acts under the feeble defence of human rights. The burning of the Holy Qur’an is nothing but a clear Islamophobic act intended to incite hatred. Inaction in the face of such blatant provocation to a religion is simply irresponsible and sends a dangerous message to humankind. We must embody the values of acceptance, tolerance and mutual respect. We must promote intercultural, intercivilizational and interreligious understanding and cooperation. We must unite our faiths in common causes to promote understanding and goodwill among our peoples and strengthen peace and harmony among nations. Those are indeed tall orders, but that is the very reason we are here. I truly believe that no challenge, however formidable, is insurmountable if we secure the collective commitment of the global community, the States Members of this institution. What we need is trust, the conviction to make the world a better place and the will to work together on a platform of consensus and solidarity. Early this year, I introduced Malaysia Madani, a vision built on the pillars of the core values that we believe are indispensable in any harmonious, thriving and peaceful society: compassion, respect, trust, innovation, prosperity and sustainability. Those basic principles and moral values also apply in the context of our relations with other countries. Whether it is the Group of Seven, the Group of 20, the Group of 77, the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation or the world’s largest free trade area, there is no denying that multilateral collaboration is the sine qua non for any effective and sustainable resolution to the crises that beset the world. In that regard, it bears stressing that Malaysia’s commitment to the United Nations and the multilateral system is born out of our strong conviction that all countries, no matter how big or small, rich or poor, strong or weak, have a common responsibility to create a better world for tomorrow. The world and our future in it is what we envision and construct it to be. Malaysia believes that we can achieve this through greater trust and strengthened multilateralism. The United Nations can be the vessel to take us from despondency to a brighter future, from uncertainty to optimism, and from vulnerability to resilience.

On behalf of the General Assembly, I wish to thank the Prime Minister and Minister of Finance of Malaysia for the statement he has just made.

The Assembly will now hear an address by the Prime Minister of the Republic of Malta.

I have great pleasure in welcoming His Excellency Mr. Robert Abela, Prime Minister of the Republic of Malta, and inviting him to address the Assembly.

It is indeed a privilege to once again be addressing the General Assembly on behalf of the people of Malta. As I was preparing my remarks, I was reminded of those timeless lines by the poet John Donne: “No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main”. Malta is a proud island nation, but we are most definitely not an island entire of ourselves — quite the reverse. Throughout our history, we have looked outward to the world, conscious of our unique geographic position at the crossroads of Europe and Africa and consciously stepping up into a unique role, building bridges and building understanding between different traditions. Indeed, earlier this month, we were very proud to be just such a bridge, trusted by both sides to host private talks between the United States National Security Adviser and China’s Foreign Minister. Malta provided a safe space for vital discussions between the world’s two biggest Powers. And it is to build bridges just like this that, almost 60 years ago, the Republic of Malta was admitted as a full Member of this United Nations. It is a sign of the confidence our fellow Members place in Malta’s commitment to working together for the common good that they elected our nation to serve on the Security Council for this year and next. It is why, embedded at the heart of our Constitution is the active pursuit of peace, security and social progress among all nations. Malta will always be open to the world. Malta will never turn its back on its neighbours. Malta will continue to work relentlessly with our partners in Europe and beyond to stand up for peace and the rule of law. Sadly, the need to stand up for those values has rarely been more urgent or more important than it is today. We witness Russia’s violation of international law with its continued assault on Ukraine. Malta’s response to the situation in Ukraine and other crises across the world is guided by the values of neutrality enshrined in our Constitution. Malta’s neutrality does mean that we will continue to be directly opposed to military aggression and unilateral action against members of the global community and the rules-based order, but Malta’s neutrality does not mean that we are indifferent to what happens around us. We will never and can never be neutral when we see pain and suffering caused by an illegal invasion. In that spirit of peace, we call on Russia to withdraw its forces from the sovereign territory of Ukraine and we urge all the nations gathered here to unite to deliver an end to the war. The tragedy of war is not just that those directly involved suffer, but also that the consequences reverberate around the world. The already precarious situation of global food security has been made much worse by the invasion of Ukraine. An estimated additional 122 million people across the world have been pushed into hunger since 2019. Malta urges Russia to rejoin the Black Sea Grain Initiative and to stop standing in the way of vital food supplies leaving Ukraine to feed the world’s most needy. Being neutral has never meant that Malta ignores the problems facing our neighbours. We are acutely aware that many of the challenges we face at home are best tackled together with our Mediterranean neighbours. That is why I am very proud that our capital, Valletta, will host the next summit of the members of the European Union MED9 in just a few days’ time. The most pressing issue in the Mediterranean is definitely that of Libya. The peace of our whole region depends on a lasting settlement there. Malta wishes to see a peaceful, stable and prosperous Libya through a Libyan-led political process. It is vital that the entire international community encourage the process and give the Libyan people the support they need to overcome the instability, for which they have already paid such a high price. The need to recover and rebuild after the tragic devastation of Storm Daniel underlines the urgency and importance of a lasting settlement that gives all Libyans the effective Government they deserve. For Malta, being a good neighbour means offering practical help. Within hours of the disaster hitting, a team from our Army and Civil Protection Department was on the way to Libya to play its part in the rescue effort. Maltese officers also remain on active service with the United Nations in Lebanon, proudly wearing blue berets as part of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon and underlining the importance Malta attaches to peacekeeping and peacebuilding in the Mediterranean. As the nation at the crossroads of Europe and Africa, our extended neighbourhood stretches beyond the Mediterranean coast. Our objective is to be a true bridge between the continents. My Government has underlined Malta’s commitment to Africa by opening new diplomatic missions in Ghana and Ethiopia and putting into action our first national strategy for Africa. But strengthening connections does not just mean strengthening diplomatic ties. We have already concluded agreements with countries like Ethiopia to facilitate connectivity for businesses and people between the continents. Malta remains deeply disturbed by the dire security situation in the Sahel, including the political turmoil, irregular migration, the jihadist attacks on the civilian population and food insecurity. We are particularly concerned about the current situation in the Niger and underline the urgency of a peaceful resolution to the crisis. From Ukraine to Mali, Libya to the Niger, it can all too often seem like we are living in an era of despair. And the problems the world faces are indeed deep and profound. It would be all too easy and all too understandable to fall into despondency and to think that nothing can be done. But in the rest of my remarks, I want to show that things can be done, that we can make a difference, and that if a small nation like Malta can play its part in addressing the most urgent issues our world faces, then the United Nations can put in place real and effective solutions globally. I began with the famous quotation that “no man is an island”. Leaders cannot be an island, either. Our fine words to the Assembly must not stand alone; they must be directly connected to our actions at home and the priorities of our people. We must show through deeds, not just words, that we can address the fears, as well as the hopes and aspirations, of the people we represent. One of the advantages of being Prime Minister of a small country is that you are very close to the people you represent. You hear loud and clear what is worrisome them. One of the persistent worries I hear is that people feel a niggling sense of insecurity. Post pandemic, they feel that the world is a less stable, increasingly scary place, and with such big global forces at play, too often citizens can feel like they do not have their hands on the levers that control their futures. I understand where those concerns are coming from. Addressing them is why I am into politics. It is why I am adamant that every global policy we put in place must make a difference locally and that we can show that by working together internationally, we can deliver solutions nationally. In that way, we can address what pessimists call the “new age of insecurity” by building a new age of security. Yet, we must be realistic. There is no magic wand. I am realistic about what any individual nation can do, and I am acutely aware there is only so much a small nation can do. But if we all play our part, we can all make a difference. In short, we are stronger together. No one can feel secure about their family’s future unless they feel secure about the future of the planet on which we all live and the natural world on which we all depend. The biggest threat to our planet is clearly climate change. Climate change is not some sort of abstract problem; it is a very real emergency the consequences of which are being felt in every part of the world. Current pledges and targets are not sufficient to keep the 1.5°C objective of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change within reach. Malta wholeheartedly commends the Secretary-General’s initiative to help States accelerate efforts at the global level. We must all play our part and work together. The time for excuses is long over. Malta is a proud maritime nation. The sea plays a profound part in Malta’s national life and has a special place in the hearts of the Maltese people. Rising sea levels are a severe threat to the security, the livelihood and, indeed, the very existence of island countries like ours. Securing the future of our seas and oceans is an urgent imperative for the Government of Malta. That is why we have made climate and oceans the number one priority during our term on the Security Council. To give the debate new momentum, we made a high- level meeting on the implications of rising sea levels for peace and security the signature event of our presidency of the Security Council in February (see S/PV. 9260). And we enthusiastically extend our support for the newly created coalition on addressing sea-level rise and existential threats. It is not just the direct consequences of rising sea levels that we need to be concerned about. As land is degraded, fresh water shortages, the displacement of people and food insecurity all risk undermining global security, generating new conflicts and exacerbating existing ones. Rising sea levels also threaten the very territorial integrity of States as a result of coastal inundation, with a consequent danger of disputes and conflict. I wish therefore to reiterate in the strongest terms, as I did at the twenty-seventh Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, that no coastal State should lose any of its existing rights over its maritime zones due to rising sea levels. As a United Nations, we must preserve the sovereignty of coastal States, no matter what the ravages of the sea. As island nations, we turn to the world, but we do not turn our backs on each other. Solidarity among small island countries is a key value for Malta and a value that we turn into practical support. Like the majority of nations in the United Nations, Malta was late to develop, and we have experienced many of the same challenges that are currently being faced by developing countries. That is why we have made raising awareness of the unique vulnerabilities of small island developing States (SIDs) a top priority and why supporting sustainable development for small island developing States is a cornerstone of our foreign policy. To do so, we are committed to our Island for Islands initiative, delivering concrete, practical support for those small island nations  — the nations most exposed to the impact of climate change. We share best practices and help build capacity. We were delighted that Malta’s scholarship programme for students from small island developing States has been recognized with a United Nations SIDs Partnerships award. Protecting our planet is a mammoth task, but by taking visible, measurable action we can, and we must, show our citizens that they have reason to believe in the security of the Earth’s future. There are those who say that securing the planet can be achieved only at the expense of economic growth. I firmly reject that thinking. In fact, I believe the reverse is true. Environmental security can be achieved only if citizens feel economic security. Only if you feel secure about your family’s economic well-being can you turn your attention to the well-being of the Earth. And it is only by delivering sustainable economic growth that we can deliver sustainable environmental protection. From the perspective of an outward-facing, trading nation like Malta, there is one overwhelming, clear and present danger to economic security  — the prospect of a new era of protectionism. If protectionism grows unchecked, it could do untold damage to an export- oriented island economy like ours. The Maltese people have benefited hugely from the opening up of the world economy. As vested interests have given way to innovation, they have seized the new opportunities. Like many young economies, Malta has harnessed digital technology and the breaking down of trade and tariff barriers to expand into sectors that were previously off- limits to small nations like ours. What the world economy and the world’s citizens need is not a new era of protectionism. Instead, we need a new age of social protection —not putting up barriers to trade but putting in place standards and rights for our workers. I understand and appreciate how some people may feel left behind by the sheer pace of economic change this century. The pandemic showed the need to think through the geopolitical risks of supply chains. But the answer is not to turn back the clock. The answer is to get the future right. One of the themes of this year’s General Assembly is rebuilding trust to achieve sustainability for all, and that is exactly what we must do. Too often, smaller and developing countries have been excluded from the decision-making process and have suffered as a result. Malta is clear — trust on trade can be achieved only if genuine solidarity is maintained with all Member States. Open trading should be fair trading. Open economies should be fair economies. Only with fairness will citizens’ sense of security be rebuilt. I came into politics passionate about building a country where decision-making is based on fairness and opportunity, with a commitment to equality that is also a commitment to competitiveness. Let us consider gender equality. Empowering women powers economic growth. One of our Government’s proudest achievements is the introduction of free childcare that has enabled more parents to re-enter the workforce, increasing women’s economic power and increasing growth for the economy as a whole. I am proud to be speaking in the same month that Malta hosted a hugely successful EuroPride the crowning recognition of the transformation in our nation’s approach to LGBTIQ+ rights that has taken place since my party was returned to Government, and a huge boost to our island’ profile and our island’s economy. And let us also look at closing the digital divide. Equipping more citizens of all ages and from all backgrounds with the digital skills they need both increases their individual earning power and adds to the nation’s productivity. That is why we have extended information and communications technology as a compulsory subject in all our upper secondary schools. Malta therefore calls on the international community to work harder to ensure that the digital divide is narrowed, not just within each nation but also globally. Similarly, upholding the rights of the child  — as enshrined in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child — is of paramount importance to Malta. We work hard to ensure that each and every child has the opportunities she or he deserves, no matter what the circumstances of her or his birth. By tackling child poverty and ensuring equal access to education and healthcare, we aim to ensure that no child is left behind. Rightly, it is a moral imperative, but it is also an economic one. Leaving any of the next generation of workers without the skills they need is not just damaging to the individuals excluded from prosperity; it is also damaging to economic growth. None of us can feel secure unless every child in our societies is safe and secure. One significant manifestation of the feeling of insecurity has been the growing number of people facing mental health difficulties. None of us can feel secure unless we know that mental health is taken as seriously as physical health by our health-care systems. Even if we do not have mental health issues ourselves, knowing that care and support are there should we or those we care for need it is part of the reassurance that an active State should provide. To help provide that reassurance, in Malta we have implemented a comprehensive mental health strategy to build capacity, address causes and offer continuing support to individuals with mental health needs and their families, through initiatives like the National Mental Health Helpline launched last year, offering a one-stop, 24/7 resource to connect patients with the services they need. One of the biggest drivers of mental health worries is fear of the future. Indeed, none of us can feel secure about our lives if we do not feel secure about what is coming tomorrow. Right now, one of the biggest fears many have is of technology. We have lived through two decades of unprecedented change, from the basic mobile phone and text messaging to smart phones and face recognition. It can often seem like society has lost control and that the technology itself is in charge. And now, with the advent of generative artificial intelligence (AI), the risk is that this seems truer than ever. How we feel about our futures is, unfortunately, not helped by lurid media headlines about the machines taking over, spreading fear about AI taking jobs and rendering human effort obsolete. Let us be clear — AI will have a huge impact on all aspects of society, but let us also be clear that if as leaders we take the right decisions, that impact on our societies can be a positive one. Again, as with trade, the answer is not to try and turn the clock back, to close our eyes to the inevitable and hope it will go away. Instead, the answer is to get the future right, to take the decisions now so that we can harness the power of AI for the public and common good, not fear it as a coming catastrophe. In Malta, we are already doing just that. We are already seeing how AI can enhance public services, improving lives for all citizens. We have six pilot projects covering areas from health care to traffic management. We are taking ownership through leadership, not trying to ignore the future. Naturally, however, there is a limit to what any one country especially a small one, can do. To make AI a global good, we need global action. Malta stands resolutely behind efforts to increase and enhance international cooperation on AI. Technology is changing too fast, and its potential is so vast, that failing to work together is no longer an option. Of course, it is not just in the tech field that we need to work together. Working together is not only a key value for Malta; it is at the very centre of the political tradition I proudly represent. Put simply, standing together, we can achieve so much more than working alone. Yes, none of us nations, leaders or societies stands as islands isolated from each other. We are all connected in ever more ways. We live in a new age — in an age when you can send a video to the other side of the world faster than you can walk to the other side of the room you are sitting in; in an age when the decisions about how to generate energy in one country can impact the very survival of another country oceans away; in an age when the aggression of one country against another can lead to hunger across a different continent. In such an age, the importance of working together will only become stronger. The word for it — multilateralism — may not trip off the tongue, but it is more important than ever. To make multilateralism work in this age of insecurity, we need to ensure that a much wider group of voices are heard in the United Nations and around the globe; the voices of all countries  — large and small, rich, and poor, developed and developing; the voices of all sections of civil society — women, not just men, young as well as old, gay as well as straight; all backgrounds, all ethnicities. I refuse to believe, and Malta refuses to believe, that a new age of insecurity is inevitable. I know and Malta knows that we must build a new age of security, not by trying to turn the clock back but by getting the future right. If we work together; if we listen to and learn from each other; if we understand and appreciate the desire of our citizens to take back control of their lives, we can and we will get the future right.

On behalf of the General Assembly, I wish to thank the Prime Minister of the Republic of Malta for the statement he has just made.

The Assembly will now hear an address by the Prime Minister and Minister for General Affairs of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

I have great pleasure in welcoming His Excellency Mr. Mark Rutte, Prime Minister and Minister for General Affairs of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, and inviting him to address the Assembly.

In 1864, Abraham Lincoln wrote a letter to Edwin Stanton, his Secretary of War. He observed that “[y]ou cannot escape the responsibility of tomorrow by evading it today”. It was a different time, with different problems and different ways of solving them. A lot has changed since then, and yet Lincoln’s words remain as relevant as ever. They show that “responsibility” has always been a watchword, because our very future depends on whether we choose or refuse to take responsibility. Today there is no time to be lost. There has never been so much at stake at one time. We must combat climate change, fight hunger and poverty, and protect peace and security in many places all over the world. It is human nature to prioritize the issues that affect us most directly. Let us be honest — that goes for all of us here today. Every one of us has come here to discuss the issues we face in our own countries, but if we look beyond our borders we see that none of those issues stands alone. All the big issues of our time intersect. Their impact is global. Let us consider climate change, or poverty, or conflict. Those issues are all related and we are all affected by them, though perhaps not always in the same way. In Europe, peace has been shattered by Russian aggression. And yes, I am asking once again for support in ending that terrible war. At the same time, I realize that some here are thinking: “What about our own challenges? What about our own security? Will you support us there as well?” I understand how they feel, and they are right. As the late Secretary-General Kofi Annan put it, “If the United Nations is not as united as it should be, that is because it is a reflection of the world we live in”. And he was also right. For too long at the United Nations, some interests have weighed more heavily than others. The United Nations is structured as if it were still 1945, but the world has changed. It has taken a long time for that realization to sink in, but once you see it you cannot unsee it. In this world at this time, we all need each other  — all 193 countries  — because we all face a common task. Let us consider the global distribution of wealth. The Netherlands is not only one of the United Nations most loyal development donors; we also support the reform plans of institutions such as the World Bank. Or let us consider climate change. We need to reduce our footprint  — a footprint that leaves its mark on countries far beyond our borders. So that is what we are doing, by building a circular economy by 2050, by making our financial sector more sustainable and by combating deforestation and loss of biodiversity. In each of those areas, partnerships are essential — above all, partnerships with the countries hit hardest by climate change. Today I will speak with the representatives of several small island developing States about climate adaptation and about ways of exchanging knowledge, expertise and innovative solutions. And yes, such partnerships begin with talking, but they must go beyond words and promises. The Netherlands is increasing its annual contribution to international climate finance to €1.8 billion by 2025, and over half of that will go to climate adaptation. Everyone understands how important that is. In two months’ time we will gather in Dubai to take stock of our progress towards the Paris climate goals, but we already know that we are way off track, so something has to be done right now. The Netherlands will fulfil its responsibility, by providing 100 million people in developing countries with access to renewable energy by 2030, by massively scaling up our renewable energy investment and by helping to set up and scale up green-hydrogen corridors, together with South Africa, Egypt, Morocco, Namibia and others. Currently, only 2 per cent of global investment goes to Africa, despite the huge potential there. We have a collective interest in making sure that potential can be tapped, because if we do not help Africa to grow sustainably, we will all miss our climate goals. The twenty-eighth Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change must mark a course correction. There, we must agree and explain how the world will get on track to meet the 1.5°C goal. If we do not, the consequences will be disastrous. The examples I have offered of Dutch action, working together with our Kingdom partners in the Caribbean, show that we are willing to fulfil our responsibility, that we are willing to pick up the phone and to answer the knock at the door. The most striking of truths is also the most obvious: We are not as different as we might think. What unites us is bigger and stronger than what divides us. I see that in my bilateral discussions. I see it in the European Union, and I see it here at the United Nations. However different our backgrounds are, however different our countries, we share the same universal values: peace, freedom and justice. On 17 July 2014, those values, which the Netherlands holds so dear, were trampled underfoot. It was the day that flight MH-17 was downed by Russia — the day the Dutch people and people everywhere were reminded, in such a painful manner, that peace, freedom and justice are not givens, but require our constant efforts. Those values, those collective aims, form the basis of the United Nations. They are the reason we are here today. With that in mind, I would like to talk about Ukraine. Every day, millions of people feel the effects of Russia’s aggression — above all the Ukrainian people, who are the victims of terrible crimes. Every day they live in fear. Am I still safe in my own home? In my city? Will I ever see my family alive again? Those are questions that no one should ever have to ask. In Europe, we thought we would never need to ask them again, but we were wrong and so now it is up to us to respond, to pick up the phone and to answer the knock at the door. We cannot leave one country to fend for itself. I know that some countries are hesitating, asking themselves why they should get involved in someone else’s war. To them, I say: “It is your war too, because even if there is no shooting in your towns and your cities are not being bombed, this war affects everyone”. People in vulnerable countries know exactly what I am talking about. The global food supply is being used as a weapon of war and food prices are soaring. Millions of people are being pushed back into poverty and hunger. And it is precisely the most vulnerable countries that are being hit the hardest. We will not find them on the official casualty list, but those countries and the people who live there are also victims of Putin’s aggression. Russia’s conduct goes against everything that we in the United Nations stand for. That alone is reason enough to take action. The Charter of the United Nations, our common foundation, is very clear on that. When push comes to shove, we cannot neglect our duty because it is not convenient, because we have other things on our minds or because it seems too hard. No! No! No! The Charter is intended for moments like these for a time and a place like this. The General Assembly is the ultimate place and now is the time to hold each other to account and remind each other of our responsibilities. That goes for all of us, and it goes for me too. I have explained how the Netherlands will fulfil its responsibility. Members can hold us to that, and they can call us to account for our actions. In the same way, I am calling on everyone to speak out against Putin and Russia’s violation of the United Nations Charter, to support the peace plan, to support Ukraine, even if it takes time and even if there are setbacks — especially if it takes time and there are setbacks  — and to tell Russia to give back the stolen children of Ukraine. Some countries feel they are supporting peace in Ukraine simply by calling for an immediate ceasefire. They think that this will help end the war and that peace, freedom and security will return automatically. They see it as an expression of nuance. They want to see the good in others. They do not want to point the finger of blame. In the case of the war in Ukraine, there is no shared blame. There is no doubt about who the perpetrator is and who the victim. Russia attacked Ukraine, a sovereign nation, and not the other way round. So there can be no shared solution. Russia is the aggressor here and it is not Ukraine’s supporters who are prolonging the war  — it is Russia. Putin has occupied 20 per cent of Ukraine. An immediate ceasefire now would mean victory for Russia. That is the reality, and a just and lasting peace can be achieved only if we recognize that reality. There is a lot at stake here. Putin is counting on us being divided. He is counting on us ending our support as the war drags on longer and costs more than we thought. He is counting on us losing interest and returning to our own problems. That is Putin’s strategy. And now that push has come to shove, we must show that we have learned from the past, that we will all pick up the phone, that we will all answer the knock at the door and that we will all fulfil our responsibility.

On behalf of the General Assembly, I wish to thank the Prime Minister and Minister for General Affairs of the Kingdom of the Netherlands for the statement he has just made.

The Assembly will now hear an address by the Prime Minister of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan.

I have great pleasure in welcoming His Excellency Mr. Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar, Prime Minister of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, and inviting him to address the Assembly.

On behalf of the Government and the people of Pakistan, I convey to Mr. Dennis Francis our warm congratulations on his election to guide the work of this historic session of the General Assembly. I am confident that his vast diplomatic experience and the sunny disposition of his beautiful island country will enable him to steer the Assembly to a most successful conclusion. We are meeting at a tense and pivotal moment in modern history. Conflicts rage in Ukraine and in 50 other places around the world. Tensions among the global Powers have continued to escalate. We see the rise of new and old military and political blocs. Geopolitics are resurging when geoeconomics should have primacy in the world. The world cannot afford Cold War 2.0. There are far greater challenges confronting humankind that demand global cooperation and collective action. The world’s economic prospects also appear gloomy. Global growth is slow. High interest rates could trigger a recession. A succession of exogenous shocks — the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), conflict and climate change  — has devastated the economies of many developing countries. Many countries of the global South have barely managed to stave off defaults. Poverty and hunger have grown, reversing the development gains of three decades. At yesterday’s Sustainable Development Goals Summit, far-reaching commitments were made to implement the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). We must ensure the implementation of the SDG Stimulus, the rechannelling of unused special drawing rights for development, the expansion of concessional lending by the multilateral development banks, and the resolution of the debt problems of the 59 countries in debt distress. Pakistan also looks forward to the fulfilment of the climate change commitments made at the twenty- eighth Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change by the developed world to provide over $100 billion in annual climate finance; allocate at least half of such finance to adaptation in developing countries; operationalize the Fund and funding arrangements for loss and damage; and accelerate their carbon emission mitigation targets to keep alive the goal of restricting global warming to 1.5 °C. Attempts to selectively provide those funds on the basis of geopolitical considerations should be resisted. Pakistan’s triple food, fuel and finance challenge is a prime illustration of the impacts of COVID-19, conflicts and climate on developing countries. Pakistan is one of the countries worst affected by the impacts of climate change. The epic floods of last summer submerged a third of our country, killed 1,700 people and displaced over 8 million, destroyed vital infrastructure and caused over $30 billion in damage to Pakistan’s economy. Pakistan is gratified by the commitments of over $10.5 billion for Pakistan’s comprehensive plan for recovery, rehabilitation and reconstruction with resilience — the 4RF Plan — at the Geneva Conference in January. Specific projects are being submitted to ensure the timely funding and execution of the 4RF Plan. I hope that our development partners will accord priority to the allocation of funds for our resilient recovery plan, which has been costed at $13 billion. Pakistan’s Government is committed to rapid economic recovery. We will stabilize our foreign exchange reserves and our currency, expand domestic revenues and, most importantly, mobilize significant domestic and external investment. To that end, we have established a Special Investment Facilitation Council to expedite investment decisions. Twenty- eight projects have been identified in priority sectors — agriculture, mining, energy and information technology — for implementation in collaboration with Pakistan’s partners. Pakistan’s long-term shift to geoeconomics is well under way. The second phase of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor has been initiated, covering railway, infrastructure and manufacturing projects. Pakistan also looks forward to the early implementation of connectivity projects with Central Asia. Development depends on peace. Pakistan is situated in one of the least economically integrated regions of the world. Pakistan believes that regions develop together. Therefore, Pakistan desires peaceful and productive relations with all our neighbours, including India. Kashmir is the key to peace between Pakistan and India. The Jammu and Kashmir dispute is one of the oldest issues on the agenda of the Security Council. India has evaded implementation of the Security Council’s resolutions, which call for the final disposition of Jammu and Kashmir to be decided by its people through a United Nations-supervised plebiscite. Since 5 August 2019, India has deployed 900,000 troops in illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir to impose the final solution for Kashmir. To that end, India has imposed extended lockdowns and curfews, jailed all the genuine Kashmir leaders, violently suppressed peaceful protests, resorted to extrajudicial killings of innocent Kashmiris in fake encounters and so-called cordon-and-search operations, and imposed collective punishments, destroying entire villages. Access to occupied Kashmir, demanded by the United Nations High Commission for Human Rights and over a dozen special rapporteurs, has been denied by New Delhi. The Security Council must secure the implementation of its resolutions on Kashmir. The United Nations Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan should be reinforced. Global Powers should convince New Delhi to accept Pakistan’s offer of mutual restraint on strategic and conventional weapons. Peace in Afghanistan is a strategic imperative for Pakistan. Pakistan shares the concerns of the international community with respect to Afghanistan, particularly the rights of women and girls. Yet, we advocate continued humanitarian assistance to a destitute Afghan population, in which Afghan girls and women are the most vulnerable, as well as the revival of the Afghan economy and the implementation of the connectivity projects with Central Asia. Pakistan’s first priority is to prevent and counter all terrorism from and within Afghanistan. Pakistan condemns the cross-border terrorist attacks against Pakistan by the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, Da’esh and other groups operating from Afghanistan. We have sought Kabul’s support and cooperation to prevent those attacks. However, we are also taking necessary measures to end that externally encouraged terrorism. Pakistan welcomes the progress made towards ending the conflicts in Syria and Yemen. In particular, we warmly welcome the normalization of relations between the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Islamic Republic of Iran. Unfortunately, the tragedy of Palestine continues, with Israeli military raids, airstrikes, the expansion of settlements and evictions of Palestinians. Durable peace can be established only through a two- State solution and the establishment of a viable and contiguous Palestinian State within the pre-June 1967 borders, with Al-Quds Al-Sharif as its capital. United Nations peacekeeping has been a success story. Over more than six decades, Pakistan has contributed 230,000 peacekeepers to 47 missions across the world. Today United Nations peacekeepers face complex and unprecedented challenges, especially from criminal and terrorist groups, as in the Sahel. We must ensure the safety and security of peacekeepers. Pakistan shall continue to work with the United Nations to develop the capabilities and more robust mandates required for successful enforcement actions by United Nations and international forces where needed. We must counter all terrorists without discrimination, including the rising threat posed by far- right extremist and fascist groups, such as Hindutva- inspired extremists threatening genocide against India’s Muslims and Christians. We also need to oppose State terrorism; address the root causes of terrorism, such as poverty, injustice and foreign occupation; and distinguish genuine freedom struggles from terrorism. Pakistan proposes the creation of a committee of the General Assembly to oversee the balanced implementation of all four pillars of the United Nations Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy. Our progress, based on a rich history of cooperation, understanding, exchange and the synthesis of ideas among civilizations, is imperilled today. The narratives advocating a clash of civilizations have done considerable harm to humankind’s progress. Such ideas have bred extremism, hatred and religious intolerance, including Islamophobia. Let us make no mistake; it is a latent threat that undermines millenniums of progress. We need to cherish and celebrate our diversity and different ways of life. Mutual respect and the sanctity of religious symbols, scriptures and personages should be ensured. While Islamophobia is an age-old phenomenon, after the 9/11 terrorist attacks it has assumed epidemic proportions, as manifested in the negative profiling of Muslims and attacks on Islamic sites and symbols, such as the recent public burnings of the Holy Qur’an. Last year, the Assembly adopted resolution 76/254, proposed by Pakistan on behalf of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), declaring 15 March as the International Day to Combat Islamophobia. Earlier this year, the Human Rights Council adopted OIC resolution 53/1, submitted by Pakistan, urging States to outlaw the burning of the Holy Qur’an and similar provocations. We welcome the legislation initiated by Denmark and contemplated by Sweden towards that end. Pakistan and the OIC countries will propose further steps to combat Islamophobia, including the appointment of a special envoy, the creation of an Islamophobia data centre, legal assistance to victims and an accountability process to punish Islamophobic crimes. The complex global and regional challenges that the world faces today can be best addressed through effective multilateralism within the framework of the United Nations. However, multilateralism is being eschewed due to the unilateral policies of and strategic rivalry and tensions among global Powers. Pakistan will continue to work actively to strengthen multilateral institutions and enhance global cooperation. Pakistan looks forward to continuing negotiations on the scope and elements of the Summit of the Future and the pact for the future, building on the convergences that emerged in earlier consultations. The Summit’s preparatory process must not disrupt existing negotiating processes, such as the intergovernmental negotiations on the reform of the Security Council. Pakistan does not believe in elitism within the comity of nations. The United Nations Charter principles of equality and sovereignty must be preserved in the interest of global peace and prosperity. Pakistan believes that adding additional permanent members to the Security Council would further erode its credibility and legitimacy. The widest possible agreement can be best achieved on the basis of the Uniting for Consensus group’s proposal for expansion of the Council only in the non-permanent category, with provision for a limited number of longer-term seats. Pakistan believes that to build, preserve and promote peace and prosperity today and in the future, it is vital to reduce great power rivalry and tensions, ensure strict adherence to the United Nations Charter, consistently implement Security Council resolutions, eliminate the root causes of conflicts and respect the principles of the non-use of force, self-determination; sovereignty and territorial integrity, non-interference in the internal affairs of States and peaceful coexistence. Pakistan will work diligently and actively with all Member States to realize those vital elements of a new, equitable and peaceful world order.

On behalf of the General Assembly, I wish to thank the Prime Minister of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan for the statement he has just made.

The Assembly will now hear an address by the Prime Minister, Minister for National Security and the Public Service, and Minister for Finance, Economic Affairs and Investment of Barbados.

I have great pleasure in welcoming Her Excellency Ms. Mia Amor Mottley, Prime Minister, Minister for National Security and the Public Service, and Minister for Finance, Economic Affairs and Investment of Barbados, and inviting her to address the Assembly.

I should like at the outset to congratulate my dear brother from Trinidad and Tobago on his assumption of the office of the presidency of the General Assembly. I would also like to thank the Secretary-General for his continued determination and for holding us and the rest of the world to the principles that are sacred to this institution. The truth is that the speech that he delivered at the beginning of this session of the General Assembly (see A/78/PV.4) can be adopted wholesale by the Government and people of Barbados because it reflects our aspirations, and it reflects our view of the current status of the world. I asked myself on Monday night, as we met to determine the halfway point of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): How many roads do we have to walk just to make it to the door, only to be told that the door is closed? Those are not my words. They are the words of Rocky Dawuni, a famous reggae artiste from Ghana, nominated for awards multiple times. But his words ring true because, in a very real sense, are we going to tread the roads, only to be told that it is too late? Too late for us to save as many as we can from the climate crisis? Too late for us to save as many as we can from the conflicts of war? Too late for us to be able to provide the food that so many need as we reflect on the fact that more people are likely to be hungry in this world in 2030 than in 2015? Or as we get to the basic numbers that 735 million people suffered chronic hunger last year at a time when so many others had so much to throw away and to use? Are we going to be too late for the SDGs that are really the promise of development and the promise of the conferral of dignity on our people? We have today to determine what is the will of this organ, comprised of the Member States, to make the fundamental governance changes that will deliver in the third decade of the twenty-first century. Our world, as everyone knows, is replete with issues and I do not need to stand here and recount them in detail, for we have heard them in almost every speech delivered from this rostrum. But what is the issue is whether we can summon the determination that is required of us to make the changes that are appropriate to the age in which we live. Our democracy cannot survive if we do not have the same facts, but yet we live in a world where the generation of fake news is almost a daily occurrence and where people act on those premises without consideration for whether the news is true or not. The role that artificial intelligence (AI) and generative artificial intelligence will play in our world must be for good purposes and not evil, but if we are to ensure that is the case, then an appropriate framework for regulatory action must be put in place. We therefore support the actions of the Secretary- General, recognizing that the question will come one day from some, as to whether we sought to preserve our democracy or whether we allowed it to crumble and whether we have failed ourselves as individual citizens of the world. We ask that question recognizing that AI is not in the immediate focal point of many because the drama and the crises that surround climate are taking up all of the oxygen, literally, in the world. Those people who died in Libya recently were going about their business. They had aspirations. They had business that they were hoping to do, families that they were trying to protect. And in the flash of an eye, all of that came to an end, and not because we did not expect it or anticipate it. The records of the multinational companies that are engaged in fossil fuels will show that they have known for a considerable period of time the consequences of their actions. And while they themselves are not the immediate cause, the absence of technology to be able to limit what they are emitting is the cause. And by extension, therefore, they must take responsibility. We can go no further without an engagement of the oil and gas companies that is meaningful and credible, and we need to stop talking about it and just simply ensure that that kind of conversation can happen. But it is not just the oil and gas companies. We have nothing against them. We do not want to bankrupt them, but their actions continue to have implications for too many of our people. Their actions are equally bolstered by what I call the “FIT group”: the financial institutions, the insurance companies and the transport companies. They get a bye or a pass because they are invisible to the transactions and the activity that lead to the problems that the world is facing. But they too are as responsible and need to step up to the plate. The notion that we can preserve global public goods only with public money ignores the fact that we have seen for the past 50 years the absolute dominance of the capitalist markets lead into a consolidation of wealth. For that reason, their ability to be able to play that role must be examined by the rest of us. We cannot continue to put the interests of a few before the lives of many. I ask us today truly to pause because what keeps ringing in my head is that simple phrase: “Do not fail us now. Do not fail us now.” And that phrase can come from that little boy or girl who is a victim of hunger, one of the 575 million people last year. That plea can equally come from those who lost families in the multiple crises across the world in the past few years. That plea can come from small States that may not exist in the future. I therefore ask my friends to ensure that we summon the will. We listened to the Prime Minister of the Netherlands just now, and he reminded us ably that time is not on our side. And if time is not on our side, what must we do? The truth is, we have made some progress. Two years ago, the International Monetary Fund did not have a mechanism to focus on the cause of the problems that led to massive macroeconomic instability. We now have the establishment of the Resilience and Sustainability Trust, which, for the first time, will make funds available to middle-income countries that are vulnerable  — 20-year money with a 10 and a half-year moratorium. A year ago, the President of the World Bank was questioning whether there was a climate crisis. Today we have a World Bank that, for the first time, acknowledges that there should be clauses to suspend debt — “debt pause clauses”, as they call them. Our battle now is to ensure that those provisions that pause clauses are not just for future instruments, but for existing instruments. If not, they will not help many. We have made progress, but there is still much to be done. The issues of debt sustainability cannot be left on the sidelines, particularly with the number of countries — more than 60 — facing debt row today, as we speak, because of the polycrises and because countries are being forced to choose between development and the building of resilience to fight climate. In our small island States, we value education, health care and the dignity of life, and therefore it will be anathema for us to tell our citizens that we do not have the space to provide for them those things that were the promise of independence. That is compounded by the failure of the developed world to accept that reparatory justice is a solemn obligation that we must confront. The conversation King Charles III held at the opening of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, when he was Prince Charles, was a conversation whose time had come — that of reparatory justice. But it cannot be a slow conversation, taken up when people feel like it has to be a conversation in which equal partners discuss. It cannot be an act of charity of those who simply feel that their conscience must be cleansed. We were about to write to the leaders of the European Union last year on the issue of reparatory justice. We paused because of the Russian incursion into Ukraine, but it seems as though there are those who do not want to make peace, there or elsewhere in the world. And therefore we have to lift our finger off the pause button and resume the discussions because the development deficit caused by centuries of exploitation is now affecting our capacity to build the resilience that is necessary in our nations. Similarly, I want to express my thanks, because a year ago we did not have the Paris Agenda for People and the Planet. We had the Bridgetown Initiative, and the Bridgetown Initiative has allowed us to keep the debate going because we need to change — as I said Monday morning in this Hall — the belief that we can have short-term money financing development and building resilience. I shall not go into all of the details because we do not have the time, but suffice it to say that we are committed to the twin battle of saving people and planet, and to ask us to do anything else is a false construct that does not work. The markets have to be educated as to why long-term capital is the only salvation for developing countries and, ultimately, for people and the planet. Year after year, we talk about the need for global moral strategic leadership. I shall not go into all of the details, but in my own region, in Africa, in Latin America and in the Pacific, there are too many examples where we fall short. I speak specifically now first and foremost about Haiti. The world owes Haiti a resolution. It is not a matter of options. The world owes Haiti a resolution. A year ago, we knew that the gas riots had led to serious instability, and 12 months later we cannot get out of this building and into the support that the people of Haiti need. There is no doubt a need for legitimacy with respect to the Government of Haiti, and therefore a national unity Government may well be the only bridge that can carry us to safety. The Caribbean Community has appointed three former Prime Ministers as an eminent persons group. As we heard the Secretary-General say in this Hall, politics is the art of compromise. Diplomacy is the art of compromise. I say simply to those who act in the name of the people of Haiti that there must be compromise in constituting that Government of national unity, if we are to build the bridge to provide the security to stop women from being raped, stop people from being killed and stop people from being affected by cholera and other public health diseases. I want to thank the Governments of Kenya and Rwanda, which, from as far back as 12 months ago, committed to providing the kind of institutional support and leadership that the Haitian police need. But even when we put in the institutional support that Haiti may need, what we have not necessarily accounted for is the continued reduction in the numbers of the police, largely because of persons fleeing the land for greater opportunity and being facilitated in so doing. This cannot wait much longer, and I hope that those who constitute the members of the Security Council will recognize that they cannot use Haiti as a pawn because the Haitian people have suffered for too long and at the hands of too many. I turn now to the history of Cuba. That Cuba can help so many in this world, and yet is the continued victim of a blockade of over 60 years, but worse than that, designated as a State sponsor of terrorism, is wrong, wrong, wrong. We left Cuba last week, and what the people of Cuba are being asked to face on a daily basis because of a designation by a dying presidency is wrong. The voices of the global community, many of whose members have been the beneficiaries of Cuban assistance, need to stand united and to say that we cannot fight those battles when we need all hands on deck to save the planet. The artificial division of who is right and who is wrong and who is good and who is bad in the eyes of those who are powerful cannot continue to be the way in which this world functions. Let us turn to Venezuela. Oil prices are likely to go over $100, and those small countries that do not produce oil will be the victims of it, as will our people, including in large countries like the United States of America. We must bring resolution to those issues, and they are not incapable of resolution. When the United States of America and many countries in Europe determined that they were recognizing President Guaidó without there being a presidency for him to assume because he faced no election, the members of the Caribbean Community came to this institution and met with the Secretary- General and with the representatives of a number of countries. Little by little, we saw people apply their hearts to wisdom and to recognize that the Charter of the United Nations did not allow for that kind of unconstitutional conferral of presidency on anyone. I say today that there must be transparency. It cannot be that the Caribbean Community, which needs a mechanism for stabilization in an energy crisis, cannot have access to the concessionary prices that the Government and the people of Venezuela are prepared to make available to their neighbours to minimize the suffering. How is it possible for Chevron and the European Union to access the oil and gas of Venezuela, while the people of the Caribbean cannot access it at the 35 per cent discount offered by the people of Venezuela. How is it possible that we should have to carry a cost of an additional 4 per cent of the gross domestic product of my own country simply because the rules that allow for one do not allow for the other? There must be transparency and there must be moral strategic leadership if we are to build the team to save the planet and to save and attain the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in today’s world. There are many other things that we can discuss. We support the United Nations accepting the responsibility for tax. Why? Because as quickly as the world has been able to find a mechanism for a global minimum corporate tax, it has not found a mechanism to be able to inflate the financing opportunities available to developing countries. That cannot be. We know how to run fast in one set of circumstances when it suits one set of people, yet we run very slow when it matters to billions of people and their access to life and livelihood. I do not want to prey on the Assembly’s time anymore, but suffice it to say that we have reached a point where we must give thanks for the progress made, but recommit ourselves. The mission was never simply to make progress; the mission is to be able to save the planet and to give the people of the world the best opportunity for life that is necessary for them as human beings; to be able to save the biodiversity of this world; to be able to save the soils of this world that must nurture the food that we eat; to be able to allow us to have access to safe water. If we do not change how we do our business; if we do not recognize that the Security Council needs to put itself in a position not to speak to climate change, but to protect us against the climate crisis — because it is as much of a crisis as the war in Ukraine or the wars in Africa or the instability and conflict elsewhere in the world — and if we do not take a proactive approach, then we truly shall be victims of it. I believe that reform is critical at this point. But what I believe does not matter. What matters is the action of each and every country in that respect. Will we always be in a position of flux? No. There is hope because human beings want to survive, but the problem is that those whose actions we most need may be so confident in their survival that they do not act early enough for us. That is why I ask: Will we take the road to be able to get to the gates, only to find that we are too late and the gates have closed. They will be open for some, but they will be closed for many. Vision without action, Nelson Mandela told us, is just a dream, and action without vision just passes the time. But vision with action can change the world. Our citizens believe that we come into a talk shop when we come here. We here know that it is potentially different, but it will be different only when those of us who have the responsibility to act on behalf of Governments can ask their Governments to come to the point of the decisions that we need to make to provide the funding, the tools and the solidarity to rebuild the trust that this debate calls for. If we can do that, then we will not save all, but we can save the majority of people who are currently on the front line. Those of us who work on the SDGs believe that, as we work to save the planet, we have to redouble our efforts. I leave Members with one thought. The efforts to provide education, to save people from hunger and to remove gender discrimination are not simply the actions of Governments. They have now equally to be the actions of individual citizens. But Governments must help personalize those SDGs for their citizens. If we can do that, if we can continue to make the case for finance and if we can continue to stay focused on the climate crisis, then yes, we shall see a better world and we can shine the light on the future of many.

On behalf of the General 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 for the statement she has just made.

The Assembly will now hear an address by the Prime Minister and Minister for Finance of the Kingdom of Thailand.

I have great pleasure in welcoming His Excellency Mr. Srettha Thavisin, Prime Minister and Minister for Finance of the Kingdom of Thailand, and inviting him to address the Assembly.

On behalf of the delegation of the Kingdom of Thailand, allow me to congratulate Mr. Dennis France on his election to preside over the General Assembly at its seventy- eighth session. Thailand has marked a new chapter in our democracy. I assumed office only a few days ago, with the mandate of the people, to strengthen democratic institutions and values in Thailand and to uplift the well-being of the Thai people, who have been through difficult times over the past several years. In our foreign relations, we will play a proactive and constructive role in partnership with the international community. My Government will also be reaching out to friends and partners all over the world to forge closer ties of partnership through commerce, investment and trade agreements. Today we meet at a time of multiple global challenges, including fragile global peace, declining human development and the sustainability of our planet. Those challenges require multilateralism and the spirit of international cooperation, and Thailand intends to work closely with all nations to meet them head on. It was in the pursuit of peace that the United Nations was founded almost eight decades ago. Now more than ever, we must continue to lay a strong foundation for the prosperity of our peoples by striving for sustainable peace. In that regard, Thailand welcomes the Secretary- General’s efforts in establishing a new agenda for peace. We believe that this will spearhead the effort to revive multilateralism and enhance the United Nations role as a platform for the achievement of global peace. Thailand’s vision for effective multilateralism is one that is inclusive, resilient and result-oriented. In a world of increasing international conflicts, violence and a shifting global order, we reaffirm our commitment to maintaining peace and inclusivity. Thailand will pursue peaceful and collaborative relations with all members of the international community. We believe that long- lasting peace can be achieved if we can strengthen our multilateral relations, which are based on mutual trust, understanding and respect. Sustainable peace and development are linked to respect for human rights, human dignity and freedoms. To that end, the Thai Government is working to advance equality and justice, especially for the most vulnerable and the marginalized. We plan to strengthen the rule of law and increase transparency within the Government. We will ensure that the law is fair, strictly enforced and applied to everyone equally. Thailand is the candidate of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) for the Human Rights Council for the term 2025-2027. That reaffirms our sincere commitment to the advancement of human rights at home and abroad. We will ensure that the Human Rights Council is well equipped to address new and emerging human rights challenges and contribute positively to the international community. Since its inception in 2002, Thailand’s universal health coverage has ensured that all Thai citizens are entitled to essential preventive and curative health services at all life stages. In the coming years, we plan to further invest to upgrade our universal health coverage to improve the quality of the programme and to give all patients the freedom to choose the health- care provider best suited to them. That will ensure that access to high-quality health services will continue to be a universal right for all. If the recent global pandemic has taught us anything, it is that access to health care is one of the most essential services a Government can provide to its people. Dealing with contagious diseases is not one country’s problem, but the world’s shared responsibility. The global health architecture should be reformed and strengthened. We hope that the pandemic treaty can be established so that we can have a more resilient, responsive and future-ready global public health infrastructures. Thailand welcomes the Sustainable Development Goals Summit, which reaffirmed that sustainability is the only way forward to protect our planet and the well- being of our people. Yet, achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, by most benchmarks, is still proving elusive, as only 12 per cent of the goals are on track. That is why we must accelerate the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. To achieve sustainable development, we must first take care of our people. My Government plans to enact policies to stimulate job creation and provide financial support for low-income families and other vulnerable groups. That will help level the playing field and aid in the creation of a more just society. For many years, Thailand has been a strong advocate for a more balanced, people-centred and sustainable path to growth. The Sufficiency Economy Philosophy (SEP), our long-standing, locally driven development approach, has consistently been applied to promote balance in all aspects. Building on the SEP is the Bio-Circular-Green Economy Model, which leverages science, technology and innovation to advance economic growth, while conserving the environment and ecosystems. These are not merely concepts, but are being implemented in Thailand. For example, we have piloted the sustainable agronomy model, which reimagines the way farmers cultivate their lands and manage water supply. That will reduce not only the impact on the environment, but also reduce vulnerability to climate change and enhance the well-being of farmers nationwide. Thailand is ready to form regional and global partnerships for sustainable development, including through South-South and triangular cooperation. As the ASEAN Coordinator on Sustainable Development Cooperation, we are committed to forging closer partnerships among ASEAN countries and beyond to drive forward sustainable development and build resilience. July was the hottest month ever recorded in human history. That is in line with the Secretary-General’s statement that “the era of global warming has ended; the era of global boiling has arrived”. The climate crisis is one of the most urgent threats that require our collective and immediate action. To that end, Thailand welcomes the Climate Ambition Summit to accelerate climate action that will mitigate the destructive impacts of the ongoing climate crisis. Together, we must devise the means to adapt and enhance climate resilience. As the global climate change crisis continues to worsen, so too will the issue of food insecurity and malnutrition. As a leading exporter of food and agricultural products, Thailand is suffering from the effects of global climate change and El Niño. To ensure food security for the world, we are working hard to improve our water management systems and farming techniques. We are doing our part to make sure that food security can become a reality. To achieve a more sustainable future, we must invest in the planet. Thailand is implementing a green finance mechanism, including the issuance of sustainability linked bonds and the Thailand Green Taxonomy, to boost growth and investments in environmental and social projects, while contributing to the effort to address the challenges of climate change. To do our part, Thailand is determined to deliver on our pledge — 40 per cent of greenhouse-gas emissions reduction by 2040, carbon neutrality by 2050, and net zero greenhouse-gas emissions by 2065 — by mainstreaming climate actions in all economic activities. Our National Energy Plan has integrated our climate targets by enhancing energy efficiency, increasing the share of renewable energy and making a modal shift of transport through domestic electric vehicle production. The United Nations represents the common aspiration of the global community. We must redouble our efforts to ensure that the Organization continues to be the best representation of our collective humanity and solidarity. As such, Thailand has great expectations for the Summit of the Future to foster a better future for all based on the spirit of multilateralism, with the United Nations at the helm, in the global push towards sustainable peace and sustainable development. Thailand believes that now is the time to pursue our common agenda for peace, prosperity and sustainability for all. We invite every nation to be more ambitious in our goals, accelerate our actions and work harder together to address those challenges. Only together can we build our better future.

On behalf of the General Assembly, I wish to thank the Prime Minister and Minister for Finance of the Kingdom of Thailand for the statement he has just made.

The Assembly will now hear an address by the Head of Government of the Principality of Andorra.

I have great pleasure in welcoming His Excellency Mr. Xavier Espot Zamora, Head of Government of the Principality of Andorra, and inviting him to address the Assembly.

I would like to begin this statement by congratulating the Ambassador of Trinidad and Tobago, Mr. Dennis Francis, on his election as President of the General Assembly, as well as Mr. Csaba Kőrösi, who, in a troubled international context, rigorously and efficiently maintained the activity of the Assembly during the seventy- seventh session. We thank President Francis for the theme he has chosen, “Rebuilding trust and revitalizing solidarity: Accelerating action on the 2030 Agenda and its Sustainable Development Goals towards peace, prosperity, progress and sustainability for all”. We have made it our own, because it fully responds to the principles with which Andorra works, both from the point of view of domestic politics and from the perspective of international politics. He can count on the loyal support of our country for the seventy-eighth session, and we wish him many successes. A few weeks before the general debate began, Secretary-General António Guterres launched a new appeal to countries to act radically and urgently, because, as he warned us, “[t]he era of global warming has ended; the era of global boiling has arrived... Climate change is here. It is terrifying. And it is just the beginning”. We must no longer look for subterfuges or deny the obvious  — greenhouse-gas emissions caused by the unlimited consumption of natural resources have led our planet to exhaustion, which has never been more obvious than it was this summer. The extreme temperatures that caused more than 61,000 deaths in Europe in 2022, the wave of fires on the North American continent and the Mediterranean coast, and El Niño have become recurrent phenomena that desiccate the world, make the land less cultivable and push people to abandon their place of origin because environmental degradation has made them climate refugees and condemned them to live far from home. We humans are the culprits of climate change, which is why the solutions to stop it will come not from nature itself, which we are degrading, but from our ability to change the model of production and organization of our societies. It may be too late to avoid certain consequences, which are already unfortunately irreversible, but not to slow down others and prevent the global temperature from increasing by more than 1.5°C by the end of the century. To that end, major transformations and social and economic mutations are needed, because fighting and understanding climate change is not a purely scientific or technocratic question to be left in the hands of experts; it is, rather, a political, social, economic, ethical and even philosophical problem that lays bare the enormous inequalities of our world. Thus, our conviction that the solutions lie in a new form of multilateralism more oriented towards collective action is stronger than ever. Those solutions must strengthen and contribute to rebuilding international cooperation in order to provide adequate resources in the regions and promote inclusive governance and coordinated and supportive policies. It is here at the United Nations that we must identify crises and adopt clear positions, actions and commitments in favour of the common good. We must more than ever recall the original values of the Organization, which was born on the ruins of the most devastating war in history — an Organization serving peace, dialogue and multilateralism and intended to prevent the scourge of war. Yet war is here. Europe remains worried about a conflict that has become a war of attrition, with enormous consequences for the Ukrainian civilian population. From our country, we strongly condemn that violation of the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine. We have also supported the declarations of the General Assembly, the positions expressed by other bodies such as the Council of Europe, and international sanctions, in particular those of the European Union. Yemen, Pakistan, Ethiopia, the Sahel and other territories no longer make the headlines, yet they are frozen conflict zones whose most fragile populations are the main victims. Andorra contributes to supporting the most vulnerable, particularly women and children, through the programmes of UNICEF and the International Committee of the Red Cross and their courageous work on the ground. During all these years, the African continent has never ceased to be a source of concern, with breakdowns of democracy in many western States, often under terrorist threat. Last July, we commemorated the twenty-fifth anniversary of the adoption of the Rome Statute, the founding document of the International Criminal Court. That milestone serves as a powerful reminder of the pressing need to promote justice for all victims of war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide and human rights violations. It was in that conviction that Andorra, alongside other small European States and civil society, grouped around non-governmental organizations, played a key role in the establishment of the International Criminal Court and wants to continue to be so in order to further strengthen the Organization. This year, representing my country in the Assembly has a more special meaning for me than ever. On 28 July, Andorra celebrated the thirtieth anniversary of its accession as the 184th State Member of the United Nations. The adoption of the Andorran Constitution in 1993 allowed us to enjoy international recognition, to make our voice heard outside our borders and to align ourselves with international law. Allow me, as part of the commemoration of that landmark occasion, which is so important to all the citizens of Andorra, to recall the words that the Head of Government, Mr. Òscar Ribas Reig, spoke from this rostrum three decades ago on how a small country like Andorra can contribute to improving this world. He said: “We are a small country, but one that is aware of the value of authenticity and of the fact that, in a world that is in certain ways inordinately large, small dimensions may offer a positive contribution to balanced coexistence. What should be the ideal size of a State? Neither economics nor political science can give us a definitive answer to this question, of course. Aristotle, in his Politics, says that the size of the polis should permit all the inhabitants to be familiar with each other’s characters; it should be possible, he adds, completely to survey the territory from a mountaintop. Andorra possesses these human and geographical features.” (A/47/PV.108, p. 18). It is from that human perspective of the value of authenticity, of freedom and of what is worth loving and preserving, and which has given us the benefit of more than 750 years of peace, that we can bring our knowledge and our commitments to bear on common challenges, and all within the framework of multilateralism. In schools and areas reserved for children in the Principality of Andorra, there are posters highlighting the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The posters are placed where adults can see them as well. This is a metaphor for our society — a call from children to adults; a reminder that time is passing and that the future is in our hands; and one final message that our sense of responsibility and credibility should make it possible to accelerate the process, go further and reformulate current structures and move towards new financial, technological and environmental governance, with growth based on sustainability, cooperation and equality, in order to lay the future foundations for our children and young people. The 2030 Agenda is a universal road map that guides the future of the planet towards sustainable, resilient and inclusive societies of peace. Andorra’s commitment to achieving the Goals is firm, as demonstrated by its submission of two voluntary national reports monitoring the application of the SDGs. It is for that reason that Andorra has adopted its national strategic plan on the implementation of Agenda 2030, which reflects the involvement of the Government, institutions and Andorran society as a whole in working for the sustainable development of our planet, building fairer societies and leaving no one behind. From that point of view, we recognize and applaud the tireless work of Secretary-General Guterres and the presidency of the General Assembly in joining their efforts, because we still have an open window to ensure a viable and sustainable future sustainable for all, and specifically their recent organization of the Sustainable Development Goals Summit, in which Andorra actively participated. Education is undoubtedly one of the best tools to achieve those objectives. It is the basis of progress, the articulating axis of societies and the fundamental element of personal and collective growth as a guarantee of equality opportunities, respect, civic- mindedness, democracy and the future. Andorra played an active part in last year’s Transforming Education Summit, in the conviction that we can contribute by sharing our experience in implementing SDG 4 to ensure quality, inclusive, equitable and multilingual education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all children and young people. Andorra attaches particular importance to education, which allows us to offer elementary training of excellence so that children and young people of 65 different nationalities can grow in a context of learning the fundamental values of democracy and human rights, with a high degree of social cohesion and diversity and a strong sense of belonging. Along with education, access to health is another fundamental pillar of any society. The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has been a test of resistance and stress for the health system that Andorra has been able to overcome, because we have a solid system and thanks to its professional staff, who have honoured their profession by making a considerable effort to keep the population safe. We must highlight the role of the World Health Organization, which this year celebrates its seventy-fifth anniversary — seventy- five years dedicated to the fight against diseases that permanently threaten certain countries, and against epidemics and pandemics, because they do not all bear the name COVID-19, and to confront the structural inequalities of access to health services, physical or mental, experienced by the population. Gender equality is a subject of historical social injustice. We obviously cannot change the past, but we can act to move towards a more egalitarian society, because if we want to achieve the transformation necessary for the sustainability of the planet, we cannot leave half of humankind behind. In that respect, in recent years our country has made gender equality and non-discrimination essential values and has articulated pioneering and ambitious laws for its defence that are also taught in the schools. The education of girls and the training of women constitute a domestic priority and are part of our international cooperation. Andorra is a high mountain country and particularly sensitive to climate change, which seriously threatens our biodiversity, our water cycle and even, ultimately, our way of life. Given the geographical specificities of our territory, landlocked in the Pyrenees, we are very active members of the Mountain Partnership, and we campaigned for the Aspen Declaration to include specific mention of the Pyrenees, as had already been done for other mountainous regions. We have advocated for the particular vulnerability of mountain regions around the world to receive specific attention in international forums devoted to climate change. That fight that cannot be won without clearly focusing on the energy transition, one of the global challenges that our country must also face and that clearly responds to our international and national commitment to our citizens to moving us towards carbon neutrality. Andorra’s accession as a member of the Carbon Neutrality Coalition allows us to learn and share experiences with other member States. We were pioneers in the implementation of a green tax by establishing a carbon price of €30 per ton, allowing us to move towards a more sustainable modality. We adopted a law of circular economy that sets 2035 as the deadline for achieving a production model in which most waste will be transformed into by-products to be reintroduced into the production chain, with special emphasis on the fight against the waste of resources, and specifically food. We have also implemented general free public transport not only to help families with fewer resources, but also to limit journeys in private vehicles. We are a State that seeks to adapt to the European Union because if we wish to move forward, we cannot circumvent the certainty that the geographic and demographic interdependence of our country with Europe is total. The Europeanization of the values of our society; of our legislation, which is strongly inspired by community law; and of the professional aspirations of our young people, who every day face a more demanding job market, is more than sufficient reason for us not to not turn our back on Europe. Likewise, it is essential to continue working to defend the values of multilateralism, such as human rights, democracy and the rule of law. They have helped us promote peace and security on the European continent and in the rest of the world. We have put the planet under considerable pressure. As I said earlier, the window is still open, but one thing is certain — it can close suddenly. We must take advantage of the era of scientific knowledge and, in that regard, I would like to highlight the importance of science, which has helped us so much to improve our living conditions. Today we know much more about the behaviour of the Earth’s atmosphere, its interaction with the land and oceans, and its effects on water resources and the survival of species. The scenario to follow cannot be a monologue, but must be a dialogue among all peoples and for all peoples. It is for that reason that in our country, we are prepared to seek, more than ever before, the points of convergence necessary to rebuild trust and revitalize solidarity, accelerate action on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its Sustainable Development Goals, as I have already announced, and work to prepare in the best way for the Summit of the Future, which will take place in 2024, for peace, prosperity, progress and sustainability for all. After almost eight decades of existence, the United Nations has allowed us to learn many lessons in many areas, from maintaining peace to the fight against climate change. All those lessons have one thing in common  — the great challenges facing humankind require the participation of all countries and all people, because the international community progresses only by understanding its interdependencies and the fact that no country is big enough to face the challenges alone, and that solutions, to be fair and lasting, must include everyone. It is about laying solid foundations for a future where no one is left behind and where the demand for co-responsibility is fully shared. This is how we Andorrans believe that we must concentrate our efforts to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals, the fight against climate change and the provision of quality education to all inhabitants of the planet, with the assistance of the institutions of governance  — in sum, all the aspirations of the international community that have resounded throughout the General Assembly. Members know that they can count on Andorra’s commitment to pursuing progress together.

On behalf of the General Assembly, I wish to thank the Head of Government of the Principality of Andorra for the statement he has just made.

The Assembly will now hear an address by the Prime Minister and Minister for Finance, Economic Development and Youth Economy of Saint Lucia.

I have great pleasure in welcoming His Excellency Mr. Philip Joseph Pierre, Prime Minister and Minister for Finance, Economic Development and Youth Economy of Saint Lucia, and inviting him to address the Assembly.

Let me join in the congratulations to Mr. Dennis Francis on his election as President of the General Assembly. This is the first time that a national of his country, Trinidad and Tobago, has assumed that office and only the fourth occasion that a representative of a Caribbean Community (CARICOM) State has been so elected. Let me therefore not only wish him success as he presides over our deliberations, but also assure him of the fullest levels of respectful cooperation from Saint Lucia as we work together to advance the collective interests of our common civilization. There are many amongst us  — the small and marginalized islands of our globe, surrounded by rising seas and scorched by rising temperatures — who are beginning to question this annual parade of flowery speeches and public pretence of brotherhood otherwise known as the annual general debate of the General Assembly. What is the point, we are beginning to ask, of meeting here every year when every time the international community is called upon to take the agreed collective actions on the critical issues affecting the poor and the powerless, there is always some hesitation and delay once we vacate this historic building? And so, with just seven years left to the target year of 2030, we are gathered at this seventy-eighth session of the General Assembly to discuss accelerating action towards the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development because its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are in peril. We have been summoned here to rebuild trust and to reignite global solidarity for the 2030 Agenda when trust and hope are the devalued currency of global dialogue. Despite our greatest efforts to maintain faith and belief in the principles of global engagement, our entire post-independence experience has been one of dashed expectations and institutional frustration. In the 1990’s we watched helplessly as powerful countries utilized the World Trade Organization to dismantle Saint Lucia’s marketing arrangements for bananas in Europe, forcing hundreds of our farmers into poverty while those already rich countries provided huge subsidies to their own farmers. When some of our Caribbean countries successfully developed our financial services industries, we were blacklisted and grey-listed as if we were lepers and global undesirables. However, the Russia-Ukraine war has now clearly revealed to us which metropolitan capitals are the real tax havens and which are the true pipelines for illicit money. And now today, our citizenship by investment programmes, which we have successfully pursued for decades, are being undermined while the golden passport and golden visa programmes of some members of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development remain unquestioned, untouched and unmolested. We nonetheless remain committed to keeping our programmes transparent even whilst we strengthen our due-diligence regime. Saint Lucia has come to this seventy-eighth session to say there must be justice in the relations between developed and developing countries and that we are no longer willing to come to this annual parade merely to lend our voice to support of this or that global conflict or to condemn whoever, from year to year, is the new global enemy. No powerful nation’s global agenda is more important than our own, and we insist that our legitimate concerns be listened to and acted upon. The people of the Caribbean and Saint Lucia have been designated by the African Union as part of its Sixth Region, which comprises people of African origin residing outside the continent. We feel ourselves obliged to seek justice, through reparations, for the crimes against humanity that tore our ancestors from our African homeland and enslaved them in the lands of the Western hemisphere. It is laudable that, for the past decade and a half, the United Nations has been observing 23 August as the International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition. The United Nations is also to be commended for proclaiming the International Decade for People of African Descent, which ends in 2024, and we look forward to the proclamation of a second decade. However, the time has now come for the issue of reparations for the transatlantic slave trade and slavery in the Western hemisphere to become a more central part of the global agenda and work of the United Nations, and not an issue only to be whispered about in the corridors and at the margins. It was the 400 years of the enslavement of Africans and colonialism that led to the need today for action to achieve the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. The Secretary-General made that unambiguously clear in his message this year to mark the International Day of Remembrance of Slavery and the Slave Trade. He said: “We can draw a straight line from the era of colonial exploitation to the social and economic inequalities today” (A/77/PV.63, p.2). Reparations for slavery therefore mean that the countries that benefited and developed from 400 years of the free labour of enslaved humans should now pay back for that free labour. We urge the United Nations to embrace that principle as a central part of its work in the coming years, with set goals, timelines and programmes of action. In the same way, we cannot speak of accelerated action for the Sustainable Development Goals for developing countries, when developed countries do not treat the climate challenges facing developing countries with the sense of urgency and importance they deserve. Those challenges not only negatively impact our economic growth, but threaten our very existence. Yet, developed countries behave as though they are blameless and not responsible to repair and compensate for the damage they have inflicted on our planet. Have they not understood that climate change is a danger not only to the existence of small island States, but to the survival of all countries today, and not tomorrow? In just about two months, we shall be travelling yet again to another conference on climate change, the twenty-eighth Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP28), in Dubai. We will be doing so with the current extreme and extraordinary weather events graphically demonstrating the gravity of the climate crisis. On behalf of the people and the Government of Saint Lucia, I extend sincere sympathies to the peoples and the Governments of the Kingdom of Morocco, Libya and the other countries that have recently suffered the obvious ravages of climate change. The new manifestations of the crisis are signalling to us that the goal of 1.5°C to stay alive is now very much at risk. It is said that the Roman emperor Nero fiddled while Rome burned. We cannot continue to be like Nero, talking away while the planet is literally burning and sometimes drowning. If COP28 is to be transformational and not another disappointing, Nero- like conference, then it must deliver an ambitious global climate action plan to 2030 if it is to answer to the necessity for climate justice for developing countries like Saint Lucia. Having said that, we wish to reiterate, however, that what is critically needed is a complete reform of the global financial system to make development financing truly developmental and climate financing truly just. As has been said so many times before and in so many different forums by so many small island developing States, the negotiations and the agreements for development assistance for those States must take into account their peculiar vulnerabilities. Consequently, one area where accelerated action is certainly necessary is that of the adoption of a multidimensional vulnerability index for small island developing States, in order to replace the gross national income per capita as a primary measure for concessionary financing. Another measure that should be considered is the Recovery Duration Adjuster, as proposed by the Caribbean Development Bank, which measures the internal resilience capacity of a country after a shock or natural disaster. It is past time for the multilateral development banks and international financial institutions to introduce those reforms. But global financial reform has to be comprehensive and radical, as put forward in two recent proposals that I commend to this organ and to international financial institutions. The first is the Bridgetown Initiative, presented last year by my CARICOM colleague, Prime Minister Mia Mottley of Barbados, which argues for resilient finance mechanisms that will address both the climate and development crises facing developing countries. The second is the Secretary-General’s SDG Stimulus to deliver agenda 2030, submitted in February. Both plans are an appeal for immediate action, and they provide a practical pathway to sustainable development and climate justice. There is therefore no deficit of ideas for reform of the international financial architecture; there is simply a dearth of good will. In the declaration issued in 2015 on the adoption of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, it was said that, “there can be no sustainable development without peace and no peace without sustainable development” (resolution 70/1, p.2). Today, eight years later we are in a world without peace and the Sustainable Development Goals are in jeopardy. How can trust and global solidarity for sustainable development be rebuilt when the unwarranted Russian war in Ukraine rages on, with its collateral economic damage to other countries the world over, including biting inflation, particularly on food prices, high oil prices and shortage of food? If trust and global solidarity for sustainable development are to be rebuilt, the unjust, unilateral and inhumane economic embargo against the people of Cuba must immediately be withdrawn. The unmerited and cruel sanctions against the Government and the people of Venezuela should cease. The Palestinian people should have their own State alongside Israel, in accordance with relevant United Nations resolutions. The people of the Republic of China on Taiwan should be allowed the continued enjoyment of their right to self-determination and the exercise of their democratic freedoms without threats to their autonomy and with a place in international forums. There must be an end to the conflicts in Africa and a halt to all forms, whether old or new, of the neocolonial exploitation of the continent’s resources, so that the African people can fully benefit from the riches of their lands and from greater unity among African nations. In our Caribbean region, the States members of CARICOM remain gravely concerned over the deteriorating political, social, humanitarian and security crises in Haiti, their sister member State. Haiti needs the urgent and dependable support of the international community. The response to date has been underwhelming. United Nations efforts of a few months ago to raise $780 million for humanitarian purposes have received low pledges. The need for robust security assistance to counter the murderous armed gangs is clear, yet the decision to enable it is meandering slowly through the Security Council. The Caribbean Community hopes that the establishment of the multinational force will be given full endorsement by the Security Council as a demonstration of the commitment of the international community to supporting the restoration of law and order and improving the humanitarian conditions of the people of Haiti. CARICOM welcomes the Government of Kenya’s willingness to lead such a multinational force. States members of the Caribbean Community will contribute personnel as well. The Community will also continue its good offices efforts through its Eminent Persons Group to assist the Haitians stakeholders in finding a solution to the political crisis — a critical necessity to pave the way towards an improved future for the people of Haiti. I urge the various Haitian stakeholders to cooperate with CARICOM to find a political compromise for the sake of the Haitian people and in honour of their heroic and fabled ancestors, whom they revere so much for daring to break the chains of slavery 200 years ago and bring freedom to the black people of the Caribbean. The immorality of the suffering, the destruction and the death that those conflicts are bringing to the world is not the only reason for our appeals to end them. That immorality is matched only by the absurdity of the expenditure on the arms that sustain those wars and inhibit peace. That should be of grave concern to all of us. What is of equal concern to States like Saint Lucia is the illicit trade in small arms and light weapons, which ran into billions of dollars in 2022. Not only do those arms and light weapons fuel lesser conflicts all over the world, but illegal small arms facilitate criminal activities in Saint Lucia and other CARICOM member States. Illegal firearms were responsible for 70 per cent of the homicides in the Caribbean Community in 2022; and in Saint Lucia, the majority of homicides are firearms-related and involve young people, both as victims and perpetrators. Yet, neither Saint Lucia nor its fellow CARICOM member States manufacture small arms, light weapons or ammunition. Their sources are our continental neighbours to the north and south of the Caribbean. Saint Lucia therefore continues to strongly support the international instruments aimed at preventing and curbing the illicit traffic in small arms and light weapons. I welcome the announcement by the United States Administration earlier this year that it will provide technical assistance and support to combat illegal weapons smuggling into the Caribbean and in solving gun-related cases. Let us be reminded that SDG 16.4 aims at significantly reducing illicit arms flows. There is, however, hope for global solidarity. In June, the Intergovernmental Conference on Marine Biodiversity of Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction adopted the historic Treaty of the High Seas. For Saint Lucia, a small island developing State, the protection of the oceans is an imperative, since the oceans and their resources do not belong to one country but are the heritage of all humankind. Saint Lucia signed the Treaty this week and will move towards its ratification in the shortest possible time. I offer my congratulations on the opening of the United Nations Youth Office. As I said in my address last year (see A/77/PV.10), the importance accorded to youth by the United Nations is in harmony with my Government’s policy of giving priority to youth affairs through the creation of a Youth Economy, in which young people, with State assistance, can turn their talents, skills and hobbies into businesses that will provide sustainable self-employment. I am therefore pleased to report that our Youth Economy was formally launched in March and has been met with enthusiasm and success. To date, about 300 young persons in Saint Lucia have benefitted from funding and training from the Government to assist them in starting or supporting their businesses, and the numbers continue to grow. Once again, I invite the international community to engage with us on mutually beneficial relationships and projects to promote the Youth Economy. Though the Youth Economy, we are responding to the SDGs, and with my Government‘s policy of putting people first, we are addressing the other SDGs. After the destruction and ruin of the twentieth century’s world wars and the Cold War, one would have thought that the start of the twenty-first century would have ushered in a new era of global solidarity. It has not. In conclusion, I ask these questions, for which we must all provide urgent responses as the fate of the 2030 Agenda depends on our answers. Is there the political will and commitment to divert financial resources away from destructive activities like wars and other conflicts? Is there the political will to place those financial resources instead into the productive action of responding to the climate crisis? Is there the political will to use those trillions of dollars to end starvation and underdevelopment in the world and provide the justice of reparations? Is there the political will to put people first and not weapons first? Is there the political will to develop trust and build a lasting peace that will rekindle our Sustainable Development Goals and lead towards prosperity, progress and sustainability for all? For the sake of us all and for future generations, we must find it. To quote Saint Lucia-born Nobel laureate, Derek Walcott: “Hope is not a thing to be deferred, but a thing to be pursued with all hungry passion of our existence”.

On behalf of the General Assembly, I wish to thank the Prime Minister and Minister for Finance, Economic Development and Youth Economy of Saint Lucia for the statement he has just made.

The Assembly will now hear an address by the Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs, Climate Change and Environment, Civil Service, Information and Public Enterprise of the Republic of Fiji.

I have great pleasure in welcoming His Excellency Mr. Sitiveni Ligamamada Rabuka, Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs, Climate Change and Environment, Civil Service, Information and Public Enterprise of the Republic of Fiji, and inviting him to address the Assembly.

The world that I see today is full of pain and mistrust, mysticism, cynicism and apathy. There are interconnected, complex crises that have been created by our own self-centred ambitions. Growing geopolitical rivalry is contributing to escalating tensions around the world, rather than leveraging multilateral determination to overcome the many crises that threaten us. We are now living in an unpredictable world. We must act to survive these interesting times. Our collective effort is necessary to address the enormous challenges and reduce the risk associated with the unpredictable environment that we face today, not only as sovereign nations, but as the whole of humankind. Instead of leveraging global cooperation to manage our shared challenges and associated risk, growing geopolitical rivalry is escalating those tensions. Our Blue Pacific is at the centre of geopolitical tensions. At the end of the Second World War, peace finally returned to the Pacific, but today we are facing renewed geopolitical competition with a similar but complex build-up. For the Pacific, climate change has been identified as a threat to peace, security and our very existence. The reality is that no country is exempt from the impact of climate change and no national can address it alone. As we mobilize to address the impacts and associated challenges, we must at the same time come together to share our common wealth. That is the only way we can ensure that no one is left behind. We in the Pacific directly bear the brunt of climate change on our coastlines, our communities, our livelihoods, our security and, indeed, our very statehood and identity. In addition, small island developing States are struggling to respond to global supply shocks, with soaring debt levels impacting progress in the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The inequality gap continues to widen, This year marks the mid-point review of the Sustainable Development Goals. Earlier this week, the outcome of the SDG Summit issued a call to action. That was a rallying call. The targets of the SDGs are now in danger. That demands bold, ambitious and accelerated actions. In that regard, Fiji is committed to and will continue to support the Secretary-General’s report Our Common Agenda (A/75/982) in the acceleration of the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals. We commend and fully support the initiative of the Secretary-General in convening the Summit of the Future next year. It will be a pivotal opportunity to leverage global cooperation and address critical challenges in the lead-up to 2030. In our commitment to achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, we presented our second voluntary national review on the Sustainable Development Goals in July. It is clear from the review that this is a watershed moment. We have only seven years left. That underscores the need to forge stronger and robust partnerships to respond to the call to action. The coronavirus disease pandemic conflated the impacts of recent natural disasters and worsened the burden on all sectors of the Fijian economy. We experienced a significant economic downturn as tourism, the backbone of our economy, came to a virtual standstill. Our economy is now on the recovery path, led by the tourism sector, which has rebounded to pre-pandemic levels, Our challenges are interconnected. They must be addressed with integrated responses through effective multilateralism. International cooperation and solidarity are essential to protecting our collective interests through targeted engagement. Peace and security are fundamental to sustainable development. Fiji will continue to uphold global peace and security, as we have done for the past four and a half decades. I am proud to be standing here, having commanded two of our peacekeeping battalions. Currently, our peacekeepers are participating in six United Nations missions, contributing to the search for peace. We are committed to the Secretary-General’s New Agenda for Peace, which outlines a vision for multilateral efforts based on international law for a world in transition. The New Agenda for Peace echoes and is consistent with the Boe Declaration on Regional Security, issued by Pacific Forum leaders, which declared the Pacific to be a region of peace. That concept of peace is the premise for our future. I believe that it is time that we consider the Pacific as a zone of peace. We have had discussions on the concept at the regional level and I am convinced that it will be the Blue Pacific’s contribution to world order — the zone of peace. The Blue Pacific is the world’s largest ocean. It is also an important carbon sink. Therefore, it is important for humankind that it be protected and sustainably managed. The large ocean States of the Pacific are guided by the 2050 Strategy for the Blue Pacific Continent in navigating challenges and leveraging collective efforts to create a prosperous and sustainable future for our peoples. This year marks the seventy-fifth anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It is also my seventy-fifth year of life. We are committed to our obligation to implement human rights covenants and conventions emanating from the Universal Declaration. I am also pleased to confirm that the Government I lead is committed to implementing the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and International Labour Organization Convention 169, on the rights of tribal and indigenous peoples. We join the international community in affirming the implementation of indigenous peoples’ rights and aspirations. The Climate Ambition Summit, held earlier this week, called for enhanced commitment to climate action. We must commit not only to reducing emissions, but also to supporting vulnerable communities and fostering climate resilience. We look forward to the twenty-eighth Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, and in particular to the finalization of the Loss and Damage Fund modalities. We remain hopeful that the pledges towards the $100 billion climate finance goal will be met this year. Climate finance is inaccessible, in particular for small island developing States. There is therefore an urgent need for reform of the global financial architecture if future targets are to be met. Fiji welcomes the announcement by President Biden earlier this week of his commitment to contributing $11 billion a year to international climate finance to help lower-income countries implement their climate goals. I also commend United States leadership in the reform of the World Bank, which is geared towards helping low- and middle-income countries to access finance. Whilst the mid-term review of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030 recognizes some progress in implementation, there is room for improvement in the pace of implementation. In Fiji, we continue to strengthen our disaster risk reduction approach by building resilient infrastructure, strengthening early warning systems, enhancing community preparedness, improving disaster response capacities and promoting ecosystem-based approaches. Fiji will continue to deploy humanitarian and disaster relief and rehabilitation to its neighbouring countries, including for bushfires, severe tropical cyclones, earthquakes and tsunamis. We are also undertaking climate mobility adaptation strategies. As of today, we have relocated 6 coastal communities out of the 42 communities that have been identified for urgent resettlement and relocation. As a party to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, Fiji continues to recognize the significance of ocean conservation and its sustainable use and management. Earlier this week, I joined other leaders in signing the agreement under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea on the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity of areas beyond national jurisdiction, with the intention of ratifying it as soon as practicable. I am pleased to report that Fiji will ratify the World Trade Organization Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies, after its endorsement by the Fiji Parliament last week. To combat plastic pollution, Fiji is actively engaged in negotiations for the new treaty. We urge countries to finalize the treaty by 2024, before it is too late. For small island developing States, the triple burden of non-communicable diseases, mental health and the climate emergency are straining our health infrastructure and resources. Health financing, infrastructure, supply chain management for medicines, consumables and medical equipment, workforce retention and deployment, and development are critical to Fiji and other small island developing States. The World Health Organization (WHO) Voluntary Health Trust Fund for SIDS, established this year, will address the technical capacity-building needs of SIDS. We encourage development partners to contribute to the Fund. Fiji also supports the overarching WHO accord for pandemic prevention that is currently being negotiated. Equity must be at the centre of our global health responses. We welcome the progress made thus far on the multidimensional vulnerability index to support access to credit through concessional financing and debt relief. Achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development will require a new framework for development finance institutions that is responsive and relevant to addressing the needs of small island developing States. The people of Fiji, on whose behalf I address the Assembly, have given me the responsibility to lead our large ocean State. I cannot fail them. We need genuine and durable partnerships that ensure our collective security, that ensure our ability to facilitate economic prosperity, and that ensure that we safeguard our resources. It is time to tell it as it is. It is time to be bold, to be blunt and to do what is necessary for our very survival. We want a future where global solidarity and the collective well-being of humankind are the ultimate objective. In the midst of the multifaceted crises that threaten our very existence, it becomes vital to demonstrate our resolve and the untapped reserves of courage and resilience within our innermost selves. We all hold the power to be a catalyst for the change that we need. I believe that, together, we can.

On behalf of the General Assembly, I wish to thank the Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs, Climate Change and Environment, Civil Service, Information and Public Enterprise of the Republic of Fiji for the statement he has just made.

The Assembly will now hear an address by the Prime Minister, Minister of State, Minister for Communications and Media and Minister for Religious Affairs of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg.

I have great pleasure in welcoming His Excellency Mr. Xavier Bettel, Prime Minister, Minister of State, Minister for Communications and Media and Minister for Religious Affairs of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, and inviting him to address the Assembly.

Our debate is being held under the theme of restoring trust and reviving global solidarity. President Dennis Francis has rightly called on us to accelerate action to achieve the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its Sustainable Development Goals for peace, prosperity, progress and sustainability for all. He has called on us to rebuild international peace and security, to show leadership in the fight against climate change, and to support efforts to promote and ensure the full enjoyment of human rights by all. His priorities are also our priorities. We can sign off on them immediately. To respond to global threats, from Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine to climate change, from poverty to pandemics, we must act. We cannot remain idle. We must act together, as truly united nations. It is important to ask ourselves: What does it mean to be united? I have a feeling that each of us has her or his own definition of what it means to be united these days. First, it means being able to count on each other. There are larger and smaller nations, and some are there to support the others. My country is not the largest in size but has always believed that unity and the willingness to work with others have made it bigger and stronger. We are a founding Member of the United Nations, the European Union, NATO, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and the Council of Europe. My country has always believed in the international order and the resolve to come together to build something together. As Europeans, we commit daily to defending the principles anchored in the Charter of the United Nations and to strengthening multilateralism. While many people believe that the solution to today’s problems is to build walls and cut ties, I am among those who are convinced that it is the readiness to build bridges that is the right solution. I wish to speak of Luxembourg’s assistance for sustainable development. The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Summit, held a few days ago, reminded us of the urgent need to redouble our efforts if we want to achieve the SDGs by 2030. We have seen the devastating effects of the coronavirus disease pandemic and Russia’s war against Ukraine lead to a deterioration of poverty indicators in many developing countries. Luxembourg is determined to continue to show solidarity. For several years, we have devoted 1 per cent of our gross national income to public development assistance. Our support focuses on the least developed countries and basic social sectors. We have seen how, in many European countries, one of the first budget items to be cut when a new administration takes power is cooperation. It is true that it is not very popular to offer to help people at the far side of the world when some populists point to the problems at home. But the problems we have at home are rich people’s problems in most other countries of the world and their own problems are issues of survival, while ours can occasionally be overlooked. Luxembourg had the honour of preparing, with South Africa, the High-Level Dialogue on Financing for Development, which was held on 20 September. The Dialogue made it possible to identify avenues for closing the SDG financing gap. In partnership with international financial institutions and the private sector, the aim is to mobilize the resources that developing countries need to get out of debt and ensure financing of the SDGs. Our climate action is also not very popular these days, because it is never popular when we act to change people’s daily lives. People do not like it when we say that things must change, but we will be judged by future generations if we do not shoulder our responsibilities today. While we may need to take unpopular decisions, we must do so if we wish to preserve the quality of life we enjoy today. There are those who do not believe in climate change, and I have heard politicians express doubt about climate change from this very rostrum. I do not know how it is in other countries, but in ours we have had tornadoes, floods and other unprecedented phenomena. Events on the far side of the world that we used to see on television are now happening at home. That is nothing compared to the situation being experienced by Heads of State and Government who have spoken here and do not know if their countries will be able to resist or even exist in the long term. It is hard to imagine being a citizen of a country that could disappear under the melting icebergs. Let us think of that. What would you build for the future? How could you fight that phenomenon? Luxembourg shares the Secretary-General’s commitment to solving the climate crisis. I was fortunate enough to be present when we reached the Paris Agreement on Climate Change in 2015. We must pursue that course. We will support negotiations at the twenty-eighth Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change to establish the new Loss and Damage Fund to help developing countries that are particularly vulnerable. We are also strengthening our international climate finance, which is in addition to our official development assistance. My Government has just decided to increase Luxembourg’s contribution to the Green Climate Fund by 25 per cent for the period 2024-2027. We also work in close cooperation with the European Investment Bank in the field of sustainable finance. Luxembourg’s financial centre, in particular our Luxembourg Green Exchange, has issued the first green bonds and mobilized private capital. In our Embassy only yesterday, we hosted colleagues from Cape Verde and Rwanda, and we were able to show that we can bring the private and public sectors together if we want to succeed. As public authorities, we cannot do it alone. If we want to succeed, we must be ready to bring in the private sector. Those who have not done so are very welcome to visit Luxembourg to see how the private and public sectors can come together and move forward. (spoke in English) I have just listened to the speaker before me talk about human rights. I am sure that if we asked all the representatives here today what human rights mean to each of them, we would find to our shame that in 2023 human rights still depend on where you are born. They depend on your religion. They depend on whether you are a girl or boy. They depend on your sexual orientation. It is still a shame to know that today, in 2023, human rights are different from one person to another depending on their place of birth. And it is not only about human rights. It is also about civil rights, economic rights, the right to education, the right to be different, the right of diversity, the rights of women, the right to choose for yourself rather than for someone else who thinks he knows better what is good for you to do so. That is the reality still in 2023, when we speak about universal human rights and when we speak about the United Nations. No, we are not united when we speak about human rights. The definition of human rights still depends today on where you were born, and I can affirm that that is not our best achievement. And still we celebrate the seventy-fifth anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. For us, the defence of the human rights of women and children will stay a priority. We are also proud to have supported the initiative to create an institution for people who have disappeared in Syria. We have to fight intolerance, and I would ask everyone just to be intolerant to intolerance. Is it still normal that nowadays, some political parties try to explain, for example, that the Second World War was not such a terrible period? One need only go to Auschwitz and see what happened there, where millions of Jewish people were killed. They were killed because they were Jewish. They were gypsies. They were gay or they were left-wing. If you go there you will see thousands and thousands of suitcases. You will see crutches. You will see hair. You will see glasses. And people were just a number. That was what happened on my continent and still today some people think that this is just a small part of our history. \ I thought we would have learned from the past when I see what also happened after the Second World War. When we see today that being gay, being lesbian or being trans is still a death penalty. I myself am gay; it is not my choice. I did not wake up this morning to ask myself why I am gay. The most difficult part was to accept myself. People must realize that being gay is not a choice. But being a homophobic is a choice, and we have to fight against people who do not accept diversity in our nations. I could go on citing all the different epithets about religions, about antisemitism and anti-difference. When we speak about being in the United Nations and wanting to share values together, we still have to also play a role in international peace and security. When I see the situation in Africa, I have to say that I am not reassured about what has happened. I take a special moment to think about my colleague, President Bazoum. As President of the Niger, his was one of the stable countries. He is now in custody. I want to inform the Assembly that for us it was also important to support the African countries that condemned the coup. It is not about the power of the strongest, of the one who has the weapons, who has to win against the supporters of democracy. We have to continue to fight for this. Is it normal that our procedures in the United Nations make it possible for a permanent member of the Security Council to block consideration of situations when we have all agreed that there is a problem? Last year, I sent a message to the Russian delegation, asking its members to listen to us and to try to stop that unnecessary war. I am among the few leaders who has had calls with President Zelenskyy and with President Putin. I was criticized for having made those calls, but I do not regret them. If we want to find solutions, we need to speak to one another. But when I realized that there was no will on the Russian side to find solutions or to save lives, I gave up. So again, I say to the Russian delegation: There is no reason to kill innocent civilians, to rape women and to kill children. I grew up in peace. I have never lived through war, but on my continent we had a war in the former Yugoslavia not that long ago. And if I am free before the Assembly, it is because other countries supported Luxembourg. There is an American military cemetery for thousands of young guys and girls who did not even know where my country was, and yet they died for me to be able to sit in a free country today. And that is the reason why we will not leave Ukraine alone. Ukraine has no choice, and we cannot accept that it is in the power of your biggest neighbour to decide what is good for you. I have seen it in my own lifetime, when Germany thought that it knew what was better for Luxembourg than we did. And so we will continue to support Ukraine. We will not leave it alone and we need to make the Russians understand that they have made the wrong decisions. We also need to sue. We cannot accept that crimes have been committed and will not be punished. This is the eighth time that I have been able to deliver a speech before the General Assembly. I have been Prime Minister now for 10 years, since 2013, and I am proud of our contributions and the work my country has done in the United Nations during this period. We were an active member of the Security Council in 2013 and 2014, and during that powerful experience we also proposed ourselves for another candidacy for the Security Council for the term 2031-2032. In 2013, we also decided to be a candidate for the Council of Human Rights, and we were elected in October 2021 for the 2022-2024 mandate. In October 2022, we also presented our candidature for the UNESCO Executive Board for the period 2025-2029. We have done all this not just to be a candidate or to sit in a room. We want to have added value when we put our candidature forward. Also, we want to continue to fight for what I said earlier. We want to continue being United Nations, for what it means to be united, and if we have differences we want to respect them and at least to convince, to exchange and to move on to become nations that are more united than we have been before, with young people and civil society. We should also really think about our procedures. Usually, when we follow our procedures everything is okay, but we have come to see that when we have troubles with a permanent member, it is difficult to move on. We also have to give a voice to the African countries today in those institutions. To conclude, when our nations are truly united, as I said earlier, wherever you were born, whatever your parents did, whatever religions they follow, whatever your sexual orientations and political orientations, you will be able to have the same right to live, to be educated and to be as you are and not like other people would love you to be.

On behalf of the General Assembly, I wish to thank the Prime Minister, Minister of State, Minister for Communications and Media and Minister for Religious Affairs of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg for the statement he has just made.

The Assembly will now hear an address by the Prime Minister of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh.

I have great pleasure in welcoming Her Excellency Sheikh Hasina, Prime Minister of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh, and inviting her to address the Assembly. Sheikh Hasina (Bangladesh) (spoke in Bangla; English interpretation provided by the delegation): Due to time constraints, I shall deliver an abridged version of my statement. The full version is available to all representatives. Today I am delivering my nineteenth statement to the General Assembly. I would like to congratulate Mr. Dennis Francis on his election as President of the General Assembly at its seventy-eighth session. I assure him of the Bangladesh delegation’s full cooperation throughout the session. I also commend his predecessor, Mr. Csaba Kőrösi, for his successful steering of the seventy-seventh session. I would also like to express my deep appreciation to Secretary-General António Guterres for his strong commitment to strengthening multilateralism and for his efforts, bold statements and far-sighted and pragmatic steps towards making the United Nations deliver on its mandates and meet the challenges of the current world. At this critical juncture, President Francis’s call for rebuilding trust and reigniting global solidarity reminds me of the maiden speech delivered by our Father of the Nation to the Assembly. Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman stated in his address to the Assembly in 1974: “The great economic upheavals that have recently shaken the world should generate a sense of urgency for building a just economic order. … Only a regeneration of the feeling of human solidarity and brotherhood and an acknowledgement of interdependence can bring about a rational solution and the urgent action needed to avoid this catastrophe.” (A/PV.2243, paras. 8 and 9) In that connection, we deeply appreciate the Secretary- General’s initiative to convene the Summit of the Future next year. We hope that this process will amply complement our efforts to attain the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Since assuming office in 2009, we have transformed Bangladesh from a lower-middle income country to a middle-income country. We reduced the poverty rate from 41.5 per cent in 2006 to 18.7 per cent in 2022 and the extreme poverty rate from 25.1 per cent to 5.6 per cent. We have expanded the social safety net coverage to ensure the social and financial security of destitute women, widows, the elderly, persons with disabilities, persons of third gender and other marginalized segments of society. Forty million people are receiving the benefits of our social safety net programme, directly or indirectly. In the current fiscal year, a total of $12 billion has been allocated to the social safety net programmes. This year, we have introduced a universal pension scheme through which any citizen aged between 18 and 50 years of age can access old- age benefits. We are committed to ensuring women’s empowerment and gender equality within a stipulated timeframe. We have given special attention to overall education, including female literacy. We have been providing textbooks free of cost up to the secondary level since 2010. From primary to higher education, about 23 million students are being provided with stipends, scholarships and one-time grants. More than half of those recipients are female. Despite contributing less than 0.47 per cent of global emissions, Bangladesh is one of the most climatically vulnerable countries in the world. The adverse effects of climate change pose serious threats to the security and economic prosperity of our present and future generations. Urgent, bold and ambitious collective actions are needed to address those threats. We established the Bangladesh Climate Change Trust in 2009 to finance climate adaptation and have to date allocated $480 million to the fund from our own resources. Under the Ashrayan project, a landmark initiative of my Government for landless and homeless people, 5 million people from 840,000 families have been provided with houses free of cost. The developed economies must fulfil their $100-billion commitments. We also demand the urgent operationalization of the Loss and Damage Fund, as agreed at the twenty-seventh Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. We call for stronger global solidarity in sharing the burden of climate migrants induced by sea-level rise, salinity increase, river erosion, floods and drought. The interlinked crises of the past few years have pushed up the prices of food, energy and commodities globally, with negative impacts on our economy. Despite those challenges, we have ensured food for everyone. We are providing 10 million people in the low-income bracket with rice and other commodities at affordable prices. We have taken various steps to keep inflation under control. I thank the Secretary-General for forming the Global Crisis Response Group in 2022 and for the Group’s continued advocacy and solutions in addressing the global food, energy and financial crises. We are deeply concerned that the Black Sea Grain Initiative has become defunct and call on all parties concerned to secure its early restoration. Moreover, for countries like ours, the uninterrupted access to fertilizers must be ensured. As part of Vision 2041, my Government is heavily investing in building a Smart Bangladesh to transform the country into a high-income, poverty-free, developed nation, grounded in the proper utilization of science and technology and powered by innovation. In Bangladesh, we have achieved exemplary success in bringing primary health-care services to the grass- roots level through community clinics. Bangladesh’s success has been recognized and appreciated by the General Assembly. After peaceful settlements of maritime boundaries with our neighbouring countries, the blue economy has opened up a new horizon for the development of Bangladesh. We believe that the provisions of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea need to be effectively implemented to ensure sustainable use of marine resources. The day before yesterday, I signed the agreement under the United Nations Convention on the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity of areas beyond national jurisdiction. Our commitment to global peace and security is well manifested in our contribution to United Nations peacekeeping operations. As of now, 188,000 men and women from Bangladesh have served in 55 peacekeeping missions in 40 countries. Relying on our own experience, we are also actively contributing to post-conflict reconstruction efforts through our leadership role in the United Nations Peacebuilding Commission. We strongly support the role of the Commission in strengthening the United Nations prevention agenda. We remain concerned at the continued prevalence of terrorist threats that are now taking new forms due to the misuse of information and communication technology. My Government maintains a zero-tolerance policy against terrorism and violent extremism. Acts that undermine communal harmony and the peaceful coexistence of people of different faiths and beliefs are serious crimes. Bangladesh believes in communal harmony. As an elected member of the Human Rights Council, we are working with fellow member States to safeguard all human rights of people around the world. I would like here and now to unequivocally reiterate that Bangladesh will continue to promote democracy, the rule of law and freedom of expression, in line with our Constitution. This year marks the seventy-fifth anniversary of the Nakba, the catastrophe inflicted upon the people of Palestine. It is deeply troubling that the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people have remained unmet. We will pursue our efforts to realize the rights of the people of Palestine. Bangladesh will stand by Palestine. It has been six years since the forcible displacement of the Rohingyas from Myanmar. Out of humanitarian concern, we have given them temporary shelter. The displaced Rohingyas want to return to their own country and live a peaceful life there. Let us ensure that those destitute people can soon return to their homes.. On 15 August 1975, my father, the father of our nation and the incumbent President of Bangladesh, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, was brutally assassinated. A total of 18 members of my family were killed that day, including my mother, my three younger brothers, two sisters-in-law and my parental uncles. Only my younger sister and I survived the brutality, as we were abroad at that time. Before that, in 1971, 3 million of our countrymen were killed during our great War of Liberation, while 200,000 women were heinously tortured and abused. As a victim of and witness to the brutalities of war and assassination, I can feel the pain and agony that people endure due to the horrors of wars, killings, coups d’état and conflicts. Therefore, my appeal today to all the leaders of the world is to shun the path of war and confrontation and to work collectively for enduring peace, the well-being of humankind and economic prosperity for our people and future generations.

On behalf of the General Assembly, I wish to thank the Prime Minister of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh for the statement she has just made.

The Assembly will now hear an address by the Prime Minister of the Republic of Iraq.

I have great pleasure in welcoming His Excellency Mr. Mohammed Shia’ Al Sudani, Prime Minister of the Republic of Iraq, and inviting him to address the Assembly.

At the outset, on behalf of the Government and the people of the Republic of Iraq, I extend my sincere condolences, sympathies and solidarity to the Governments and the peoples of the Kingdom of Morocco and the State of Libya over the catastrophic earthquake that struck Morocco and the floods that swept through Libya. We ask God Almighty to grant mercy to the dead and a speedy recovery to the injured. I come here today bearing the greetings of Iraq and its people, who were among the 50 nations that founded this great Organization 78 years ago. Iraq has always believed and to this day believes in the general principles upon which the United Nations was founded and contributes to all its programmes, convinced that there is no path but that of human brotherhood and solidarity to safeguard the continued secure existence of the entire world. The spirit of consensus and understanding has prevailed in the new Iraq, and we have overcome difficult days. We now have a Government that enjoys a broad political coalition that includes all Iraqi sects and components. The Government has adopted a comprehensive and ambitious reform programme to correct our course, restore confidence in the political system, provide a decent living for citizens, secure their future and build a strong, capable Iraq. On that path, we have adopted a programme with critical priorities reflecting issues that relate to the basic needs of our people and that must be implemented without delay. Those priorities include creating employment opportunities, overhauling services, fighting poverty, raising the standard of living, fighting corruption and enacting comprehensive reforms in the economic, administrative and financial and banking sectors in order to overcome the obsolete legacy of previous administrative systems that were unable to keep pace with changes and global development. We have made important strides on that path in record time, and investment in Iraq has developed and opened up to the global economy and to fruitful partnerships. We have signed many agreements in various sectors, and Iraq is now a safe environment that attracts investors to great and promising opportunities. Iraq remains an important oil State and pivotal in the global energy market. It offers good opportunities, projects and businesses in that field. We have launched the Road to Development initiative, a pioneering project that is one of the most up-to-date in the region. It is a vital land corridor connecting essential economic hubs of our developing region, and the best and most appropriate path for trade and economic exchange in the region and in the field of transportation and economics. It represents a strategic Iraqi vision of connectivity and outreach to the world and positive economic interaction. Many international institutions have reported on the spread of corruption in Iraq. We have diagnosed that scourge and named it the “corruption pandemic”. We have made fighting it our top priority and begun to pursue wanted persons wherever they are, regardless of their position or affiliation, and to surrender them to the Iraqi judiciary for the purpose of eliminating that scourge. In that regard, we ask friendly and partner countries to extend a helping hand to us in fighting corruption in all its phases. We call on them to facilitate the prosecution of those responsible for corruption. We must all join hands and cooperate in fighting corruption and recovering the money that has been stolen, because we believe that there is a symbiotic relationship between corruption and terrorism. That is what we all want to fight. We have established an independent and balanced foreign policy that is focused on cooperation and on bringing viewpoints and commonalities closer together. We want Iraq to be a source of stability in its regional and international sphere, and part of the solution to any international or regional problem. We want Iraq to be an enabler of mutual understanding and cooperation. We seek to build constructive partnerships based on the principles of mutual respect, motivating the various parties and helping to formulate policies that achieve sustainable development for our peace-loving peoples. The Republic of Iraq affirms its commitment to the principles of international law, its respect for all United Nations resolutions and its determination to establish the best relations with everyone, especially neighbouring countries. We reject any interference in our internal affairs, under any pretext. Our Constitution stipulates that Iraq will not be a launching pad for any aggression against other countries, and we call upon everyone to respect Iraq’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. We reserve the right to take appropriate measures, pursuant to international law and conventions, to respond to any violation of our country. We reaffirm that we extend a hand of friendship to all neighbouring countries in order to preserve the security and stability of our region and its economic progress and prosperity, in a way that achieves the well-being of its peoples. Similarly, we hope to achieve regional integration, remove any barrier to free trade in the region, facilitate the movement of people, goods and capital across political borders, and connect infrastructure to other countries. Those are all factors that would mitigate the potential for future armed conflicts and limit to a great extent the escalation of conflicts. We see the possibility of achieving economic integration by standardizing and streamlining economic policies, customs tariffs and laws, and by linking economic infrastructure through joint investment and opportunities. As a gesture to advance those efforts, we are working on organizing the Baghdad 2023 conference on economic integration and regional stability. We will not follow a policy of polarization, but will deal with everyone in accordance with our national interest. We continue to strengthen Iraq’s natural place in the arena of international cooperation and are making every effort to enhance stability. Our Government has made the issue of displaced persons and refugees one of its priorities and has taken many national measures to find sustainable solutions to ensure their voluntary and safe return to their original homes and to rebuild their liberated cities. We have also begun to resolve the issue of missing persons and those who were disappeared at the hands of the criminals of Da’esh, and to provide material and psychological support to their families and to reintegrate them. In Iraq, we are moving towards approving a policy for the protection of civilians in order to safeguard human rights and respect for international humanitarian law by training our security forces and monitoring their performance in the protection of civilians, especially with respect to dangers that arise in armed conflict. We also seek to protect civilians in natural disasters, making Iraq the first country in the Middle East to adopt such a policy and creating an environment for cooperation between security forces and citizens. We are making steady progress towards holding local elections for the governorates by the end of the year, after a 10-year hiatus. The elections are a pillar of decentralization in Iraq and an essential part of the resilience of the governance system and State institutions. The federal Government, through its comprehensive and multiple programmes, enjoys the best of relations with the Kurdistan region and all governorates of Iraq on an equal footing, and is in continuous dialogue with representatives of the region and local Governments in all Iraqi governorates so as to transform opportunities into projects to enhance the development of resources and the Iraqi economy. Our region, and our country in particular — Mesopotamia, the land between the two great rivers  — is suffering from drought caused by climate change. There is an urgent need to preserve our rights to water resources and international river basins. The natural bodies of water in the Iraqi marshes function as lungs for the entire planet. Their desiccation would be an ecological and historical loss to every living creature on the planet. They are a human heritage and a chapter in the book of humankind and its civilization. Some 2,550 years ago, Iraq witnessed the first international agreement related to water, so the cradle of civilization must not be allowed to die of thirst. The environmental catastrophe would have a harsher impact on Iraq and the countries of the region due to the unprecedented rise in temperatures, which will turn every aspect of daily life into an almost impossible task. Iraq is therefore working on and calling for great efforts among the relevant regional countries to work together and find an effective mechanism for coordination and the formation of a negotiating bloc within the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. We call for the establishment of an integrated mechanism to manage transboundary waters and address the effects of drought, sandstorms and heat waves. We stress the need to mobilize international efforts and encourage the United Nations to ensure the sustainability of water resources. In that regard, we call for the establishment of a regional grouping to include the coastal States of the Gulf  — including Iraq, Iran and the States members of the Gulf Cooperation Council  — that will be disproportionately exposed to a rise in temperatures. That grouping would be tasked with coordinating regional efforts to manage water resources, address climate change, enhance environmental protection and work together to confront drought. At the national level, our Government has taken the steps necessary to reduce emissions and to stop gas flaring and the consequent environmental pollution. We have also initiated several projects in the field of waste recycling and encouraging the use of clean energy. Our Government has also ratified a national strategy to combat pollution and limit its impact for the years 2023-2030. Iraq believes that addressing those challenges requires building institutions capable of dealing with economic challenges and, more specifically, climate challenges. Despite the many cross-border challenges that we face, as all of humankind faces, we seek to confront them effectively within the framework of our national capabilities, in cooperation with our partners and friends. The most important of those challenges is that of drugs, a problem that hinders all development efforts and investment in human resources and youth development. Our Government has therefore adopted a national strategy to combat drugs and psychotropic substances for the years 2023-2025. We, as an international community and Governments of the region, have no alternative but to step up our efforts and coordination in the fight against drugs and all drug-related activities that facilitate their access to our children and our societies. The direct relationship between terrorism and drugs is no secret. Iraq is classified, according to population statistics, as a young country, since young people constitute 60 per cent of the Iraqi population. Accordingly, the Iraqi Government has accorded them priority attention in its governmental programme and seeks to support young people, because they are the best investment. The Iraqi Government has developed many programmes, strategies, projects and initiatives to support young people in various fields. We have launched the Pioneer initiative for development and employment, which is aimed at supporting groups of students and young people, empowering them and developing their creative energies so that they can find decent opportunities in the labour market, create effective economic action and embrace and develop productive scientific and practical ideas. In that way, we hope to encourage students and young people to keep pace with the changes in the labour market and technological development; to invest in individual skills, talents and the ability to innovate and provide thousands of job opportunities to young people; and to ensure them a dignified life. We have also established a Supreme Youth Council, headed by the Prime Minister, with the Minister of Youth and Sports as deputy, and the Ministers of Planning, Finance, Labour, Social Affairs, Education, Scientific Research and Culture as members. Thanks to the Iraqi Government’s sponsorship of the youth and sports sector and the construction of sports facilities and centres, Iraqi sports and student teams have been able to win many awards and titles in various competitions and championships. We cannot fail to emphasize the ongoing efforts of our Government to empower women and grant them their effective right to contribute to all the foundations of the development process, as they have been essential partners in all our victories against terrorism and remain partners in overcoming all difficulties and facing challenges. We reiterate to the world our clear and firm position on the Palestinian right to establish an independent Palestinian State, with Jerusalem as its capital. We also affirm Iraq’s support for the unity of Syria, its land and its people, and we call for an end to the suffering of the Syrian people and their empowerment to exert full control over the entire Syrian territories. In the light of the continuing threat posed by the ability of terrorist organizations to recruit elements that threaten our security and target our countries, it is important to distinguish between incitement to violence, spreading hatred and attacks on the beliefs of others, on the one hand, and freedom of expression, on the other. The burning of the Holy Qur’an is a hate crime aimed at offending the beliefs of a quarter of the world’s population and those who respect sanctities. It cannot be marketed as freedom of expression. In Iraq, we have tasted the bitterness of religious extremism and its consequences. Such actions are at the heart of the motives for creating and encouraging extremism. The terrorist Da’esh remains the best example of that. In conclusion, the time has come for Iraq to reclaim its natural place in the international community, following its glorious success in fighting terrorism on behalf of the world and defeating it with the help of friends and partners. The people of Iraq have written an immortal epic in combating the most vicious of criminals. In that regard, we note the wise guidance of Grand Ayatollah Ali Al-Sistani and his blessed edicts, as well as the valour of all the Iraqi security and military forces in those victories and in laying the foundations of social peace. In that spirit, Iraq has become secure and stable and is pursuing its journey and its work, through productive diplomacy, to make Iraq a centre where brothers, friends and partners can meet to build a safe and prosperous region that serves all of our peoples. Iraq is now distinguished by the strength of its resources, its geographical location and the will of its people, who have faced challenges and their triumph was well deserved.

On behalf of the General Assembly, I wish to thank the Prime Minister of the Republic of Iraq for the statement he has just made.

The Assembly will now hear an address by the Prime Minister and Minister for Finance, Corporate Governance and Public Private Partnerships of Antigua and Barbuda.

I have great pleasure in welcoming His Excellency Mr. Gaston Alphonso Browne, Prime Minister and Minister for Finance, Corporate Governance and Public Private Partnerships of Antigua and Barbuda, and inviting him to address the Assembly.

Antigua and Barbuda congratulates Mr. Dennis Francis of Trinidad and Tobago on his election as President of the General Assembly at its seventy-eighth session. We are very proud of the contribution that the countries of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) are making to advance internationalism in the United Nations and in other multilateral bodies. In that connection, we regard, as a further acknowledgement of CARICOM’s capacity, the election of Guyana to the Security Council from 2024 to 2026. Of course, Guyana’s further service on the Council follows two years of active participation by yet another CARICOM State, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines — the smallest nation in the world to serve on the Security Council. What those accomplishments demonstrate is that smallness is not an impediment to making significant contributions to international decision-making. Consequently, we expect that the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) will be given a seat at the table in significant forums, including Group of 20 meetings, even as an observer. The world is failing developing countries. Those are not my words, but I certainly adopt them. They are the words of Secretary-General António Guterres, spoken less than a week ago. Developing States, against many odds, have remarkably lifted hundreds of millions from the depths of poverty. They have been active participants in the United Nations, fervently searching for and offering global solutions, yet despite those strides, they find themselves ensnared in a myriad of global crises that they had no hand in creating. We are caught in a vortex of skyrocketing prices, overwhelming debts and the undeniable and increasing frequency of climate disasters. The current global frameworks, shaped largely by the more affluent nations, remain largely unresponsive to those crises. A united front can compel the global community to sit up, to listen and to act. The developing world must build that unity of purpose — not in confrontation, but in collaboration; not in division, but in cooperation. Today I call on the nations that have been excluded from global decision-making and that have been left behind to bridge the separation of their geographical distance and to join together to advance their collective interest. That is why Antigua and Barbuda has embarked on strategies, building alliances with the willing to counter the threats we face from the impacts of climate change and the failure of the international financial institutions and their policymakers to respond to the urgent needs of our peoples. One of those initiatives which is currently taking place, was initiated two years ago in the margins of the twenty-sixth Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP26) in Glasgow by the Prime Minister of Tuvalu, Kausea Natano, and myself. Frustrated by the lip service being paid by the world’s major emitters and the broken promises of every previous COP meeting, we decided that we would seek an advisory opinion from the International Tribunal of the Law of the Sea (ITLOS), concerning the obligation of States to combat pollution linked to climate change and its ensuing marine repercussions, such as rising ocean temperatures, sea-level rise and ocean acidification. Joined by other small island States, we co-founded the Commission of Small Island States on Climate Change and International Law (COSIS). COSIS sought and received a favourable agreement by ITLOS to hear our pleadings, which began on 11 September in Hamburg and will continue until 25 September. Why did we go to ITLOS? We went to ITLOS because it is the guardian of the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. It is the natural venue to seek legal clarity on the obligations Sf states to protect our marine environment. Small island developing states (SIDs) are primarily maritime States. We depend on the ocean not just for sustenance, but as a crucial part of our heritage and identity. The ocean is also a vital carbon sink. With increasing ocean and terrestrial temperatures reaching record highs this summer, literally burning the planet and simultaneously causing unprecedented storms, flooding and droughts, all nations must act now to safeguard the oceans as a critical component of the Earth’s climate system. The countries of COSIS are not seeking to rewrite laws; we are seeking clarity on existing ones. SIDs cannot sit idly by while our countries sink beneath our feet or are crippled by a burden of debt as we are left, abandoned by the international system, to rebuild within our own limited means, one disaster after another. However, taking a case to ITLOS is not an initiative just for the survival of SIDs. It is a vital effort for the preservation and prosperity of all nations in our shared world. In that connection, Antigua and Barbuda and the other members of COSIS will also stand with the General Assembly in its decision, initiated by Vanuatu, to seek an advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice on the obligations of States with respect to climate change. We consider this to be a duty of care for the peoples of the world. Another bold initiative we have championed revolves around the multidimensional vulnerability index (MVI), as set out by General Assembly in December 2021. Why the MVI? Because it is crucial. SIDs, though not the poorest countries, are extremely vulnerable to climate and other shocks, and lack resilience due to structural problems of limited human and financial resources, lack of economies of scale and higher costs due to their isolation from major manufacturing hubs. Therefore, the sole criterion of per capita income, denying us access to concessional financing, is unfair and unjust. The MVI is not just a tool; it is our gateway to essential financing, to robust national planning and to debt servicing and, possibly, our final beacon when seeking insurance and compensation against the rising tides. We intend to continue to advance those contentions in the international financial institutions. Particularly, we will raise that urgent issue at the joint meeting of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank in Marrakesh next month. We call on all SIDs and all fair-minded countries to join us is advancing the MVI as a vital component in facilitating access to concessional financing. Antigua and Barbuda greatly looks forward to hosting the fourth International Conference on Small Island Developing States from 27 May to 30 2024, under the theme “Charting the course towards resilient prosperity”. I have highlighted the stark realities faced by SIDs. We are grappling with the impacts of global phenomena, from the lingering effects of the coronavirus disease to climate change and the international economic and financial repercussions of Russia’s incursion into Ukraine. Additionally, we are burdened with staggering debts, unfavourable trade terms and a global financial architecture that fails to meet our needs. Our upcoming conference is therefore more than just a forum. We must aim to develop a bold, decade-long strategy that will illuminate the path forward, addressing our unique and interconnected challenges to ensure a resilient and prosperous future for our citizens. Given those challenges, and in collaboration with the private sector and United Nations entities, Antigua and Barbuda will establish a centre of excellence for SIDs that will enable all SIDs to achieve sustainable resilient prosperity. The truth is unavoidable — many major greenhouse gas-emitting countries have not met their commitments. The previously set boundary — a temperature rise of no more than 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels — will be breached on the current trajectory. The risks we face are not just on the horizon; they are here and they are now, requiring an urgent commitment to reducing emissions. Small island States’ capacity to adjust and to build resilience cannot keep pace with the fast occurrence of extreme climate events. And I emphasize that we will suffer first. But what we will endure is only the precursor of the fate of every nation. We are all running out of time, and we need to act now to save our one planet. The twenty-eighth Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in Dubai will be crucial for the future of the planet. Not only does COP28 come at a time when the world is witnessing climate chaos, but the summit is particularly important because it will include a global stocktake. Countries will assess how far they have come on cutting planet-heating pollution. However, the awful truth is already clear. Eight years after the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, global progress has been far from sufficient. The world is currently not in line with the temperature targets outlined in the Paris Agreement. According to the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service, this year’s June-to-August period was not only the warmest since 1940, but it also saw temperatures soaring towards 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels. A red line once deemed sacrosanct will be crossed if urgent action is not taken. Warnings have turned to imminent danger. Therefore, what was already a crucial matter for action at COP28 has now become an imperative for action, and that is the Loss and Damage Fund for which small island States have been praying, pleading and literally begging — not that we should be begging. We must recall that all that happened at COP27 last year is that the world’s greatest polluters agreed, only at the last minute, that such a fund was important. But agreement was not establishment. What we got was the formation of a transitional committee to make recommendations for consideration at COP28. Certainly, that was not sufficient. The issue was once again deferred. Now we must insist at COP28 that the Loss and Damage Fund be made operational and adequately funded. It must provide adequate financing to help SIDs withstand the inevitable ruin that the actions of the major polluters are continuing to wreak. If COP28 fails in that critical mission, it risks undermining global trust and potentially sabotaging cooperative efforts on myriad global challenges. It is my ardent hope that when we gather in Dubai, the shared spirit of responsibility will prevail, such that the dying embers of hope can be reignited by the flame of action. Antigua and Barbuda unequivocally asserts that climate justice and reparatory justice are deeply intertwined. They are inseparable. It is essential for the Assembly to understand that climate justice is not a stand-alone concern. As I said earlier, the issues are inseparable. Historically, the nations that thrived on the industrial revolution did so on the backs of enslaved and victimized generations from the Caribbean and other corners of the African diaspora. It is unjust that the countries that paid the highest human price are bearing the heaviest climate burden. I say that that is unjust and must be addressed with a sense of urgency. A recent United Nations report aptly underscores that while legal routes to compensation may be complex, it by no means nullifies the moral and ethical obligations arising from those historical wrongs. Those historical wrongs must be addressed, and we urge the nations complicit in the dark legacy of enslavement to recognize, reconcile and redress soonest. Our shared future must be built on justice, understanding and cooperation. Another pivotal theme of this general debate resonates deeply with us — that is, rebuilding trust and reigniting global solidarity, which now stands on shaky ground. It is worth emphasizing that no nation, large or small, can truly flourish amid such global turbulence. Particularly for smaller States like mine, which rely heavily on the consistent hum of global stability for essential sectors like tourism, the stakes are incredibly high. Our plea is simple. We beseech the world’s formidable nations to engage in dialogue and embrace mutual respect. Those are not just pathways to global peace, but also the avenues that ensure the prosperity of every citizen. Drawing on that theme of trust, I urge the United States to revisit its stance on Cuba. It is high time for the United States to remove Cuba from its list of State sponsors of terrorism — they know it is not true — and to bring an end to the outdated embargo that harms the Cuban populace. That policy against Cuba is cruel and wicked and ought to be addressed with urgency. Similarly, we advocate the removal of sanctions on Venezuela, especially those that hinder the Venezuelan Government’s access to the United States financial system and literally block oil imports from the State-owned Petróleos de Venezuela company. It cannot be ignored that those sanctions amplify the humanitarian crisis in Venezuela, contributing to the very large number of refugees into neighbouring countries. The United States ought to take responsibility for the great number of refugees and not blame the Administration in Venezuela. The sanctions also harm innocent Caribbean countries that hitherto benefitted from the PetroCaribe initiative, which served as an energy price stabilization mechanism for those countries. We are hurting too, and that is why we argue in this forum that the sanctions should be lifted. As Members of the United Nations, we are all bound by its Charter, which enshrines dialogue and peaceful conflict resolution. Today I fervently urge every nation to recommit to those cornerstone principles, ensuring they are respected and followed as the bedrock of all international relations. I now turn to the crisis in Haiti. The enduring challenges faced by Haiti remain at the forefront of international consciousness. Historically, the scars of Haiti’s struggle for freedom from enslavement are juxtaposed against the exploitative economic interests of France in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, and have left deep imprints. The burden of compensating France for over a century, essentially buying their liberty, has curtailed the development prospects of the Haitian people for generations. Subsequent interventions compounded those challenges. Internally, episodes of autocratic leadership have further eroded the national fabric. The recent mission by the CARICOM Eminent Persons Group, seeking a resolution to Haiti’s political deadlock, voiced deep concerns over the rising dominance of gangs and the ensuing human rights crisis. The immediate imperatives are clear. An urgent, comprehensive, coordinated intervention is required; that will concurrently restore governance, security and the rule of law, while resolving the humanitarian crisis. The CARICOM eminent persons strongly recommended that a broad-based transitional Government be the linchpin for effective governance. It is our aspiration that this proposed representative transitional Government will materialize to provide the necessary leadership that is required, with external assistance to restore order and bring lasting peace and prosperity to the Haitian people. Antigua and Barbuda stands resolutely in solidarity with the Haitian people. In that regard, I reaffirm my Government’s pledge to collaborate with all Haitian stakeholders and with the international community in the efforts to reinstate the rule law, restore democracy and assist with security and humanitarian relief. The people of Haiti deserve no less. I now turn to the use of illegal guns. The use of illegal guns accounts for a significant percentage of all recorded homicides in the Caribbean. At an average homicide rate of 15.1 per 100,000 people, the region has one of the highest homicide rates in the world — three times the world average. Yet no country — not one — in the Caribbean manufactures a single weapon or one round of ammunition. The majority of those weapons originates in the United States, from which they are smuggled or trafficked to bolster organised criminals involved in trafficking illicit narcotics. In any event, the fallout from these illegal guns is their increasing use in Caribbean countries and the clear threat that they pose to our societies and the capacity of our law enforcement to cope. Given that all our countries are bordered by vast expanses of sea, we face further challenges to obtain modern technology, including satellite imagery, radar and surveillance systems, to try to stop the smuggling of weapons. But while our region is confronting the threats to our security, arising from illegal traditional weapons, we are even more alarmed at the potential for autonomous weapons to fall into the hands of organized criminals. Let us consider a drone, meticulously programmed with facial recognition technology, set to target an individual. It scans, identifies and eliminates its target, all while operating undetected. That is not the plot of a dystopian novel, but a looming reality. Just a month ago, under the theme of A New Agenda for Peace, the Secretary- General sounded the alarm bell. He has urged nations to formulate a legally binding instrument by 2026 to prohibit lethal autonomous weapon systems. Antigua and Barbuda fully support that recommendation, and we will work with other nations to successfully conclude an international treaty that shields our societies and safeguards our national security from this threat. Antigua and Barbuda is small in size, without military might or financial influence, but our spirit stands tall. We refuse to let our size diminish our voice or lessen our rightful place at the decision-making table. Since our first steps as a sovereign State in 1981, we have championed a world where equity, fairness and social justice are not mere buzzwords, but lived realities. And yet, with a heavy heart we note the ever-widening chasm between the affluent and the struggling, between those who hold the reins of power and those who yearn for their rightful share. Year after year, leaders like me stand on this rostrum. We speak of financial justice and of climate justice, but our cries, it seems, echo in a vast void. Words abound, but transformative action remains elusive. I often sense the scepticism from my fellow citizens when they ask: Why speak when it feels like the world is not truly listening? But I remember this; during the coronavirus disease pandemic, it was the tiniest of microbes, unseen and unanticipated, that brought nations great and small to their knees. It was not an arsenal of weapons or a mountain of wealth that provided a beacon in those dark times; it was global cooperation. Let us not forget — it was collective global action. The same truth applies beyond pandemics. Whether we aim for a world steeped in peace, basking in prosperity or forward-looking in progress, our only hope lies in banding together. We are all part of human civilization. We are all fundamentally one and the same people and we must band together. Every nation, regardless of its power or wealth, shares that interwoven destiny. Therefore, let us never relent in our pursuit of change. For the sake of humanity, for our shared planet, let us shape a world that is not only better but also just, prosperous and inclusive for all. Antigua and Barbuda stands ready, as ever, to play its part. We call on the powerful and rich States to do the same.

On behalf of the General Assembly, I wish to thank the Prime Minister and Minister for Finance, Corporate Governance and Public Private Partnerships of Antigua and Barbuda for the statement he has just made.

The Assembly will now hear an address by the Prime Minister of the Gabonese Republic.

I have great pleasure in welcoming His Excellency Mr. Raymond Ndong Sima, Prime Minister of the Gabonese Republic, and inviting him to address the Assembly.

I offer Mr. Dennis Francis my warm congratulations on his election to the presidency of the General Assembly at its seventy-eighth session. I pay tribute to his predecessor, Mr. Csaba Kőrösi, for the work accomplished during his mandate. I express my country’s confidence in Secretary- General António Guterres for the bold and multifaceted action and the important reforms he is undertaking with a view to accelerating the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and to promote international peace and security. I stand before the Assembly in an unprecedented context for my country, which has gone through a fearful time following a chaotic electoral process interrupted on 30 August by the defence and security forces. That intervention was condemned by the international community as a violation of democratic demands for the devolution of power. It will be useful, however, for the sake of providing a balance of information and dispelling certain suspicions, to recall the specific Gabonese political context that preceded and justified the takeover of power. It would be wrong, from our point of view, to condemn without nuance and to make easy assumptions out of tune with the realities of our context. Let me first remind everyone of the experience of the 2016 presidential election, of which the current situation is one consequence. Everyone remembers that the election was the subject of a detailed report from the European Union Election Observation Mission, which denounced the process as fraudulent, insincere and devoid of transparency, with results defying the laws of statistics. It was mainly characterized by violence, with the loss of many human lives and significant damage to property for the entire community. In an attempt to defuse the situation, the social cost of which was high, an ersatz dialogue was organized in 2017 that resulted in the return of two rounds of voting. It was that small concession to democracy that was taken up again in the first half of 2023 before it was even tested. That made it clear that the regime did not intend to abandon its fraudulent strategy. From 2017 to 2022, no preparation for the elections, constitutionally scheduled to be held no later than 26 August 2023, was undertaken. The latter began only in February 2023 and uncovered a large number of breaches and distortions made to the constitutional, legislative and regulatory framework of elections, which included  — although the electoral process was already launched  — this non-exhaustive inventory: a return to single-round elections; the choice of a president of the Gabonese Elections Centre who is notoriously biased, due to his status as a known member of the ruling party; an unreliable electoral register, tainted by the presence of numerous deceased people; the removal of provisions allowing the representation of all candidates in polling stations, in flagrant violation of the principle of equality; the modification, in violation of the simple principle of the hierarchy of norms, of the legislative provisions resulting from the law establishing provisions common to all political elections by decree; and the coupling of candidacies for the presidential and legislative elections. We note that all the referrals made by the various components of the opposition and civil society to contest those modifications were rejected without consideration by a Constitutional Court subservient to power. Any attentive, honest and good-faith observer of Gabonese political life in recent years was fully aware of the deterioration of the situation. Everyone within the Gabonese opposition consulted with the diplomatic missions and then, on 9 August 2023, went environment masse to the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Central Africa, residing in Libreville, to warn him of the turning point that the electoral process was approaching and of the danger involved in pursuing it in the light of all these observations. Now, I want to say again here without ambiguity that neither the political actors nor the voters were ready to accept a new electoral fraud. That determination, known to all, did not prevent the Gabonese Election Centre from transporting the ballot boxes under its exclusive control and without sealing them, or from proceeding fraudulently with modifications to the minutes at the sites where the results were compiled, as distinct from the sites where the ballots were cast. The acceptance of the results obtained in that way could only lead, the day after their announcement, to clashes. In that context, the defence and security forces were faced with the choice of either preparing to repress the protests, with the risk of sooner or later being prosecuted before international courts because of their responsibility, or to decide to interrupt a process that was fraudulent and dangerous to national cohesion. They responsibly chose the second path to avert the risk of a conflagration whose repercussions would have shaken the very foundations of Gabonese society and would not have spared the numerous foreigners living in Gabon. It would not have been reasonable or responsible to allow such a confusing situation to continue. A descent into a cycle of violence would have constituted an overall disaster. Consequently, the military intervention, which shed no blood and caused no material damage, was a lesser evil. The population approved of it by a very large majority in scenes of spontaneous jubilation that everyone around the world was able to follow thanks to the images that circulated, and the majority of the political class found themselves relieved to have avoided an uncertain outcome. Therefore, to condemn that process is to maintain that it would have been better to let the clashes take place and to count the number of victims later, since no one in the opposition was willing to let that umpteenth electoral theft take place. While such an intervention was necessary, we cannot be satisfied with the status quo. We must immediately and in an inclusive manner prepare reforms and restore the normal institutional order that allows the devolution of power through elections. The road map for the transitional Government that I have been leading for two weeks seeks to restore confidence, make major corrections to the electoral framework, restore institutions and prepare for the implementation of those reforms. Following a national conference, the expected deliverables of that consultation will be the adoption of a new constitution reflecting our social contract, as well as the adoption of legislation including, in particular, an electoral law guaranteeing transparent, free and credible voting. That is why I have already announced a press conference to take place next week, at which I will indicate the timetable for consultations among the entire political class and civil society. I will take that opportunity to outline the timeline of the different stages that will lead to new elections. In that perspective, what Gabon needs most is encouragement and support to carry out those projects within deadlines that everyone wants to be reasonable. I therefore take this opportunity to launch a solemn appeal to all of our bilateral, regional and multilateral partners to accompany and support the popular momentum for national salvation with a view to strengthening the foundations of the rule of law and democracy for shared prosperity. In this pivotal phase of our destiny and our history, the Gabonese people, who are united in harmony around the Transitional Committee for the Restoration of Institutions, will remember with gratitude the solidarity and confidence of the peoples of Africa and the whole world who stand by its side to help it preserve its place in the concert of nations. Seventy-eight years after the creation of the United Nations, an endless cycle of crises continues to darken our hopes and prospects for lasting peace among and within nations. Multiple crises of solidarity, security crises, humanitarian crises, health crises, climate crises and geopolitical crises are fuelling feelings of distrust towards international institutions and mechanisms. Indeed, clearly, the system of collective and indivisible security advocated by the Charter of the United Nations is seen as a fiction in many regions of the world that are prey to the upheavals of war, particularly in Africa, where the Sahel region, the Horn of Africa and the Great Lakes region have become veritable epicentres of instability. In most of those regions, the rapine of natural resources constitutes a significant source of conflict, to the point that they have become a true curse for the countries that possess them. Today we find ourselves at an inflection point that requires all members of the international community to reacquaint themselves with the objectives of the Charter of the United Nations and to reconnect to the aspirations of the peoples of the world. It is crucial to reconfigure the social contract among nations, regardless of their size or power, keeping in mind that every people counts. Above all, we must recalibrate the projection of our identity as peoples of the world by consistently giving priority to dialogue over confrontation and to cooperation over the logic of opposing camps. We must without further delay carry out a real structural transformation of the peace and security architecture of our Organization, and adapt our mechanisms for promoting peace and security to a global context of constantly changing crises and conflicts. That is the relevance of the theme of this general debate, focused on the need to rebuild trust and reignite solidarity to accelerate the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Gabon reaffirms that prevention is a more than essential tool that must be at the centre of our actions if we want strengthened and lasting peace. The international community’s prevention efforts to date have been slow, poorly adapted and poorly funded. Indeed, the absence of adequate resources allocated to the actions of our Organization in favour of prevention and peacebuilding has, unfortunately, strongly contributed either to the resurgence of crises in periods of transition or to the emergence of new conflicts. Our generation has a responsibility to future generations — that of bequeathing them a more secure world; a world in which the threats to peace and security linked to the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction are contained; a world without the nuclear threat. There remains a considerable gap between our actions and our commitments. It is time to fill it, particularly on the crucial issue of financing climate action. Gabon has made several decades of investments in the preservation of biodiversity and demonstrated tireless commitment to the fight against climate change. New debt-for-nature financial pacts offer opportunities to increase budgets dedicated to protecting biodiversity, responding to the unsustainability of the debt of developing countries and combating climate change. Through that new green finance mechanism, my country recently benefited from a 3 per cent restructuring of its debt against a commitment to investing $163 million in the preservation of its marine ecosystems. We must go further in that dynamic. I therefore invite international financial partners to increase debt conversion initiatives to face the challenges of global warming, loss of biodiversity and sustainable development. It is through a multilateral approach and the rethinking of our responses that we can effectively address the multifaceted challenges facing humankind. The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development is our common road map to address global challenges. However, with less than 10 years to go, progress is uneven and insufficient. Poverty, hunger, social inequalities, deficiencies in health and education and the lack of adequate financing for the objectives of sustainable development are seriously jeopardizing the achievement of that ambitious programme. Throughout the transition that I am leading, I plan to redouble my country’s efforts to accelerate the implementation of the 2030 Agenda by strengthening national policies in a practical and pragmatic manner and encouraging innovative partnerships between the public and private sectors. Furthermore, I intend to place emphasis on action by the authorities, civil society and the private sector at the local level by fully involving citizens, particularly young people and women. It is critical that the international community increase its support for developing countries. Additional financing is indeed necessary, in particular for the most vulnerable countries. The various summits organized on the sidelines of this session, in particular on financing for development, climate ambition and universal coverage, are an opportunity for the international community to concretize its desire for joint action with a view to accelerating the achievement of the SDGs. Within the United Nations system, exclusion and marginalization are fearsome underminers of coexistence. Africa must be able to find its rightful place as a full-fledged player on the international scene and not as a mere geopolitical issue for the Powers. Indeed, more than 78 years after the creation of the United Nations, the world has completely changed. The international context has completely changed. The geopolitical landscape has completely changed. The nature of wars has literally been transformed. Technology has completely transformed our daily lives. But the structure of our institutions remains essentially unchanged, particularly with regard to our collective security. To meet the challenges of the future, our security architecture should reflect current and future realities. We must update our international institutions, our mentalities and our perceptions of lasting peace, shared prosperity and coexistence. We must reinvent solutions to contemporary threats, including climate change and cyberspace insecurity. We must confront the crisis of international solidarity that is fuelling the underlying economic, humanitarian, health and food crises. We cannot meet those challenges of this century with the tools of a bygone century. In the light of that distressing observation, we are convinced of the urgency of action to give effect to three fundamental approaches capable of making the multilateral system more credible and more inclusive. First, we must reform the Security Council without further delay. It must be representative of today’s realities and of current and future challenges. Secondly, we must redefine our rules and mechanisms to adequately address the evolution of insecurity and terrorism. We must guarantee inclusiveness and solidarity so as to leave no room for double standards. We also need to tackle the root causes of conflicts and crises with greater rigour. Thirdly, we must build a new social contract  — a new global pact between generations, between those who govern and those who are governed, and between the global and regional spheres, with particular emphasis on young people, women, civil society and the private sector. In that new social contract for the future, bridges must replace walls everywhere. Education must everywhere break the shackles of ignorance and intolerance. Multilateralism must prevail over unilateralist postures, and the logic of dialogue must constantly prevail over the logic of antagonism and zones of influence. To conclude, I would like to emphasize our need to respond to present and future generations. That intergenerational solidarity is a moral demand on behalf of those who will have no other choice but to inherit the consequences of our choices today. We owe them a response that is commensurate with their fears, their needs and their legitimate aspirations to live in peace, dignity and prosperity. It is with regard to those existential perspectives that we have shouldered our responsibilities and that we are resolutely committed to aligning our action with the expectations of our people.

On behalf of the General Assembly, I wish to thank the Prime Minister of the Gabonese Republic for the statement he has just made.