A/79/PV.1 General Assembly

It is my great pleasure and honour to declare open the seventy-ninth regular session of the General Assembly and call to order its first plenary meeting. Item 2 of the provisional agenda Minute of silent prayer or meditation

In accordance with rule 62 of the rules of procedure, I invite representatives to stand and observe one minute of silent prayer or meditation.

I am honoured to stand before members as the President of the General Assembly for its seventy-ninth session, and I am humbled and grateful that the membership has entrusted me with this immense responsibility. My sincere thanks also go to President Francis, under whose leadership the General Assembly navigated a year filled with great challenges and uncertainty, guided by his watchwords of peace, progress, prosperity and sustainability. I express my deep appreciation and gratitude to His Excellency Mr. Paul Biya, President of the Republic of Cameroon. I accept this distinctive honour as a testament to our shared aspirations for a better world. Our world faces numerous challenges. Climate change is devastating the planet and endangering countless lives and societies. Conflicts and armed violence rage on, from the Sudan to Haiti and from Ukraine to the Gaza Strip, leaving trails of death, We must meet such doubts with a clarion call to action, drawing inspiration from the Charter of the United Nations and the principles of international cooperation. We must demonstrate that international cooperation remains the most effective tool at our disposal for addressing the profound and borderless issues that we confront. Cooperation among Member States is what allows us to harness our collective resources and ingenuity to realize humankind’s greatest aspirations, such as peace, justice and sustainable development, among others. The General Assembly, with its near-universal membership of 193 Member States, stands as our most powerful platform to fully seize its promise. Let us recommit to the 8 billion people in every corner of the world that this organ can, and will, meet their hopes for a brighter future. The opportunities to do so are immense, especially amid the revolutions in technology, equipping us with powerful new tools to accelerate progress. It is up to us to ensure that the benefits of international cooperation are shared regularly and equitably, leaving no one behind. As we get ready to seize the opportunities together, allow me to outline the vision that will guide us through my tenure. The cornerstone of my presidency will be built on the principles of unity in diversity, fostering an environment in which every voice is not only heard but also valued. We will pursue the advancement of peace, ensuring that our efforts towards conflict resolution are both proactive and enduring. Sustainable development will be a key focus as we strive to balance equitable economic growth with environmental governance. Underlying our efforts will be a thorough and uncompromising commitment to human dignity for everyone, everywhere. Hailing from a country with more than 250 national languages and two official languages — English and French, I am committed to prioritizing multilingualism in the General Assembly’s work. I believe that the Assembly mirrors the richness of peoples and nations, and that linguistic diversity is part of our common language of equality, understanding and mutual respect. The same holds true for gender equality and women’s empowerment  — a fundamental expression of our commitment to human dignity and a necessary foundation for a peaceful, prosperous and sustainable world. All the data show that when women fully participate, societies win. Therefore, all my actions and efforts will incorporate a gender perspective and strive to achieve gender equality. I encourage Member States to not just, likewise, increase the number of women in their delegations to the United Nations but to also mainstream a gender perspective in their policies and programmes back home. With those principles, we will pursue priorities extracted from meaningful discussions with Member States to deliver solutions across the work of the General Assembly. First, on sustainable economic growth, it is imperative that we explore strategies that foster growth, while ensuring sustainability and equity. That includes championing innovation, supporting green economies and ensuring that the benefits of economic development are accessible to all nations, large and small. Secondly, peace and security will continue to be of paramount importance. Prioritizing conflict prevention rather than resorting to weapons to settle our differences will help in reducing the current high military expenditures, which complicate the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals. We must invest Thirdly, human rights will remain at the core of our agenda. The General Assembly will continue to advocate for the protection and promotion of human rights, ensuring that the dignity of all individuals is upheld worldwide. We will also seek to enhance the coordination of humanitarian efforts, ensuring that our response to crises is timely and efficient, and that aid reaches those most in need. Fourthly, the strengthening of international law and justice frameworks will be a key topic of our deliberations in all fields relevant to the work of the Assembly. Those discussions will aim to support the creation of safer environments and, crucially, the upholding of international norms. Lastly, we will address the pervasive challenges of international terrorism, drug and human trafficking and modern slavery. We, indeed, intend to uphold human dignity in all its contours and manifestations. By enhancing international cooperation and understanding of the underlying causes of such phenomena, we will aim to forge strategies that promote global security and peace. As President of the General Assembly, I am committed to facilitating those discussions and to harnessing our collective will and expertise to deliver significant solutions. To keep our focus sharp, we must build upon the momentum of the Summit of the Future and inject new vigour into achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the cornerstone of our mission. As we work to safeguard the future of peoples and the planet, special attention will be given to least developed countries, landlocked developing countries and small island developing States, which face unique structural weaknesses that hamper their sustainable development. Additionally, our efforts will concentrate on Africa. We will continue to support Agenda 2063, spearheaded by the African Union, which envisions a transformed continent thriving through sustainable trade and development. Throughout, I will prioritize initiatives to empower young people, including in Africa, where, by 2035, more young people will enter the work force each year than in the rest of the world. Rest assured that I remain committed to carrying out the mandates of this Assembly, with a determined focus on the following: the reform of the Security Council, the revitalization of the General Assembly, the second World Summit for Social Development, the fourth International Conference on Financing for Development, the United Nations Conference to Support the Implementation of Sustainable Development Goal 14, the fourth High-level Meeting on the Prevention and Control of Non-Communicable Diseases and the implementation of the Pact for the Future, to be adopted soon. Let us advance those priorities in a collaborative spirit, ensuring that the United Nations continues to serve as a beacon of hope and a source of solutions for the global community. My commitment to members and to all peoples represented within the General Assembly is to hold the highest standards of integrity and professionalism in every aspect of my duties. The oath that I took today is not a formality. It is a solemn vow to serve with honesty, impartiality and an unyielding dedication to the Charter and the principles of the United Nations. It is my earnest hope that, through I now give the floor to the representative of Egypt on a point of order.

I congratulate you, Mr. President, on the assumption of your duties. I regret that my first intervention is on a point of order, but I kindly request that you confirm that the necessary arrangements have been made, in accordance with resolution ES-10/23 of 10 May 1024 and the additional rights and privileges granted to the State of Palestine therein, so that the State of Palestine can now enjoy its right to be seated among States members of the General Assembly in alphabetical order. This is not merely a procedural matter; this is a historic moment for us. The State of Palestine should be seated in the General Assembly among Member States, full members of the Organization. This is history in the making. For 140 or more Member States among us, the State of Palestine possesses all the legal elements of a State. I ask you, Mr. President, to confirm that that clause of resolution ES-10/23 came into force as of today, being the first plenary of the seventy-ninth of the General Assembly. I request that you confirm with the Secretariat that His Excellency Ambassador Riyad Mansour, Permanent Observer of the State of Palestine, be seated among Member States accordingly.

I have been informed that all the arrangements have been made to have the delegation of Palestine seated where it is supposed to sit. I now give the floor to the Secretary-General of the United Nations, His Excellency Mr. António Guterres.

I would like to express my congratulations to Your Excellency Mr. Philémon Yang of Cameroon, President of the General Assembly at its seventy-ninth session. You bring to that vital task a wealth of experience, including your years as Prime Minister of Cameroon, whom I had the pleasure to greet in your country, and also as a diplomat and public servant as a proud African. I commend your vision statement’s focus on key priorities such as finance and science and technology, which all are critical to global progress. I pledge my full support, Mr. President, as you unite our diverse membership around common goals and solutions. I once again thank the outgoing President, His Excellency Mr. Dennis Francis, for his stewardship of this Assembly over the past year. As we open this seventy-ninth session of the General Assembly, we confront a world in trouble. But the good news is that we can do something about it. From day one, the United Nations has been the place for multilateral solutions, grounded in collaboration, dialogue, diplomacy and the Charter of the Organization. It has been the place where respect for one another and for the dignity and human rights that belong to every member of the human family are brought to life. As we welcome this seventy-ninth session, such tasks now fall to you, Mr. President. This is the place where solutions are made, and we need solutions across the board — solutions to bring the Sustainable Development Goals back to life and to end poverty and inequality, solutions to spur economic progress and job The values that have brought us together since 1945 are more essential than ever. In confronting the challenges before us, the General Assembly remains an indispensable tool and a vital pathway towards a peaceful and just future for all people. Let us renew our commitment to that future, and let us get there together.

I thank the Secretary-General. I now give the floor to the representative of Israel on a point of order.

At the outset, my delegation and the State of Israel wish you, Mr. President, every success as you assume your position. We are confident that you will lead a successful session in what is a critical moment in history, considering the multiple challenges that we all face. We also wish to thank the outgoing President for his leadership and guidance throughout the previous session. I am exercising my right to reply to the point of order raised by the Egyptian delegation, which related directly to resolution ES-10/23, adopted on 10 May. We wish to express our deep concern that that decision is motivated by political favouritism rather than actual respect and consideration for the Charter of the United Nations. The United Nations was established in the wake of two world wars and the horrors of the Holocaust as an organization of States with the primary role of promoting and maintaining international peace. Consequently, United Nations membership and the accorded privileges are specifically reserved for sovereign States. Has the Organization in the meantime amended its Charter and opened the doors for non-State territorial entities to join the highest level of international decision-making, even without fulfilling their basic conditions of statehood? The de jure limitations described in the annex to resolution ES-10/23 are de facto useless as we embark on this new era of the United Nations, in which non-State entities act as United Nations Member States. Any decision and/or action that improves the status of the Palestinians either in the General Assembly or bilaterally is currently a reward incentive for terrorism in general and the Hamas terrorists in particular, who welcome such steps and credit them to the massacre that they committed and the war that they initiated. The Palestinian Authority, which refrains from condemning the massacre and abduction of civilians from their homes on 7 October, does not deserve recognition and upgrading of its status. Such decisions reward terrorism and seriously impair the possibility of reaching a solution to the conflict and resolving matters through peaceful negotiations. They also make it even more difficult to bring about the return of the 101 hostages, further distancing the end of the war. Scale of assessments for the apportionment of the expenses of the United Nations Letter from the Secretary-General (A/79/338)

Next, in keeping with established practice, I would like to invite the attention of the General Assembly to document A/79/338, which contains the text of a letter from the Secretary-General addressed to the President of the General Assembly, in which he informs the Assembly of Member States in arrears in the payment of their financial contributions to the United Nations within the terms of Article 19 of the Charter. I would like to remind delegations that, under Article 19 of the Charter, “A Member of the United Nations which is in arrears in the payment of its financial contributions to the Organization shall have no vote in the General Assembly if the amount of its arrears equals or exceeds the amount of the contributions due from it for the preceding two full years. The General Assembly may, nevertheless, permit such a Member to vote if it is satisfied that the failure to pay is due to conditions beyond the control of the Member.” May I therefore take it that the General Assembly takes note of the information contained in document A/79/338? Item 3 of the provisional agenda Credentials of representatives to the seventy-ninth session of the General Assembly (a) Appointment of the members of the Credentials Committee

Rule 28 of the rules of procedure provides that the General Assembly at the beginning of each session shall appoint, on the proposal of the President, a Credentials Committee consisting of nine members. Accordingly, it is proposed that, for the seventy-ninth session, the Credentials Committee should consist of the following Member States: Antigua and Barbuda, Cabo Verde, China, Dominica, the Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Liberia, Monaco, the Russian Federation and the United States of America. May I take it that the States that I have just mentioned are hereby appointed members of the Credentials Committee?

Delegations are reminded that credentials should be submitted to the Office of Legal Affairs. Additional details are available in the information note contained in document A/INF/79/4.

The Assembly will now turn its attention to document A/79/335, which contains a letter dated 3 September 2024 from the Chair of the Committee on Conferences addressed to the President of the General Assembly. Members are aware that, pursuant to section 1, paragraph 7, of Assembly resolution 40/243, of 18 December 1985, no subsidiary organ of the General Assembly should be permitted In that connection, authorization is sought for the following entities: the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People; the Executive Board of the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women; the Group of Governmental Experts on the continuing operation of the United Nations Register of Conventional Arms and its further development; the Conference on the Establishment of a Middle East Zone Free of Nuclear Weapons and Other Weapons of Mass Destruction; the Committee on Relations with the Host Country; the Open-ended Working Group on Security of and in the Use of Information and Communications Technologies 2021–2025; the Independent Audit Advisory Committee; the Working Group of the Whole of the Special Committee on Peacekeeping Operations; and the Meeting of States Parties to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. May I take it that it is the wish of the General Assembly to authorize those organs to meet during the main part of the seventy-ninth session of the General Assembly, on the strict understanding that all such meetings would be allocated conference services on an “if available” basis, from within existing resources, in such a way as to ensure that the work of the General Assembly and its Main Committees is not impeded? It was so decided (decision 79/501).

Before concluding, I would like to inform delegations that the General Committee will meet tomorrow morning, Wednesday, 11 September 2024, at 10 a.m. in the Trusteeship Council Chamber, to consider the memorandum of the Secretary-General on the organization of the seventy-ninth session of the General Assembly, the adoption of the agenda and the allocation of items, as contained in document A/BUR/79/1.