NEW YORK: The 77th session of the UN General Assembly (UNGA) concluded on Tuesday with outgoing president Csaba Korosi urging member states to prioritise international cooperation, despite geopolitical conflicts, to forge future-proof integrated solutions to global challenges and uphold their promises to the world’s 8 billion people, reported Emirates News Agency (WAM).
“Despite geopolitical rivalries, our survival depends on our cooperation,” Anadolu Agency quoted Korosi as saying, while highlighting the 2023 UN Water Conference demonstrated that it is possible to overcome long-standing divides.
Stressing that the world is ‘in a race against time’ on issues ranging from climate change and biodiversity loss to education and gender equality, he called on Member States to “put money where their promises are” – supporting sustainable development with appropriate regulations, financing, capacity-building, and verification.
“Multilateralism is our only option to tackle the many crises of the world,” he emphasised.
He also stressed that the war in Ukraine, along with 51 other armed conflicts, must end, reiterating the call to end nuclear proliferation and nuclear armament.
Citing the upcoming 2023 Sustainable Development Goals Summit, he urged member states to bring the sustainability transformation to life by reprioritising spending in every country.
Calling for urgent UN reform, he noted that the times are evolving, and the organisation must evolve with them.
While the Charter of the United Nations does not make this task easy, he said: “Until we change it, our task is to apply it. This means avoiding its selective application on conflict management, mass atrocities, genocide and other war crimes.
“Otherwise, the Security Council will be more of a problem than a solution to global instability. Similarly, the General Assembly must adjust its own sails,” he said, pointing out that a policymaking body with more than 180 priorities has no strategic direction. – BERNAMA-WAM
