Statement by , UK Ambassador to the General
Assembly, at the UN General Assembly.
Mr Secretary-General, let me begin by expressing our sincere
thanks to you for your leadership over the past nine years.
You have steered the United Nations through an era of
unprecedented global challenge, with vision and resolve.
Under your tenure, and with our support, the UN has advanced
major priorities: elevating climate action to the top of the
global agenda, championing digital cooperation, and strengthening
humanitarian response in times of crisis.
The adoption of the Pact for the Future stands as a
landmark achievement, charting a course for a more inclusive,
sustainable, and resilient world order.
But as you have set out this morning, there is no shortage of
challenges ahead for the organisation, for multilateralism, and
for our planet.
Your New Year's message set the tone for the months ahead. We
must, as you said, “get our priorities straight.” We must “choose
people and planet over pain.”
And as you said so powerfully this morning, we must work “full
steam ahead” fully and faithfully, in support of the Charter, as
an important “living promise” to the people of the world.
Alongside the three principles you highlighted, we welcome your
UN80 reform initiative and your commitment to make this
organisation more inclusive, more efficient, and better able to
serve those who depend on it most.
And we welcome your clear message today about taking that forward
with continued high ambition.
These efforts are essential to ensuring the UN can meet the
defining challenges of our time.
And the UK stands ready to work with you, and all Member States,
to advance this important agenda.
Madam President, Mr Secretary‑General, this week we mark 80 years
since the first General Assembly, Security Council and ECOSOC
meetings, held in London in January 1946.
And we look forward to welcoming you to London this weekend to
celebrate this important anniversary.
As we reflect on this organisation's first eight decades, we
recall the remarkable efforts and achievements of those first
delegates who came together in the extraordinary circumstances of
the aftermath of World War, and we renew their conviction that
nations acting together can achieve far more than they can
alone.
Let us approach the year ahead in that spirit, determined to work
together to deliver the progress that this world so urgently
needs.
