UN General Assembly president calls for solutions through solidarity, sustainability, science

UNITED NATIONS, Sept. 13 (Xinhua) -- The president of the 77th session of the UN General Assembly, Csaba Korosi, on Tuesday called for solutions through solidarity, sustainability, and science.

Korosi declared open the 77th session and presided over its first plenary.

In his opening remarks, Korosi said the only way to achieve better outcomes is to transform.

"The contours of the transformation we need are already known. The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the Sendai Framework (for disaster risk reduction), the Paris Agreement (on climate change), and Our Common Agenda (proposed by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres ), all point us in the right direction. What remains to be seen is whether we will deliver," he said.

The world is looking to the United Nations for answers. As the world body's chief deliberative body, the General Assembly bears a special responsibility, he said.

"Having begun my tenure as president, I aim to harness the great talents of this community of member states in forging the systemic solutions needed to transform our world. In accepting this privilege, I vowed to serve as an agent of multilateralism, multiculturalism, and multilingualism," said the president. "I pledge that impartiality would be the hallmark of our operation. My team and I will do our best to push for 'Solutions Through Solidarity, Sustainability and Science,' the motto I've chosen for this presidency."

He vowed to stand firm on the principles of the UN Charter, which brought member states together 77 years ago and hold them together today.

"Encoded in international law, they (the principles of the UN Charter) provide us with a solid foundation from which to build. From here, I wish to pursue integrated approaches and enhance the role of science in our decision-shaping. I will work to foster measurable progress in the sustainability transformation and cultivate solidarity we need to achieve breakthroughs or to avert further crises and disasters," he said.

He promised to engage closely with the Security Council, the Economic and Social Council, and other relevant UN bodies to further the critical revitalization process, and pursue the ongoing key reforms led by Guterres to make the General Assembly and the United Nations as a whole fit-for-purpose.

He also promised to work with civil society, academics, the private sector, researchers and practitioners to land solutions that are rooted in facts, verified information, and science.

"We must also reach out actively to young people, engaging them in what we do so that when they sit in these seats, they could come up with better plans and better ideas than we did. My door will also be open to faith-based organizations, many ideas of them do overlap with those of the United Nations. I am also reaching out to the private sector and key financial institutions. I intend to work closely with them, listen to their concerns and their ideas and search for implementable solutions together with them," he said.

The United Nations was created out of the ashes of war and destruction, with the intention of being a well of solutions, said Korosi. "Responding to humanity's most pressing challenges demands that we work together and that we reinvigorate inclusive, networked and effective multilateralism, and focus on what unites us. It is our mission to come together when there are disagreements, and to build bridges when there are deep divides," he said.

"This (General Assembly) hall was created as a place to build trust, to bring about peace and security, development, and human rights. We owe it to our 8 billion constituents -- the people we are here to serve -- to succeed in our aims," he said.

The 77th session of the General Assembly starts amid myriad global challenges, such as widening geopolitical divides and protracted uncertainties, said Korosi.

The COVID-19 pandemic continues to wreak havoc across the globe. Acute food insecurity, soaring energy prices, and global supply-chain disruptions mean even less food for those already being short of that. Record-high inflation threatens to rock societies, he said.

Conflicts are creating humanitarian upheavals not seen since World War II and testing the strength of institutions. As the planet heats up and natural resources grow scarce, more conflicts would arise, he warned.

"We must do our utmost to uphold and protect the values and principles of the United Nations Charter. There can be no cherry-picking, certainly not in these most tumultuous and uncertain times," he said, stressing the importance of conflict prevention.

"In recent weeks, we have (seen) record-setting temperatures, raging fires, and devastating floods. It looks as if mother nature is fighting back. But few of her weapons are as destructive as the ones that we have created ourselves. Never in the past 40 years has the risk of using nuclear weapons been greater than it is today," he warned.

"This ominous reality calls on all of us to unite around the issue of disarmament. This also holds true for small arms and light weapons, the proliferation of which is a great obstacle to our development and progress around the world. We must work to stop their illicit trade," said Korosi.