UNGA76

Pacific Island leaders speaking in the UN General Assembly on Saturday underlined the need for global solidarity, commitment and action to tackle COVID-19 and climate change, two crises which threaten sustainable development. 

The Russian Foreign Minister addressed the UN General Assembly on Saturday, calling for a new consensus to uphold the “purposes and principles” of the UN’s founding document, the UN Charter, and a rejection of the Western-backed “Rules Based Order” concept.

In his address to the high-level debate at the UN General Assembly on Saturday, Narendra Modi reaffirmed India's commitment to democracy, highlighted its great strides in developing and manufacturing COVID-19 vaccines, and warned against “countries with regressive thinking.”

Sudan continues the path to democracy, two years after the revolution that “carried the aspirations of our people for freedom, peace and justice”, Prime Minister Abdalla Adam Hamdok told the UN General Assembly on Saturday. 

In addition to the global challenges surrounding climate, security and the raging COVID-19 pandemic, the Prime Minister of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines on Saturday drew the attention of the 76th UN General Assembly to devastating volcanic eruptions and the on-rushing Atlantic Hurricane season confronting his small-island developing State (SID).

The Prime Minister of Haiti, Ariel Henry, said on Saturday that “human beings, fathers and mothers who have children, are always going to flee poverty and conflict.” 

Against the backdrop of what he called “a critical time” in Afghanistan, Prime Minister Imran Khan of Pakistan said on Friday that if the situation there is neglected, “a huge humanitarian crisis” lies ahead.

South Sudan is “ready to turn a new page” towards greater peace, development and prosperity, Vice-President Rebecca Nyandeng de Mabior said in her speech in the UN General Assembly on Friday. 

Looking back over the first four days of the high-level week, the Ireland’s Prime Minister said a series of alarms have sounded in the Hall of the General Assembly: for conflict, for COVID, for climate.  

Announcing the donation of up to 60 million COVID-19 vaccines to the UN-led COVAX facility, Yoshihide Suga, Japan’s Prime Minister, said that his country is determined to lead the global efforts to end the pandemic.