In a pre-recorded address on Thursday to the UN General Assembly, Mahamadou Issoufou, the President of Niger, stressed that only international action can restore security in the strife-torn African regions of the Sahel and Lake Chad Basin, and expressed serious concern about the situation in Mali.
Before and after the emergence of the coronavirus, Iraq faced epidemics that were “no less deadly and dangerous to the world – terrorism and corruption,” President Barham Salih told world leaders in a pre-recorded address to the UN General Assembly.
In a virtual address to the UN General Assembly’s annual general debate, the President of Rwanda on Tuesday noted that while milestones on gender, climate and development have demonstrated the achievements of multilateral action, they also serve to remind “how much remains to be done”.
The coronavirus pandemic requires cooperation between nations and should serve as an “electric shock” to wake up the United Nations, French President Emmanuel Macron stressed on Tuesday during the General Assembly’s annual high-level debate, held virtually this year.
Addressing the General Assembly’s annual high-level debate, Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday called on the international community to strengthen cooperation on a range of pressing issues and praised the UN’s successes, particularly through adherence to the world body’s Charter, in ensuring the post-war peace.
Despite the continent-wide approach taken by African countries to combat COVID-19, the pandemic has set back their development aspirations, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa told world leaders at the UN General Assembly on Tuesday.
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has highlighted social and economic measures his administration implemented, to address the COVID-19 pandemic and what he views as the politicization of the virus in South America’s largest country.
The COVID-19 pandemic may have prevented world leaders coming to New York to address the General Assembly in person, but the president of the world body stressed on Tuesday that the need for deliberation, is “higher than ever”.
Speaking on Tuesday, United States President Donald Trump lauded the military power of his country, which, he said, demonstrates that the country is “fulfilling its destiny as peacemaker, but it is peace through strength”.
In his centerpiece address to the historic and unprecedented 75th session of the UN General Assembly, Secretary-General António Guterres on Tuesday appealed for global solidarity to overcome the COVID-19, and again call for a global ceasefire during the pandemic, by the end of the year.
