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Our new constitution reinforces the foundations of national sustainable development by placing greater emphasis on human dignity, human capital, education, innovation and environmental responsibility. I have also continued to strengthen the rule of law, public accountability and protection of human rights. Elections last month to the new Kurultai brought into unicameral Parliament and diverse set of voices, including historic high 34% of women.
Dear friends, as you know, climate change has become a global challenge. The average temperature of our planet and the number of climate related emergencies are rising rapidly, while the negative impact on energy, agriculture, food security and the economy as a whole has reached a significant scale. Kyrgyzstan is a mountainous country. We are particularly vulnerable to the effect of melting glaciers, and this is not an abstract threat. It is an environmental challenge of the regional significance. I believe it is extremely important and necessary to unite international efforts in addressing climate challenges and the problems facing mountainous regions. In this regard, the 21st 23rd October 2027, Bishkek will host the second Global Mountain Summit, Bishkek plus 25. Taking this opportunity, I invite all of you to participate in the summit. The summit will serve as the concluding event for the five years of action for the Development of Mountain Regions for 2023 2027 term. During my meeting with United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres in Bishkek on 31st August 2026, I proposed organizing this summit jointly with the organization. These efforts demonstrate our country's leading role among mountain states and its commitment to unite international efforts to address their challenges. Therefore, Kyrgyzstan stands fully ready to serve with the United Nations as the voice of small and developing countries in addressing the climate related challenges affecting mountainous regions. Distinguished heads of delegations. Continuing the topic of climate change, I would like to draw your attention to another environmental challenge. As we all know, global problems and disasters often have their origins at the local level.
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It has only just started. A safer country is a country with more trust. And where there is trust there is more growth in employment and investment. We are also today a more competitive nation. Only a few weeks ago, Chile adopted the most significant economic reform of recent decades. We approved a reduction to business tax. It's now gone from 27 to 23%. This tax had only been on the increase since 1990. It had never decreased. We have also temporarily reduced housing purchase tax, and we have launched an initiative for capital repatriation. There's better tax stability too. We now have less red tape. We are also dismantling what we call this ideology of always having to issue permits. This is, if you like, a sort of hidden bureaucracy, which stops business projects from forging ahead. In the last six months, we've had requests to invest more than $44 billion in our economy. And these investment projects applications are being assessed by our environmental evaluation systems. More than $33,000 billion dollars, rather have been approved for projects that had been in the wings for years. We have unleashed $17 billion for environmental projects. We are taking tangible actions that are changing the very course of Chile and bringing us closer to development. The economy is not yet taking off, and unemployment is still plunging thousands of families into anguish. But unemployment is hard and high. But it will change. Change will come. Results are slow to materialize but structural reforms are underway. We know where we're going and we're not simply reacting without having any clear course in mind. After storms, the sun always comes out. After winter, spring always arrives and after years of deadlock, Chile is back. There are many reasons that can explain how we got to where we are, but there's only one path that we need to follow for Chile to once again take off, spread its wings and fly. That is the path of unity. Unity between all of those that defend freedom and want to see Chile's people thrive. There are many things that might separate the right and the left in Chile, but we are united by our desires to see Chile grow once more and become a safer nation. Delegates. People from the investment world are listening to us. And I say to you, choose Chile to invest. You will find clear rules that do not change day to day. You will find courts that function, contracts that are abided by, and a state ready to facilitate investment.
The responsibility for the world we will leave to future generations. It is our duty to future generations to leave them a clean, safe environment. Poland supports environmental protection efforts, recognizing their impact on security, including food security. Caring for the natural environment is undoubtedly our duty, but fulfilling this duty must not lead to the weakening of our economies or the shifting of problems beyond our borders. Pushing for ambitious environmental policies without considering their global consequences may result in deindustrialization, longer supply chains, and the relocation of production to countries that do not apply comparable standards. This path does not lead to genuine climate protection. It merely leads to the export of emissions to other parts of the same globe, accompanied by job losses in the country of origin and the erosion of production capacity. We need solutions that combine environmental responsibility with economic competitiveness and economic security. In this spirit, it is worth recalling the message of Saint Francis of Assisi, who saw nature not as a resource to be exploited, but as a gift entrusted to humankind, our common home, for which we are responsible as its guardians and stewards. To put it short, ladies and gentlemen, we cannot give away the protection of our environment to fanatics. Careful, nature is much older than the left-wing concepts. It stems from an ethic that took shape long before the emergence of post-Marxist ideologues.
In the coming days, we will hold a high-level dialogue with the United Nations population fund on issues of demographic stability and human capital. And in October, we will bring together the international community in Samarkand around the issues of children's well-being. Ladies and gentlemen, Central Asia has another lesson that it can offer the whole world. That is the Aral Sea. It didn't dry up due to a natural disaster. This is a consequence of decades of wrong decisions and unjust treatment of nature. New Uzbekistan is creating green areas on the dried seabed to reduce the scale of this problem. We are introducing modern water-saving technologies. We aim to increase the share of renewable energy to 54% by 2030. We do not want the Aral Sea to remain merely a symbol of environmental tragedy. It should become a testing ground for environmental solutions. At the initiative of Uzbekistan, the United Nations General Assembly declared 2027-2036 the Decade of Action for Affolstation and Reforestation.
For Kiribati, this is an expression of our belief that even the smallest country can contribute to global peace. For Pacific peoples, the consequences of nuclear weapons are not merely historical. Our region still bears the human and environmental legacy of nuclear testing. As States Parties to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW), we remain committed to advancing the Treaty’s and the humanitarian objectives and establishing an international trust fund for nuclear-weapons victims. As Co-Chairs with Kazakhstan of the recent International Meeting on Victim Assistance and Environmental Remediation, we thank the Secretary-General for convening this important meeting and for keeping the needs of affected communities at the center of our collective efforts. Peace and security must also keep pace with emerging threats in the digital domain. The East Micronesia Cable landed in Tarawa last year, connecting Kiribati with Nauru and the Federated States of Micronesia, transforming our connectivity and digital development. However, it also creates vulnerabilities. With limited redundancy and technical capacity, island States face threats including cybercrime, critical infrastructure attacks, ransomware and online harms that can undermine security and development. Your Excellencies, Kiribati comes to this Assembly not simply to speak of the challenges we face. We come to speak of the future we choose.
International commitments must be translated into action and bring people lives of peace, security, dignity and happiness. It is for this reason that the Pact for the Future and the 2030 agenda, our promises to present and future generations must be implemented earnestly and in full. Commitments on financing for development, including. The severe commitment must be translated into concrete measures, expanding access to long term financing at affordable cost, supporting countries burdened by debt, and amplifying the voice of developing countries in international financial and monetary institutions. The multilateral trading system must be strengthened in an open equitable and transparent manner, ensuring development opportunities for all countries. Climate action must be accorded its rightful place in development cooperation, particularly via the adaptation finance, technology transfer and a just energy transition. Development must be people centred and leave no one behind. Growth must go hand in hand with social progress and equity environmental protection and the safeguarding of people's livelihoods, especially for vulnerable countries and communities.
It is time to resume the offensive and inflict a defeat on denialism. Nature reminds us every day that we live on one planet. The glaciers in the Himalayas are melting. The super El Nino may cause torrential rains, droughts and forest fires in different parts of the globe. Its effects will hit the most vulnerable, the hardest. Brazil has been demonstrating that it is possible to combine economic growth with reduced emissions. We have achieved our self-sufficiency in oil and will continue to explore the potential of new reserves, such as those in the equatorial margin. But we will not abandon the environmental agenda. We will move forward with the roadmap for the decarbonization of the Brazilian economy. The Tropical Forest Forever facility, launched at Cop 30 in the city of Berlin, shows that it is possible to change old paradigms. The forest is worth more standing than destroyed. We will continue to reduce deforestation, which has been cut in half in the Amazon and reaching its lowest level in 11 years. We have the moral authority to reject protectionist measures disguised as commitment to the environmental cause. Brazil is a global reference in green energy. We have the critical minerals and the rare earths that the world needs to make the energy transition. Our natural wealth belongs to the Brazilian people, and it is in their benefit that it will be exploited.
In September 2024, Cabo Verde launched a call for a global compact for climate mobility, and in June, in Berlin, 57 countries endorsed the global consensus on the principles to address climate mobility. And at the United Nations, Cabo Verde co-facilitated negotiations on the political declaration of the Third Conference on the Oceans and the Declaration on Sea Level Rise. Because a country made up of islands, protecting the ocean is not just an environmental policy; it's a question of protecting national territory, the economy, the culture, and the future. In January 2027, Cabo Verde will take over the presidency of the Alliance of Small Island States, AOSIS. We will take on this responsibility by working for the unity of small island states, the implementation of the Antigua and Barbuda Agenda, for fairer financing, for climate adaptation, and for ensuring that the oceans remain at the heart of the global agenda. In 2034, we will host the 5th International Conference on Small Island Developing States. This is an opportunity to share experiences, build common responses, and transform vulnerabilities into opportunities. Ladies and gentlemen, there is also pedagogy in the relations between nations, and it begins with the ability to listen, to listen to each other.
While wealth accumulates in the hands of the few, billions endure the downside of structural deprivation. However, we believe that we are capable of charting the blueprint, the resources, and the wisdom to bridge this divide. What the global community lacks is not the means of implementation, but the moral courage to keep the promise we made eight decades ago. Poverty and systemic inequality also fuel ecological and environmental crises.
This is the goal of our National Development Plan 2024-2028, which has five pillars: security and governance; human capital; resilient infrastructure; economic production; and environmental sustainability. These pillars are not only a planning framework, but are also a renewed social contract with our population. At the heart of this ambition lies our youth. Our youth is our greatest asset, our greatest responsibility. A well-trained and employed youth, involved in decision-making, is the best guarantee against recruitment by armed groups. The same is true for women, whose role in peacebuilding is not a bonus but a prerequisite. Mr. President, my country, like so many others, is experiencing the impact of crises surrounding it, from refugee movements to pressure on our borders. The war in neighboring Sudan has pushed more than 27,000 refugees to settle around the city of Biro alone.
Conflict is not the only threat to sovereignty. Forces beyond our borders can also limit a State’s freedom to shape its own future. For SIDS like the Maldives, none is more consequential than climate change. For SIDS, climate change is altering the very physical foundations of our nations. Sea level rise is therefore not simply an environmental concern. It is a matter of national planning and national security. It is a matter of sovereignty. Let there be no doubt: rising seas may alter our shores, but they will not erase our statehood. They will not reduce our rights. They will not weaken our maritime entitlements, and they will not diminish our national agency. Our response must be to adapt, innovate and build. But resilience demands the means to act. That means finance must reach those who need it, at the scale, at the speed and on the terms needed to build resilience. That is why COP31 in Antalya must be a COP of delivery. Implementation must be the measure of commitment. We must move faster. We must speed up the 2030 Agenda, and we must turn ABAS into measurable progress for SIDS. For island nations, that progress cannot be separated from a healthy and sustainably managed ocean. Therefore, the first Conference of the Parties to the BBNJ Agreement must deliver from day one.
For Micronesia, climate impact are a national concern. We underscore the importance of safeguarding maritime security across the Blue Pacific. Illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing activities, transnational crimes and environmental degradation threatened not only our economies, but the health of our marine environment as well. We urge the international community to enhance cooperation, share technology and support capacity building to ensure that the ocean remains a zone of peace governed by international law.
Excellencies. Climate change remains the single greatest threat to Samoa and the global community. Its impacts are more extensively felt by seeds due to our special circumstances. As the ICJ advisory opinion puts it, climate change is not merely an environmental concern but an existential problem of planetary proportions that require urgent global action. The United Nations General Assembly welcomed the unanimous ICJ advisory opinion and affirmed its importance as an authoritative contribution to the clarification of existing international law. Climate finance is the bridge between ambition and action. It must be scaled up, easily accessible, devoid of burdensome conditions and responsive to the needs of the most climate vulnerable. Resources intended for education, health, water and social protection are now diverted to disaster recovery.
The war in was in Ukraine, the Middle East, Sudan, Haiti, Yemen and Africa, including the expansion of terrorism in the Sahel. All of these bear witness to the continued worsening and deep cracks in international peace and security in Gaza and indeed throughout the OPT. Human suffering is unconscionable. The systemic. There are systemic violations of international law, and these are unacceptable. It is high time to act to halt the horror of mass murder and destruction. No country, no. No peace, no security can be viable, nor can it last without the two state solution Palestine, with East Jerusalem as its capital, and Israel the two living side by side with in safe and internationally recognized borders. In a situation of ongoing conflict which favors an arms race, which erodes disarmament mechanisms and fuels risk linked to new technologies, and that the fact that there is an arms race in outer space. In this context, we call for a collective stirring peaking of our conscience. Peace is not a simple aspiration. It cannot be It is a collective responsibility. It is for this reason that as interim president of ECOWAS, I will spare no effort to work to bring about peace and security in the subregion. Of course, I will be doing this alongside the African Union and the United Nations. Working closely with them. I am now thinking specifically here of the fight against terrorism. It must be a common struggle because the scourge of terrorism Is cross border by its very nature. The Sahel must not be abandoned to its desolate fate. Its stability stabilization must be pursued. It cannot be forgotten Of course, there are worsening health crises. The Ebola epidemic is an example of just that. Global inequalities are increasing climate. The climate urgency has become an even more bitter reality. The human and economic and social cost of these of these phenomenon continue to grow. There are many environmental perils facing our age. We need to act on all fronts. That is our ambition for the third United Nations Water Conference that Senegal will co-organize with the United Arab Emirates.
The key outcomes of the forum, the Baku Call to Action and the chair summary subsequently contributed to the high level meeting of the General Assembly on mid-term review of the new urban agenda held in New York in July this year. At the same time, environmental protection remains an important national and regional priority. We are particularly concerned by continuing decline of the Caspian Sea with serious implications for biodiversity, livelihoods and economic activity across the region. As a challenge shared by all Caspian littoral states, it requires a coordinated, collective and sustained response.
In our lives, freedom of the press, protection of journalists, and access to reliable information are key elements of this environment, especially with regard to growing disinformation. This commitment also means ensuring that each of us has the ability to participate and to be heard. The rights of the child, access to education, equal participation of women and girls in societal processes, as well as the full inclusion of young people in these processes, are vital for building societies in which each of us has a voice in decisions that determine our future. We have inequalities that are deepening every minute throughout the world. Bulgaria supports international efforts toward this end, from guaranteeing the right of each child to education to the consistent implementation of the women-peace and security agenda. The protection of human rights is measured not only in commitments made, but also through real opportunities for participation, education, and a decent life. This is our common objective: societies in which differences do not divide us, hate does not define us, and the rights and dignity of all are protected. Environmental responsibility is one of the fundamental principles of sustainable development.
However, innovation must be governed by responsibility and accountability. Emerging technologies, particularly artificial intelligence, are advancing faster than our current capacity to govern them while retaining human agency and control. This raises critical questions regarding accountability, safety, environmental impact, and the risk of a widening digital divide between those who can shape these technologies and those who are excluded from their benefits in total. The Kingdom of Eswatini remains committed to building a more resilient, diversified, and inclusive economy.
Conflicts, geopolitical tensions, declining resources for development and the fragmentation of spaces for dialogue are testing the principles that have guided coexistence among nations. At the same time, democracy faces a twofold challenge the resurgence of authoritarian tendencies that seek to undermine the will of the people, and the spread of organised criminal networks that infiltrate institutions, corrupt justice systems, capture economies and territories, and erode public trust. Transnational organised crime is more than just a threat to public security. It is a direct threat to democracy the rule of law, and the ability of our peoples to freely determine their future. Criminal networks do not recognize borders. They are linked through drug trafficking trafficking in persons, illicit arms trafficking, smuggling, extortion, money laundering, environmental crime and other illicit economies. They exploit institutional weaknesses, inequality, and a lack of opportunities. Wherever the state is weakened, these structures seek to replace it, intimidate it, or bend it to serve private interests. In the face of these realities, the fundamental principles that must guide our collective action have lost none of their relevance. Preserving peace, combating hunger and poverty. Ensuring equal rights and opportunities, strengthening justice, protecting our planet, and consolidating democratic institutions remain shared responsibilities. The Sustainable Development Goals continue to provide an essential roadmap.
Mr. President, dear colleagues, the choice between force and politics is not confined to war. It extends to the economy, resources, and technology, to every sphere in which unrestrained power risks prevailing over the human person. Politics thus must once again take the lead in shaping change. We stand at the dawn of a technological revolution that is already reshaping the way we live, the way we work, produce, and make decisions. It's the artificial intelligence revolution. The great inventions of the past took centuries to transform the world. Artificial intelligence is doing so in a matter of years. Those who control these technologies will enjoy an enormous advantage over those who are left behind. The risk is that new inequalities, new dependencies, and new concentrations of power, or even new forms of domination, will emerge. Entire professions may disappear or be transformed. Falsifying and manipulating reality will become ever more easier. Automated systems operating without human oversight may produce extremely dangerous decisions. Pope Leo XIV in the encyclical Magnifica Humanitas reminded us that no algorithm can take the place of human conscience, and that any technology capable of striking without seeing the face of another person lowers the moral threshold for conflict. Italy shares this vision. But governing innovation does not mean demonizing it. Artificial intelligence can open up possibilities that today are unimaginable in medicine, for example, research, education, manufacturing, and environmental protection. Every major technological advance has generated fears, but it has also created opportunities and, over time, greater prosperity. Turning back is neither possible nor desirable, but neither can we hand over our future to technology without rules. We do not need bureaucratic cages that can only be respected by some. We need a balance between transparency, oversight, security, and the protection of intellectual property.
We carry no larger agenda other than to ensure that the United Nations will do better. Mr. president, as we face a world in which scientists tell us overshooting the 1.5 degree temperature limit that we agreed in Paris is increasingly likely. We all need to wake up and act. Our focus now must be on preventing or minimizing the overshoot. Shortening the time we spend above 1.5, and doing everything possible to fight our way back. As we gather in Tuvalu, Fiji and Türkiye for this year's climate pre-COP and COP, our response to the threat of overshoot must be overwhelming. A much accelerated transition away from fossil fuels is the only logical response. Continued investment in fossil fuels is not only immoral but irrational. Technologies exist which provide secure, stable, zero emissions energy. We are employing them in my own country, where in the next 18 months, renewable energy will cut fossil fuel use in our remote outer islands by 88%, giving many access to electricity for the first time. We must do everything in our power to accelerate the deployment of renewables and to reduce fossil fuel production and consumption with equal speed. This includes shipping, where we have the opportunity at the International Maritime Organization to adopt binding regulations that will place international shipping on a clear path to net zero by 2050, and generate the revenue required to ensure a just and equitable transition. Mr. president, the denials and delays that have slowed the transition away from fossil fuels mean that countries like mine are already experiencing grave challenges. We have developed our national adaptation Plan, working across ministries and with our people to determine how to make a safe future. Adapting is costly and takes time. Even as we've seen schools destroyed by rising seas, salt water poisoning our wells, and disease outbreaks linked to environmental change. This injustice must be addressed. Our communities deserve restitution. The Marshall Islands and vulnerable people everywhere need sufficient, timely and accessible finance for adaptation and loss and damage. Those who have profited to the detriment of the many must pay. We have created homegrown institutions that are ready and willing to respond, like the Pacific Resilience Facility, a regionally managed platform, and the Marshall Islands Adaptation and Resilience Trust Fund, designed to enable donors to support our adaptation efforts. Mr. president, the crisis has the power to divide us or to prove that we all remain willing to achieve common goals. This week, the Marshall Islands convened the High Ambition Coalition, a diverse group of countries committed to a rigorous response to the climate crisis. We are united in the view that the best available science must lead the decisions we make, the importance of a 1.5°C temperature limit, an urgent transition away from fossil fuels, and the need for adequate and accessible climate finance, especially for adaptation and loss and damage.
There are acute humanitarian, environmental and economic challenges. My country Mauritania. Knows full well the importance and sensitivity of this moment. We would like to stress with humility from this common home that brings us together from the United Nations, that we all shoulder this responsibility before history. We have to leave to the future generations a better world than the one we've inherited. We are capable of that. Once we redirect ourselves to the path of peace through renewing our common and joint effort. The United Nations must regain its effectiveness to serve peace and security, especially common security. We can do that if we rightfully address the deep transformations that are reshaping the entire international landscape. The. These are the provisions of the 2030 agenda, its goals and objectives, and the expanded scope of knowledge, the accelerated technology, and their subsequent results and impacts. We can do that if we return with wisdom to what our Founding Fathers have been guided upon the common principles and purposes that gather us under the umbrella of the United Nations for more than eight decades.
of this United Nations, my country, Saint Lucia, though small in geography, but large in courage, dignity and conviction, took its seat among the community of nations brimming with hope, optimism and trust in the promise and goals of this body. Today we meet at a moment of profound international uncertainty. Conflict is spreading, trust is eroding, developmental gains are being reversed, and the rules intended to protect humanity are too often applied selectively. For small island developing states, these crises are not abstract. They are lived realities. Climate change threatens our homes, livelihoods and very existence. Debt limits our ability to invest in people. Digital technologies are transforming our societies. Without safeguards, they can reproduce old patterns of domination in a new form. And in our own Caribbean neighborhood, people of Haiti continue to endure a humanitarian and security crisis that demands more than statements of concern. The theme before us, Restoring Trust, Managing Transformation: a United Nations that delivers for all, must not remain a slogan. Trust will be restored only when promises are matched by action, when commitments are honored, and when the United Nations delivers meaningful results for every nation. And when there is due regard for multilateral principles, not only for the most powerful, but for the weakest of us as well. This assembly should not be a place where the world expresses sympathy without accepting responsibility. We need action. We need justice. And we need a renewed international compact based not on power, but on principle. We need multilateralism, not unilateralism. And in the words of the former UN secretary general, the United Nations was not created in order to bring us to heaven, but in order to save us from hell. For Saint Lucia, climate change is not a distant environmental issue. It is a direct threat to national security, economic stability, food and water security, and human survival.
Tonga has committed to protecting at least 30% of our ocean by 2030. Our ratification of the BBNJ Agreement extends that commitment beyond our waters, supporting the protection of marine biodiversity on the high seas. Our task is to navigate a course that safeguards the ocean and unlocks its value to our people. This principle underpins Tonga's ocean strategy. It is in that spirit that we intend to convene a Polynesian Ocean Summit in Tonga in May of 2027, to move from shared ambition to practical action. But our responsibility does not stop at the boundaries of our Pacific continent. Consider the humpback whale. Born in Tonga's warm oceans, it migrates to Antarctica to feed on krill before returning to the Pacific to escape the winter and breed. Tonga's sanctuary protects them but their survival depends on healthy ecosystems at both ends of that journey. What happens in the southern seas of Antarctica is felt in the southern oceans of Tonga. So we invite partners to join us in Tonga with practical commitments that recognise the scale and interconnectedness of our shared ocean corridors. Mr. president, the same principle extends across our development. Interconnection must not be dependency. For Tonga, resilience means taking greater control of the forces, shaping our future and turning the resources within our geography into greater self-sufficiency. When we import fossil fuels, we also import their volatility. Moving away from them is therefore both a climate imperative and an energy security necessity. Tonga is not short of ambition 70% renewable energy by 2030, 100% renewable energy by 2035. However, the forces shaping our future are not solely environmental or economic.
Although Bangladesh has contributed little to global carbon emissions, it is bearing the adverse consequences of climate change. In these circumstances, Bangladesh has chosen the path of building resilience and developing the capacity to survive and adapt. Therefore, Bangladesh expects stronger global cooperation at Cop 31 on climate justice. Climate finance and adaptation support. The Government of Bangladesh has strengthened its programmes for environmental protection. As part of these efforts, the government has launched a programme to plant 250 million trees across the country over the next five years. Emphasis has been placed on the use of clean energy and solar energy, with the aim of freeing the country from the scourge of floods and droughts. The government has also launched a programme to excavate 20,000km of canal across the country.
The president of the United Nations. General Assembly. Your Excellency, doctor Khalilur Rahman, the Secretary General, Mr. Antonio Guterres, fellow heads of State and government. Your excellencies, ladies and gentlemen. The Sambola Vinaka. And a very good afternoon to you all. I bring warm greetings from the people of Fiji and from the Blue Pacific continent Mr. president, although he is not here, I congratulate you on assuming the presidency of the 81st session of the United Nations General Assembly. Fiji assures you of our full support as you guide this Assembly through a period of profound uncertainty and transformation. Our Prime Minister, the Honourable Sitiveni Rabuka, joins me in wishing you and all Member states a peaceful, productive and a very successful session. On the same note, I acknowledge your predecessor, Her Excellency Annalena Baerbock, for her stewardship of the 80th session I pay tribute also to the Secretary General, Antonio Guterres, who addresses the general debate for the last time in that office. Through a decade of turbulence, he has defended the multilateralism and stood with small island developing states, and Fiji thanks him dearly. Mr. president, the theme of this session is restoring trust and Managing Transformation, a United Nations that delivers for all, and it speaks directly to the condition of our world. We face deepening geopolitical rivalry, armed conflict and climate and environmental crisis.
Mr. president, in a world marked by rapid technological change, environmental threats, renewed conflicts and deepening fractures in the international order, this year's theme Restoring Trust, Managing Transformation, a United Nations that delivers for all, is not merely aspirational, it is an urgent moral and political imperative. Every international institution, beyond its legal framework, requires mutual trust among its members to be effective. Moreover, trust is an ongoing process. Pope Leo identifies three essential words that must guide diplomacy, peace, justice and truth. He warns against the return of a diplomacy of force and reaffirms the indispensable role of multilateral institutions. Mr. president, the human person remains the measure of all progress at the heart of this conviction. Start the acknowledgement of the inviolable, God given dignity of every human person. From this flows the sacredness of life from conception to natural death, as well as the imperative to safeguard the human person that every society that aspires to be regarded as civilized, as a duty to protect Pope Leo addressed in his first encyclical letter The New Technological Challenge, which he does not reject but calls for its ethical ordering.
Mr. president, allow me to congratulate His Excellency, Doctor Khalilur Rahman on his election to the presidency of the General Assembly and assure him of the support of my delegation. I also wish to pay tribute to His Excellency António Guterres for his outstanding dedication and commitment to this organization during his two terms as Secretary General, he will be remembered as a leader with a steady hand, always guided by principles of fairness, compassion and dignity for all. Mr. president, the United Nations has now completed the first eight decades of its existence, eight decades replete with resolutions, declarations, and action on decolonization development, new international order, the new constitution for the oceans, as well as climate and environmental technology, human rights, international law, and peacekeeping.
This has led to a blurring of standards and concepts. Alliances have become open to question. International law is frequently violated. And its capacity to regulate international relations faces numerous challenges. End of quote from His Majesty the King We are therefore facing a world whose fundamental features are the following. First, the escalation of acute and diverse international crises military, economic, energy related and environmental. Second, the spread of confrontational tendencies as a key determinant of relations between states. Third, the difficulty of predicting the outcome of crises. We know when they begin but not when they will end. Fourth, the diminishing capacity of existing regulatory structures to play the role in preventing and managing crises in this complex international context. Mr. president, I wish to focus on three areas to which the international community must accord priority. First, confronting non-state armed groups as a threat to international security and stability.
We also want to make sure that developed countries can fully fulfill their commitment to development and financial action. For Mozambique, as one of the countries that is more vulnerable in the world, climate change translates into losses in life, displaced families, destroyed crops, and damaged infrastructures cyclically. The cyclones demonstrate that resilience is now an environmental, economic, and food security, social, and development issue, and increasingly one of peace and security in all the world. We therefore reiterate the need to increase funding for adaptation, facilitate access to climate funds, operationalize the loss and damage mechanisms, and invest in early warning systems and resilient infrastructure. Mozambique remains highly vulnerable to extreme weather events— floods, inundations, cyclones— and we are concerned with the El Niño that might have potential severe impacts in the central and southern parts of the country, especially when it comes to drought, food insecurity, and livelihood. Their preparedness and international cooperation will be essential to mitigate these impacts in a context where humanitarian needs are already facing a severe funding shortfall in the whole world. Mr. President, digital transformation remains or demands the same solidarity that we are talking about, because Africa must not limit itself to supplying the minerals that fuel the world's innovation hubs. We need to have investment in connectivity, computing capacity, scientific research, training of young people in Africa, technology transfer, governance, ethics for AI, in the spirit of partnership that builds capacity and promotes autonomy of our sovereign states.
Therefore, the promise of sustainable development cannot be fulfilled without reform of the international financial architecture. In the same way that the Security Council must reflect today's political realities, international financial institutions must reflectively, effectively respond to today's economic and environmental realities with relevant, affordable and accessible financial products, which can be dispersed in a timely manner. In conclusion, Somalia is proudly playing an active role in global stability both at home and within the key existing multilateral structures of global governance We are also rebuilding our economy and unwaveringly committing to democracy and people centred, people led, people own development. As we march forward with purpose and determination, we invite Africa and the rest of the world to remain our champions on this journey.
Today, however, these ideas are not only being called into question; they are being attacked by political actors and governments that want to take us back to a dark past. And I don't need to point them out; we all know who they are and what their modus operandi is. They start by questioning the rules, then they break them, knowing full well that nobody will dare to hold them accountable. They cut their contributions to multilateral bodies like this one. They point to their leaders and officials. They obstruct these organizations' ability to act, to then write them off as useless entities that we can do without. What they're doing, nevertheless, is a planned and coordinated demolition attempt that is presented as something that we can't stop and that's necessary. However, the reality is that it runs counter to the structural currents of history and is based on three misguided pillars. The first of these pillars is selfishness, the absurd belief that the world is a zero-sum game, where some winning must imply that others losing. The second pillar is ignorance, disregarding scientific evidence and assuming that there are countries that are so powerful that they can abuse all of the others and they don't need anyone else to prosper. And the third pillar, the worst in my opinion, is cruelty. Cruelty that isn't even moved when it sees the ribs of a starving child or a hospital reduced to rubble. Over these 8 years, I've seen these selfish, ignorant, and cruel forces grow. I've seen how they took off their masks and seized power in many places. And then I saw them start illegal wars, massacre innocent civilians. I've seen them treat millions of human beings like livestock and take away aid from those suffering the most, from poverty and disease. I've seen them pollute the atmosphere and also the ocean as if it's their own property, and conspire to destroy this organization and everything it represents. I'm saying this because bearing witness to these things has changed the way that I understand the world. However, it hasn't led me to lose hope. Because also, over these 8 years, I've seen wonderful things that allow me to still have confidence in humanity. For example, I've seen millions of people mobilized to defend nature, peace, and civil rights. I've seen thousands of activists and public servants confront these reactionary powers, knowing full well that they're putting their professional careers and even their own lives at risk. I've seen scientists make progress that we thought was impossible. And I've seen many governments do things right, opting for cooperation, social justice, and environmental sustainability. All of this has taught me something that I want to share with all of you, and that is that humanity is not intrinsically good or bad. Humanity can actually be both. And every day, every year, and in each and every crisis, we must decide how to act. The United Nations is one of these spaces where these decisions are made at the highest level. And the UN doesn't always do it well. Of course, I myself, on several occasions, have called out the contradictions and lackings of this body. However, with the same belief, I must call out the fact that the majority of the voices that today insist on criticizing the United Nations are not describing its failure; what they're doing is trying to cause its failure. And I must also say that multilateralism is the best tool that humanity has to manage its diversity and its interdependence, especially in a globalized and multipolar world like the world we're living in today. And this is why what we need to do is up- ramp up our trust in this organization. We must renew it and strengthen it so that this century it can play the same key role that it played last century. And doing this will not be easy. However, the good news is that all of the guidance we need is right here, in the United Nations Charter. In this charter, they wrote the best chapters. Our forefathers wrote it, the men and women who saw the world burn, and even then, they died to imagine a better future. These men and women laid down their wisdom and their hope in this charter. And they didn't ask us to keep it in a glass case. They asked us to fulfill it. They asked us to defend it, and for us to turn back to it in times of uncertainty and extraordinary difficulty. And today is one of those times. And therefore, it's our duty to rise to the courage and the ambition present in this text, in the United Nations Charter. And this is why, ladies and gentlemen, we need to reform the Security Council so that all of the regions in the world have fair representation, and so that we can do away with the right of veto of the permanent members. Because as the UN Charter sets out, no country should be judged in its own case, no matter how powerful they are. We therefore need to strengthen all of the other main bodies and reorganize the agencies' funds and programs, and provide them with more resources and more executive capacity so that they can have a more decisive impact on the great challenges that beset humanity. We must strengthen bodies like the International Criminal Court so that they can investigate, prosecute, and punish those that break the rules.
Tuvalu's message is clear: the world must act now and decisively, collectively and with urgency to protect the future for generations to come. Mr. president, the ocean is central to Tuvalu's identity and sustainable development. The ocean has sustained Tuvalu for generations and remains at the heart of our existence, our future and our resilience. Tuvalu may have only 26km² of land, but we are custodians of some 750,000 square kilometers of ocean, which makes Tuvalu a large ocean state. This year, Tuvalu soft launched its first ever National Ocean Policy, a comprehensive framework to strengthen our stewardship of marine resources, affirm the permanence of our maritime zones, protect biodiversity and place the ocean at the centre of our resilience and sustainable development. We thank all of our partners whose invaluable support helped turn this vision into reality. For Tuvalu, ocean governance is not simply an environmental policy. It is also an issue of economic security, food security and climate security. Tuvalu has ratified the BBNJ Agreement and looks forward to contributing to the first conference of the parties of the agreement next year. Tuvalu's objective towards the implementation of the BBNJ is simple, in that the ocean areas beyond national jurisdictions belong to our shared future and must be governed responsibly based on science, equity, the precautionary approach, and effective international cooperation. Mr. president, Tuvalu, like other small island developing states, is highly vulnerable to climate and economic shocks. But the international financing architecture is ill equipped to respond effectively to those shocks.
We know that sanctions undermine economic and financial freedoms and hinder human development. Three, we believe in respecting the rights of nature; that is the only way in which we can duly consecrate human life. Four, equally, the institutional failure of global trade is today patently clear, because no nation can thrive in supranational systems which do not promote national industry and which prioritize outsourcing and award that strategy. Five, international stability means that we must resolve our three-pronged energy-like dilemma: we must, at the same time, guarantee security of supply, affordable prices, and environmental sustainability.
Mr. President, just as I have shown you how the UN failed to do what it was supposed to do, now I want to tell you how it has excelled at what no one asked it to do, and what it should never have been doing. Because alongside that failure, they have built a bureaucratic leviathan devoted to deciding how the peoples of the world and their citizens should live. This amounts to a curious mixture of anarchy and tyranny, impotence in the face of those who break the most basic rules, such as bloodthirsty dictatorships and terrorist organizations, coupled with Orwellian control and impositions on liberal democracies that abide by the rules. We saw this with the Millennium Agenda. We saw it with the 2030 Agenda, with economic regulation, gender agendas, environmental extremism, and unchecked immigration. And every time they failed, rather than reviewing the model or apologizing, they doubled down, as they are already doing with the 2045 Agenda, which, I say now, will fail. But perhaps the most serious example, the one that forever should shame this organization, is quite another. That is how they managed the pandemic.
The above would enable developing countries to invest in education, health, agriculture, climate resilience and other productive sectors to holistically address their interconnected challenges. Mr. president, climate change presents another test of our collective credibility, credibility, and for the government, it is not a distant threat. Coastal erosion, changing rainfall patterns, pressure on water resources, food insecurity and environmental degradation are already affecting our communities and livelihoods. However, we are responding with determination by investing in renewable energy, coastal resilience, mangrove restoration, disaster risk reduction, early warning systems, water security, and nation based, nature based solutions. National electricity access hundred 90% universal access by the end of 2026. We are expanding our solar energy in schools and health facilities, modernizing our electric electricity network, and advancing a 150 megawatt solar park. We have also adopted our first national disaster risk mitigation Plan, but we urge that our national ambition be supported by external action to make climate finance accessible, predictable and adequate, including through the sustained implementation of the new collective Quantified Goal on climate finance and effective management to address loss and damage. Build climate resilience and a fairer international order in which those who have contributed least to the climate crisis are not left to bear the greatest burdens. Mr. president, artificial intelligence and emerging technologies offer extraordinary opportunities, but opportunity without inclusion can become another source of inequality. The digital divide must not become the next development divide. Developing countries must not remain passive consumers of technologies designed elsewhere We need the capacity to participate in research, innovation, entrepreneurship, standard setting and global technology governance. Technology must serve humanity, and the governance of artificial intelligence must be inclusive, responsible and grounded. International cooperation. This is particularly important for the world's least developed countries, as The Gambia prepares to assume greater leadership within the Global Coordination Bureau of the LDC Group. We do so with a clear sense of responsibility. LDCs continue to face structural constraints, including limited productive capacity, high debt burdens, climate vulnerability, narrow export base technological gaps, and restricted access to affordable finance.
As a country experiencing the adverse impacts of climate change firsthand, Mongolia has remained steadfast in contributing to global collective efforts to protect and preserve our natural environment. In this regard, Mongolia is successfully implementing a series of national policies and initiatives, including the Billion Trees, Food Revolution, White Gold, Blue Gold and Healthy Mongolian aimed at restoring degraded land, expanding forest resources, protecting soil, water and pasture land, ensuring food supply and security, and supporting sustainable rural development. Mongolia's Billion Trees national movement goes far beyond tree planting and afforestation. It is a comprehensive, nationwide initiative aimed at combating desertification and land degradation, scaling up land restoration, expanding forest resources, protecting soil fertility, water resources and biodiversity, mitigating the adverse impacts of climate change, improving food supply and creating employment opportunities. Furthermore, the United Nations General Assembly resolution initiated by Mongolia proclaiming 2026 as the International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists, provides a new opportunity to raise global awareness of the importance of rangeland ecosystems, support the livelihoods of pastoralists, strengthen sustainable food systems, conserve biodiversity, and preserve the cultural heritage of nomadic peoples. In this regard, Mongolia, with its millennia old tradition of nomadic pastoralism, took the initiative to convene the Global Pastoralist Gathering and Conference in Ulaanbaatar. The gathering brought together around 400 herders from 57 countries, whose opinions and fruitful discussion of challenges and solutions culminated in the adoption of Ulaanbaatar Declaration. Moreover, in August, Mongolia successfully hosted the 17th session of the conference of the parties to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification in Ulaanbaatar under the theme Restoring Land, Restoring Hope. Restoring Mother Nature to its pristine state and creating conditions for future generations to live in a healthy environment with confidence and contentment, must be a noble duty of humanity. Mother nature and healthy soil are the guarantee of humanity's existence and the foundation of food and water resources, livelihood and sustainable development. Healthy soil means healthy food and healthy food means healthy people. Therefore, desertification, land degradation and drought should not be viewed merely as environmental issues, but should be addressed holistically in connection with food supply and security, water resources, livelihoods, sustainable development, and global peace and security. In this spirit, as the presidency of UNCCD COP17, Mongolia has advanced the Steppe Action Agenda built upon three interconnected flagship initiatives the Rangelands Flagship Initiative, the Water Land Nexus Initiative and the Nature based Solutions for Sustainable Infrastructure Initiative. Particularly, we regard the Rangelands Flagship Initiative as a landmark global movement that opens a new chapter in the history of rangeland conservation. This initiative is special in raising global awareness that the protection, sustainable management and restoration of rangelands are of strategic importance for building resilience to climate change, ensuring food security and maintaining balanced ecosystems. The nomadic way of life that we Mongols have inherited and carried forward over thousands of years embodies a comprehensive set of values and wisdom for living in harmony with nature and preserving it in its pristine state.
It applies to the international system and it applies to Europe. We will not abandon the European idea because the European path has been difficult. The European Union remains for us our natural political, economic and institutional home, and we have work to do at home. We must strengthen the rule of law, build more effective institutions, build a more competitive economy and strengthen our citizens' confidence in their own state. That is our responsibility, and we will not shift it to Brussels. At the same time, we expect European integration to remain a merit based process based on measurable criteria, not a process in which bilateral issues can continually move the goalposts. We are not asking for an easier path. We are asking for a path governed by rules. We are not asking for lower standards. We are asking for standards to remain standards. This is equally important for Europe's credibility at a time when its geopolitical weight will increasingly depend on its ability to translate its commitments into tangible political outcome, and on its resolve to uphold the values it espouses and to remain steadfast in advancing them despite the many challenges it faces. Excellencies, the future international order will not be shaped only on battlefields or in diplomatic halls. It will be also shaped in laboratories, in schools, in factories, in energy grids, in data centers, and in the ability of societies to make sense of the changes that technology is bringing. Artificial intelligence is no longer a subject of the future. It is infrastructure for today, for the present. Today, the world is once again recognising the value of resilience, of reliable energy, of infrastructure, of diversified transport routes, of nearby and trusted supply chains. For us, the intensified development of Corridor VIII and Corridor X is a part of broader European vision to better connect the Adriatic, Ionian, the Black Sea, the Aegean and Central Europe to provide goods, energy and people with more routes and greater connectivity, and to ensure that the region becomes interconnected in the infrastructure rather than remaining on the geopolitical periphery. Our geography does not have to be our destiny. It can be our advantage if we build the institutions and infrastructure that transform our geographical position into connectivity. At the same time, we must also approach migration differently. Migration begins where there is no security, no employment, no education, no access to water, no prospects or no confidence that tomorrow will be better than today. It is not simply a matter of borders. Responsible policy must bring together security, human dignity, development and the real needs of labour markets. Climate policy, too, will have to become more grounded in reality. The green transition is essential, but if we make it socially unsustainable, we will lose the political support that is necessary to implement it. If we make it technologically dependent on a handful of sources, we will create new challenges while addressing old ones. If we expect poorer countries to move at the same pace without providing them with equal access to capital and technology, we will create injustice instead of a transition. That is why future climate policy must at the same time be environmental policy, economic policy and social policy. Mr. president, all of this brings us back to the central theme of this session: trust.
The United Nations General Assembly has recognised the human right to a clean, healthy sustainable environment. We value its freedom. What? What is. I beg your pardon? What value is freedom if a child has no water to drink? What value is development if we destroy the environment that sustains life? And what inheritance are we leaving behind for our children if the forest disappears, our oceans become polluted and our climate becomes increasingly unstable. There is one reality that transcends every political, economic, and religious differences between us. And that is, we have one planet, one earth. There is no other known habitable planet presently within reach of humanity. You can be the most powerful capitalist, or you can be the most powerful technocrat. You can reach out to the observable universe billions and billions of light years into the observable universe. You find no planet like our planet earth. USA scientists, Russian scientists, big nations sets the world. Big industrialist sets the world. You cannot bring your population to another planet. This earth is our common home. Whatever our religion, nationality, political system, we breathe the same atmosphere. We share the same ocean. We depend upon the same global climate. And ultimately, we share the consequence of what humanity does to this planet. Mr. president, think about the children of the world. A child born today did not create climate change. The child did not choose the wars of this generation. The child did not create pollution or the environmental destruction. Yet the child will inherit the consequence of the decisions we make today. We must therefore be custodians not only of the present but also of the future. Future generations cannot stand before this assembly today and argue for themselves. We must consider them when we make decisions about war and peace, development, energy, forests, oceans, minerals and global economy. Papua New Guinea understands this responsibility. We are custodians of great tropical forests, extraordinary biodiversity and vast ocean space. For us, environment is not an abstract for international discussion. It is where we live. It is where we grow our food. It is where we fish. It is the inheritance we will pass on to our children. Mr. president, in our interconnected world, decisions made in one country can affect people thousands of kilometres away. Greenhouse gases do not recognise national borders. Pollution carried by ocean does not stop at immigration checkpoints.
Distinguished members, we all derive our livelihood and the source of our life from nature. But our world stands on the threshold of serious environmental and climate related threats. Air, water and soil. And also many living species are being affected by climate change. While developing countries and the Pacific region are experiencing the climate crisis to their very core, they unfortunately face serious difficulties in accessing the funding they need. This November we'll host the COP31 summit in Antalya province of Turkey. At the summit, we will ensure that climate justice is given particular prominence. With the partnership we have developed with Australia, we aim to make COP31 an implementation COP where financial commitments are fulfilled, technology transfer is accelerated and promises are actually translated into concrete steps. So COP31 will be made a point of uniting us all. Taking this opportunity, I invite you to the COP31 Leaders Summit. In 2017, my wife, Mrs. Emine Erdogan, initiated the zero waste movement with the slogan the world is our common home, and this initiative has now evolved into a global campaign to raise awareness. It is a fact that there are for sure many ways to tackle the climate crisis. The zero waste movement is the strongest bridge where all these paths meet. I believe that with your support, this bridge will become even stronger. I would also like to draw your attention to the following fact.
Minister Murat Kurum, representing the incoming Cop 31 presidency, has put the challenge plainly the time for simply setting out goals is behind us. Anyone who experienced this summer in Europe and elsewhere knows that it was the hottest on record, and the super El Nino has not even yet hit. The proposed action agenda places methane reduction at the centre of climate implementation, and we welcome that focus. It is true that carbon dioxide must remain central to the global energy transition, but emissions are not falling quickly enough, and the full benefits of action will take time to emerge. So, Mr. President, under Barbados's presidency of the Cvf Climate Vulnerable Forum and its G20 countries, 74 countries got together and advanced the call to pull the methane emergency brake at the G20 Ministerial Dialogue in April of this year. The finance ministers agreed that methane reduction must be treated not only as an environmental priority, but also an economic, fiscal and public health opportunity. We must now implement the climate. Vulnerable countries need to mobilise approximately $490 billion each year by 2030, and yet the current inflows are roughly $90 billion. As a young people in Barbados would say, the math simply ain't math. We must also correct the inequity of the borrowing costs that these countries face. It is almost 1.2 percentage points higher for climate vulnerable countries than for advanced economies. Now that figure seems small to you, but that actually generates an estimated $62 billion more a year in excess interest payments each year.