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Multilateralism allows us to project the power of our ideas rather than the might of our power. Tonga participates as an equal under the founding principles of the United Nations Charter, the sovereign equality of states. This is how we must approach our theme Restoring Trust, managing transformation, a United Nations that delivers for all. Enduring trust is restored when commitments produce results. True transformation is realized when our communities, economies and ecosystems can anticipate change and recover with greater strength. The small island developing states must not bear the disproportionate costs of the challenges they did little to create. Mr. President, too much of our international architecture still reflects the world of 1945 rather than today's realities. If the United Nations is to remain the principal vehicle through which sovereign nations confront global challenges, it must transform. We need a United Nations that enables innovation one that expands meaningful access to investment and technology, especially for the small island developing countries who are too often excluded from both. We need a stronger General Assembly and institutions that respond effectively to the needs of the majority of our members. We cannot keep negotiating climate biodiversity and the ocean in separate COPs when they are clearly an interconnected ecosystem requiring integrated and coherent solutions. We call on global processes to recognise the ocean climate nexus and address these interconnected challenges together. We need a more inclusive Security Council equipped for today's challenges. A Security Council that recognises the triple planetary crisis as a profound threat to peace and security. We need a financial architecture that delivers timely and accessible financing to those who most need them. Internationally pledged commitments must be actioned urgently. The next Secretary-General must understand these realities intimately. It is in this spirit that Tonga's nominated ambassador, Ivonne Baki of Ecuador, whose vision for a renewed reformed United Nations speaks to the needs of vulnerable states. To restore trust, every member state, large or small, must have a voice in shaping this organisation's future and a stake in its success. Mr. President, Your Excellencies, the Pacific region spans one third of the Earth's surface. It is our home.
In response to the transformation to Tuvalu's physical environment caused by rising seas, the Tuvalu Coastal Adaptation Project (TCAP) has already reclaimed on the capital island of Funafuti, 15.3 hectares of elevated and flood free land as part of the reinforcement of the island's coastal areas. A further ten hectares is being reclaimed, which is significant adjustment for a country with only 26km² of land area. While we work to protect our physical territory, we are also contemplating preserving the intangible foundations of our nation, our traditional values, knowledge and cultures. In that regard, we have two digital initiatives.
Mr. president of the General Assembly, Mr. Secretary general Excellencies. Ladies and gentlemen. Mr. president, I have the honor to address this Assembly on behalf of the government and the people of the Republic of Vanuatu. I bring with me the voice of a nation of more than 80 islands, of many indigenous communities and languages, and a nation whose identity has been shaped by the ocean, by custom, by faith, by resilience, and above all, by commitment to peace. Mr. Secretary general, this session also carries a particular significance for us because it is the final high level General assembly of your tenure as Secretary General of the United Nations. On behalf of the government and people of Vanuatu, I wish to convey our profound appreciation for your service to the United Nations and your engagement with the people of the Pacific. Your visits to our region reflect an understanding that the concerns of small island developing states deserve to be heard at the highest level.
At the same time, we recognize the continuing and growing challenges of climate change, ocean degradation, pollution, and growing inequality. Mr. president and excellencies, today's security landscape is not only by conflict, but by climate driven fragility. Extreme weather events, sea level rise and resource degradation are eroding stability across vulnerable regions, especially the Pacific. These pressures intensify humanitarian needs, disrupt food and water systems, and strain governance capacities.
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Mr. President, congratulations on your successful election as President of the 81st Session of the UN General Assembly. Secretary-General Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, Alii and warm greetings from the people of Palau. Secretary-General António Guterres, thank you for your leadership and service to the United Nations. Your climate leadership, steadfast defense of multilateralism, international law, human dignity, and the voices of the vulnerable carries a special meaning for small island developing states. I stand before this Assembly for a people whose future depends on a healthy ocean and a stable climate, and the sovereign right to determine their own path. For us, sovereignty is lived in our ability to feed our people from healthy oceans, power our homes independently from distant fuel markets, and protect our shorelines from rising seas and chart our own path.
Transnational criminal networks are using our ocean as a highway for illicit drugs, undermining our sovereignty and national security, destroying young lives and tearing at the fabric of our communities. Behind every statistic stands a family, a community, a young life robbed of its promise. We will not allow criminal networks to profit from the vulnerability of our people. We are amending our Dangerous Drugs Act to introduce stiffer penalties as a deterrent, and we are strengthening law enforcement to prevent and detect these crimes and to hold perpetrators accountable. In August this year, Solomon Islands acceded to the UN Convention Against Transnational Organised Crime, a clear demonstration of our resolve to confront this threat. These are costly and demanding undertakings, and no Pacific country can win this fight alone. We call for stronger international cooperation, greater information sharing, sustained investment in the capacity of our law enforcement agencies, and the support for prevention and rehabilitation. Our vision of a peaceful and secure Pacific extends beyond transnational crime. As enshrined in the Ocean of Peace declaration, our region must remain free of nuclear weapons and free from destabilizing external influence.
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.
Energy security has become a defining issue for many small island nations. While we have one of the highest shares of renewable electricity in the Pacific, Samoa remains heavily dependent on imported fuels. Successive energy crisis and the 2026 fuel crisis exposed the economic costs of our energy dependence. We are working towards a whole of system transformation that delivers electricity that is reliable and affordable, reduces our dependence on imported fuels, strengthens resilience and support sustainable development. The clean energy transition is also an opportunity for Samoa to build a smarter, more resilient and investment ready energy system. The digital transformation, including AI and data analytics, offers real opportunities to drive an inclusive, just energy transition, particularly through off grid solutions and smarter energy planning. Excellencies. The ocean defines who we are as Pacific people. It connects us, sustains us, and shapes our identity.
We choose the international law. We choose dialogue over coercion, human dignity over domination and cooperation over confrontation. Fiji calls for the peaceful settlement of conflicts wherever they occur. We urge all parties to protect civilians, respect international humanitarian law and return to the negotiating table. The charter does not apply differently according to who is involved or where. Fiji asks the same of every party in every theatre. Energy, food security and supply chains are inseparable from peace. The freedoms of navigation guaranteed under the international law, including the United Nations Convention on the law of the sea, must be respected. Fiji will continue to serve in the United Nations peacekeeping operations. We ask only that they be properly mandated, properly financed and properly supported, and we support renewed investment in prevention, mediation and the quiet diplomacy that stops wars before they begin. We carry a very simple conviction the life of a stranger is worth protecting. Dialogue is worth pursuing, and peace, however difficult, is always worth building. Mr. president, the Pacific knows the cost of militarization and nuclear testing. Our ocean carries the memory of decisions made elsewhere, but suffered by Pacific peoples. That memory strengthens our determination that the Blue Pacific remain a region of peace. The Ocean of Peace Declaration expresses a regional vision grounded in sovereignty, international law, and rejection of coercion. Our message to all partners is clear the Pacific world welcomes our friendship, investment and genuine cooperation. But our ocean must not become a theater in which others settle their rivalries.
It's what we also tried to do, acting together. And we did it. Just look at the oceans. A few years ago, everybody said it was impossible to craft agreements so as to protect marine areas, protect the oceans. Just look at what we've done over the last few years, protecting 30% of our landmass and our seas. We've crafted this agreement and implementation is improving year in, year out. Some also told us that we wouldn't be able to conserve two thirds of our oceans, the high seas. We undertook those negotiations, working hand in hand with the great powers. That's the BBNJ agreement. And in a matter of months we achieved over 60 ratifications, which means that the treaty has now entered into force. That agreement, the Nice treaty, the United Nations Ocean Conference, the third Oceans Conference last year, helped us to accelerate that work, and the first oceans will be held in a few months time in January. This is tremendous evidence of our ability to achieve concrete results when we mobilize, when we act in concert. So let's not give in to fatalism. Let's defend what we've achieved, but also our principles.
In short, a United Nations that delivers for all. If multilateralism is to deliver, it must first secure the peace upon which all human progress depends. Without peace, sustainable development is an illusion. Conflict destroys lives, uproots communities, and diverts vital resources away from health care, education and climate resilience. We must reject the normalisation of perpetual conflict and the selective application of international law. International law must apply equally to all, without exception, bias or double standards. This principle is vital to maritime security. The oceans are the lifeblood of global trade. When maritime routes are threatened by piracy geopolitical friction or armed aggression, the shocks ripple far beyond regional waters, devastating vulnerable island economies. Freedom of navigation and maritime security must be preserved under international law. Small and vulnerable states like ours should never bear the collateral economic costs of conflicts in which they have no part.
For Kiribati, the theme reaffirms our shared duty to strengthen the United Nations and ensure it serves everyone. Mr. President, Kiribati is an ocean nation. We are a Big Ocean Sustainable State. Our economy, food security, livelihoods, culture and way of life depend on healthy, sustainable marine resources. Sustainable management is essential to our long-term development and we call for increasing efforts and partnerships to help agreeable, equitable progress towards SDG 14, “Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development.” The 2026 Sustainable Development Goals Report reminds us that our oceans and fisheries continue to face mounting pressures from overfishing, illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing, pollution, warming and acidification. The entry into force of the Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction Agreement marks an important step towards stronger and more equitable ocean governance. Kiribati is proud to have signed and ratified this Agreement and calls on Member States to recognise the vital importance of our shared ocean and to work collectively to translate the Agreement’s historic ambition into meaningful global action.
Saint Kitts and Nevis is not seeking pity; we are advancing partnership. A sustainable island state is not a distant ambition; we are building it today. Yet, even as we advance, the climate crisis is moving the goalposts. This year, our federation and the wider Caribbean faced severe drought. By the end of May, rainfall was 44% below the long-term average. We are investing in resilient infrastructure. But no small island developing state can adapt indefinitely to a crisis the world continues to intensify. Adaptation cannot excuse inaction elsewhere. Distinguished colleagues, the science is unequivocal. The years 2015 to 2025 were the warmest on record, and in 2025, global average temperature remained about 1.43 degrees Celsius above the pre-industrial baseline, while global mean sea level stood approximately 11 centimeters higher than in 1993. For island nations, this is a question of sovereignty and statehood. If our coastlines retreat, our sovereignty must not.
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.
Everyone is being harmed, from Asia to Europe, from Africa to the Americas. No country is immune. They have serious economic and social impact and are already having undesirable consequences for all of us and also for the parties involved. This is a senseless crisis because it's harmful to everyone. We must put an end to this collective masochism, and we must do it quickly to close this chapter, which is a chapter of widespread harm. We all have a duty to learn from the lessons of the crisis of the 1970s and avoid repeating what happened then. We will be judged by how we handle this challenge. On the one hand, it is urgent to put an end to the protracted conflicts and on the other hand, starting now, we must discuss and decide on complementary ways to mitigate the impact of this energy crisis and prevent it from being prolonged. It is my belief that it would also be beneficial to discuss the mechanism by which international oil prices are determined. I do not have a concrete solution which is very complex and difficult, but I wonder if it makes sense for all of us to be so dependent on speculation and the volatility of financial and futures markets, which affect the entire production sector, even when the instability originates only from a portion or a limited period of that production. Excellencies, we also bear the intergenerational responsibility to accelerate the energy transition in order to reduce dependencies and mitigate the effects of climate change. I will share with you that in Portugal, we feel the devastating impacts of climate change firsthand in the increase in forest fires, coastal erosion, and the degradation of marine ecosystems, and also and more frequently in extreme weather events, new such as storms, high winds and flash floods. That is why we take a strategic approach to the energy transition. More than 70% of our energy production comes from renewable sources. We have anticipated our carbon neutrality target to 2045. We maintain close collaboration and continued support for countries that are particularly vulnerable to climate change, and we are investing in innovative solutions, such as agreements to convert debt into green investment. Climate change and freedom of navigation share a common priority of our policy: the sea and ocean. Protecting the marine environment and its biodiversity, combating ocean warming, addressing the threat of sea level rise and ensuring universal freedom of navigation are essential priorities on the ocean agenda, which is an agenda we all have to pay attention to.
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.
For our part, Sri Lanka is on track towards achieving 70% renewable energy by 2030 and carbon neutrality by 2050. Mr. President, for three decades, Sri Lanka suffered a protracted conflict that caused enormous loss and suffering to all our communities. Although the guns fell silent 17 years ago, the deep wounds of that conflict remain, and much remains to be done to heal them. We are determined to prevent a recurrence of such a tragedy and to pursue a path towards national unity and reconciliation. In this regard, our government is strengthening national institutions to address outstanding issues. Throughout these two years, we have remained firm in our rejection of racism and religious extremism in all its forms and manifestations. We will continue to work tirelessly to build a nation that is more secure, inclusive and united, a nation made stronger by the full richness of its diversity. Mr. President in addition to the consequences of natural calamity, Sri Lanka, like many other countries, is experiencing the severe impact of conflicts in West Asia and elsewhere. As an island nation situated at the crossroads of the Indian Ocean and as a country with a large number of migrant workers in West Asia, these developments have direct security, economic and social implications for us. I am pleased to note that even during these challenging times, Sri Lanka has continued to uphold its commitments to international law and ensure sanctity of human life and human dignity. Mr. President, in March this year, amidst a highly volatile geopolitical landscape, Sri Lanka found a ship of a party to a conflict in distress close to our territorial waters, with many sailors life in peril.
Fairness, Mr. President, must also govern international finance. A hurricane does not check GDP before destroying a school. Rising seas does not consult income classification before entering a home or village. That is why the Multidimensional Vulnerability Index matters. It provides a fairer measure of the structural vulnerabilities that small island states. And it's helps GDP because GDP alone cannot provide this measurement. Excellencies. Nowhere is the urgency greater than in the climate crisis. For small island developing states like mine, climate change is not a warning about tomorrow. We are experiencing it today. Warmer oceans fuel more destructive hurricanes. Coastlines are retreating.
Biodiversity loss and pollution are impacting key natural resources in our oceans. Natural disasters and the growing impacts of our changing climate are becoming more severe and more visible. In our region, these pressures are already affecting the lives, livelihoods and long term development prospects. All of this is of grave concern to New Zealand, whose sovereignty, security and prosperity depends on a functioning, inclusive, multilateral system grounded in agreed rules and norms, with the UN Charter at its centre.
And very often the countries with the least economic room to maneuver bear the greatest burden in proportionate terms. The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea confers rights, but it also imposes obligations. The safety of navigation, the protection of the marine environment, and respect for the rights of coastal states. A smaller navy doesn't mean fewer rights, nor does a larger one confer the right to impose its will. No country should have to surrender the rights the law gives simply because another can send more ships. That is why maritime disputes must be settled by law, not by intimidation. And that is why freedom of navigation depends on common rules, so that every country can exercise its rights while respecting those of others, but keeping our sea routes open also means keeping them safe all the way into our ports. The International Ship and Port Facility Security Code, the famous ISPS code offers a very concrete example of what multilateralism can achieve when it works. Piracy, terrorism and crime are scourges that we must fight together, and that code must be strengthened. Belgium understands its importance. Freedom and security are not opposing ideas. Security is a condition of freedom. I dwell on freedom of navigation because it illustrates something larger. Sovereignty doesn't require isolation. We can defend our interests while accepting that others have rights too. And when rules are clear and predictable enough, a space of competition can still remain a space of cooperation. The ocean, moreover, are far more than the highways of our trades. They feed populations, regulate our climates, and absorb much of the excess heat caused by global warming. For many small island states, rising sea levels affect the land on which the citizens live, in some cases, the culture and the very ability to remain where the families have lived for generations. The freedom to use the ocean, therefore, comes with a responsibility to preserve it. And on this point, allow me to be optimistic. The BBNJ Agreement entered into force this year after almost 20 years of negotiations, almost 20 years. Measured against a political cycle, this is close to an eternity. Measured against the building of international law, it is sometimes the time needed to reach a compromise strong enough to last. The agreement proves that even today, we continue to build international law rather than dismantle it, and Belgium has invested greatly in this process. It helped launch the Blue Leaders, a coalition of countries working to protect at least 30% of the ocean by 2030 and secure an ambitious high sea treaty. The agreement now gives us an essential tool to advance toward that protection goal. But 20 years of negotiations must not be followed by years of waiting. It is in that spirit that Belgium is offering to host the treaty's future secretariat in Brussels. We are ready to enable it to work from day one. It will be able to draw on our scientific expertise and on a community that brings together international organizations, embassies and civil society so that we have agreed together becomes real protection at sea. Beneath those same oceans run other vital routes: the cables that connect the continents and carry much of our digital communications and energy. Here too, our interdependence is plain to see. A break, an act of sabotage or an attack can have consequences thousands of kilometers away. Protecting those connections is essential, but our responsibility in the digital world doesn't end with infrastructure.
Development means transforming knowledge into opportunity, and opportunity into dignity. Excellencies, for Cabo Verde and other small island states, the climate crisis is not a distant threat; it is a present reality. Climate crisis is here. The droughts, the desertification, water scarcity, ocean acidification, and the rising sea levels. Just look at what is happening currently on the island of Sal, where only two days ago rising sea waters flooded the avenue in front of the hotels. It is also a question of justice, because those who have contributed the least to this crisis cannot continue to bear some of its most serious consequences. Science has shown us the way forward. We must translate this valuable knowledge into decisions and actions, and Cabo Verde has tried to do its part.
The Indian Ocean must remain peaceful. It must remain as a region where trade can flow and where States can prosper. Regional competition among major powers must not limit the choices of smaller States. Conflict does not have to reach our shores to affect us. In today’s interconnected world, a crisis far away can quickly become a crisis at home. Interruption to maritime traffic through the Strait of Hormuz raises fuel prices. It affects food supplies and air travel. The consequences of this are felt across tourism and public finances in the Maldives. The Maldives, therefore, condemns the closure of the Strait of Hormuz. The Strait must remain open and safe. The Maldives further condemns the attacks on Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman and Jordan. The Maldives appreciates the diplomatic efforts of Oman, Pakistan and Qatar to de-escalate the crisis and bring the parties to dialogue. The right to a sovereign future must belong to all. And nowhere is that right more brutally denied than in Palestine. Israel's genocide and war crimes against Palestinians continue. And their actions are not confined to Gaza. Its military attacks across the region have violated the sovereignty of other States. Security cannot be built by exporting insecurity. Nor can any country demand respect for its sovereignty while violating the sovereignty of others. No State should be shielded from accountability by its power or political alliances. But condemnation alone is not enough. Every Member State must ask: what have we done to end this violence? The United Nations must ask itself the same question. The problem is not a lack of law. The rules are clear. What is absent is equal application. International law cannot bind the weak and bend for the powerful. The same rules. The same standard. No exceptions. Israel’s genocide in Gaza must end. Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestine and other Arab lands must end. Illegal settlements must end. Humanitarian assistance must reach Palestinians safely, rapidly and at scale. And the decisions of international courts and the resolutions of this Organization must be respected and implemented. For the Palestinian people, a sovereign future means freedom, dignity, self-determination, and the right to live with security in their own State. The Maldives will always stand with the Palestinian people and their undeniable right for that future. That is why I reiterate our call for the recognition of an independent and sovereign State of Palestine, based on the pre-1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital. And if this Organisation is to restore trust and deliver for all, Palestine must become a full Member of the United Nations.
Monaco supports the UN80 Initiative to make the organisation more streamlined, more understandable, more efficient and closer to people on the ground. Still, the UN needs resources to function. My country fulfils its financial contributions in full and on time, and we call on all other states to do likewise. But this necessary step is not enough in the light of the changes that have to be undertaken. That is why Monaco calls on the real leaders of the United Nations to rethink the architecture of our system from 2030: bringing on board the public and private sector, civil society and educational and cultural hubs, streamlining processes, preventing mandate duplication, consolidating specialized agencies, regional centres and the secretariat, and guaranteeing small states genuine inclusivity. There is plenty of work to do. The time of the law is patient, but this patience should not be confused with inertia. In the same vein, the principality is in favour of a reform of the Security Council to make it more representative to today's realities, while also preserving its ability to act. And we are also in favour of the revitalisation of this General Assembly, the House of Equality between States. This session will also see the election of the next Secretary-General of the organisation. Monaco calls for a transparent, inclusive and rigorous process. After 80 years, the Principality hopes that women candidates will be seriously considered. The organisation would do well to demonstrate at its helm the equality for which it stands. Ladies and gentlemen there is one area where multilateral trust has recently produced tangible results, and it is dear to the heart of His Serene Highness Prince Albert II, and that is to say, the ocean.
Say our name. Naoero. Mr. president, Naoero is an ocean state. We are not merely guardians of the ocean, but rightful participants in its future. For Naoero, the ocean represents both opportunity and responsibility. Never one without the other. Both are essential, or the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea is left hollow. Today I focus on a part of it that belongs to no one, the deep seabed area beyond national jurisdiction. Mr. president, the convention established the International Seabed Authority and charged it with a clear legal obligation to put in place regulations and regulate activities in parallel with sponsoring states. Its role is not to determine whether deep seabed mining is, as a matter of public policy, a correct course of action. Naoero joined trusting in the commitment set out in the convention and the 1994 agreement. For 15 years, Naoero has invested critical resources in sponsoring the exploration of a portion of the deep seabed. Our sponsored entity, NORI or Nauru Ocean Resources, has contributed about one petabyte of data more than one third of all Clarion-Clipperton Zone data held in the authority's DeepData. We called on the authority to seek an advisory opinion on the responsibilities of sponsoring states, and we followed it. We established a national regulator with the powers and due diligence obligations that opinion requires. At every stage, our decisions have rested on the best available scientific evidence, on the convention and on that opinion. At every stage, we have called for the mining code to be finished, and when progress stalled, we looked to the 1994 agreement and invoked the two year rule. We were told then that we were rushing. That was five years ago, and today the rules remain unwritten. We are participating in the first contentious proceedings before the Seabed Disputes Chamber, because our obligations as a sponsoring state require legal clarity. For 15 years, we have done everything a member state can do, consistent with our obligations as a sponsoring state. And today we continue to wait. Mr. president, there is a general understanding within the authority's council that nothing is agreed until everything is agreed, and that the regulations will be adopted by consensus. Achieving that is a great challenge for an institution whose members remain deeply divided on whether deep seabed mining should proceed at all, a question the convention never asked the authority to decide. Naoero welcomes every effort to ensure that seabed mineral development proceeds responsibly, and I ask this Assembly to reckon with this. A principle declared in 1970 and a bargain struck in 1994, both in this hall still wait for the rules that would give them effect. When a multilateral process cannot deliver, the world does not stand still. Those with the means to act will not wait. And every year of delay makes that more likely not less. That is why the theme of this session matters. A multilateral system that cannot deliver for a state like mine does not deliver for all. That holds here, in this assembly and in any institution we build. Naoero therefore calls upon the authority to let the waiting end.
Let me deal with the first point. The consistent compliance with international law. Consider UNCLOS, the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. In fact, UNCLOS is one of the great achievements of multilateral law making. It was concluded under the presidency of Professor Tommy Koh of Singapore, who called it the Constitution for the oceans. For over four decades, it has set out the legal framework for activities in all our oceans and seas. But the current war in the Persian Gulf has put us close to a severe stress test. The Strait of Hormuz is closed. We have to collectively reject this. Transit passage through straits used for international navigation is a right for all of us. It's not a privilege subject to fees and tolls. And this is customary international law, which means it is binding on all states whether or not they consider themselves parties to UNCLOS. How we deal with the Strait of Hormuz will have implications for navigational rights and freedom around the world. At stake is the legal architecture for freedom of navigation and overflight, and we cannot allow any single country to exercise a veto on these navigational rights and freedoms. Beyond the legal and political implications, the economic impact is also very stark. The Strait of Hormuz carried around a fifth of the world's oil supplies, as well as critical supplies for other industries everywhere. Its disruption has meant higher energy prices for all of us broken disrupted supply chains and stranded seafarers. And this is why shared rules like UNCLOS matter. Defending them is not just a matter of principle or debate. It is in our collective interests. The largest economies depend on the open sea lanes as much as the smallest. And we in Singapore hold ourselves to the same standard. The Strait of Singapore is less than two nautical miles at its narrowest and yet nearly a quarter of the world's seaborne trade passes through the Strait of Singapore. Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia, the three littoral states of the Straits of Malacca and Singapore, have worked with other users of these straits to keep the straits open, secure and accessible to everyone for decades, including through the Cooperative Mechanism on the Safety of Navigation and Environmental Protection in the Straits of Malacca and Singapore. Madam President, excellencies, the second point is that we should and must reform existing institutions and processes where necessary. In fact, free trade is another success story of the post-war multilateralism.
Our vulnerability is not a statistical category; it's the reality that we're experiencing, and that's why we welcome that this assembly has committed to adopting a declaration on sea level rise guaranteeing stability in maritime areas. The declaration also includes sargassum, which is a scourge that afflicts the Caribbean coast every year, affecting tourism. Following an initiative by the Dominican Republic, the UN General Assembly and the Assembly for the Environment have adopted the first global resolution on sargassum, which, as a regional problem, recognizes a global challenge. We will not tire in calling for climate finance to be delivered as quickly as storms strike the Caribbean. In this vein, we have moved to ratify the BBNJ agreement on biodiversity beyond national jurisdiction, and in March, we laid down our ratification instrument. The ocean is an important source of life and is our most extensive border, and that's why protecting it is a state obligation.
Our efforts to address climate-related challenges continue to face unjustifiable obstacles, mainly from those contributing significantly to greenhouse gas emissions. Global efforts to address climate challenges are being frustrated by withdrawal of financial contributions supporting climate adaptation measures and initiatives by international and regional institutions, as well as individual states. Let us prioritize delivery on the pledges for climate action by increasing long-term concessional financing and deployment of new technology. On this agenda, Tanzania chose to address the just energy transition component through different measures. Some of these measures include, implementation of the national renewable energy strategy that comprises 2,115MW Julius Nyerere Hydro Power Project, 650MW solar and wind power projects, 130MW geothermal power projects, and the National Clean Cooking Strategy, which aims to ensure that 80% of households adopt clean cooking by 2034. In our efforts to reduce the use of fossil fuels, we have also opted for the electric railway to link the port of Dar es Salaam and neighboring countries of Burundi and DRC. We, therefore, appeal that climate financing be provided as grants and concessional financing to step up efforts on climate action. Tanzania joins Small Islands and Coastal States in pushing for a workable solution to address sea-level rise. We commend the President for convening today the HighLevel Event addressing the existential threats posed by sea-level rise, and we look forward to the adoption of the UN Declaration on Sea-Level Rise, which will provide a comprehensive framework for international cooperation, scientific advancement, adaptation resilience, and legal stability.
is a crisis you will one day inherit. Defending the rules is not a favor to the small. It is an insurance for the strong. Mr. president, nowhere is that truer than the climate crisis. Here too, we are told there is uncertainty. There is none. The sea does not negotiate. It does not read communiques, and it does not recognize a veto. In 2024, for the first time, the world was more than one and a half degrees warmer for an entire year. The line which small island states fought to write into the Paris Agreement has already been crossed. A new report released only days ago warns that El Nino phenomena now heating the planet is likely to cost some 450 000 lives by next February. In 2019 Hurricane Dorian inflicted damage and losses on the Bahamas equal to roughly a quarter of our national output. Families watched the sea take the only land they had. Most of my country sits barely above sea level. For us, a rising ocean is not a forecast. It is a boundary inching towards our doorsteps. That is why the Bahamas proudly endorses yesterday's declaration on sea level rise, which affirms that our statehood, our boundaries and our seat in this assembly will not be washed away by the sea. The science is certain. Last year, the International Court of Justice made clear that the law is also certain. The injustice is certain: the people who bear least responsibility are asked to adapt first, pay more, and recover from disasters they did not cause. And the self-interest is certain. People who lose their homes do not disappear.
For many years, we have engaged in dynamic trade in the free and open seas spanning the Pacific Ocean to the Indian Ocean, and together we have built a strong and prosperous region. This holds true also in the Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea. We wish to extend this to Africa as well, to turn it into a main artery for growth and prosperity. To that end, exactly ten years ago former Prime Minister Abe Shinzo advocated a free and open Indo-Pacific FOIP at the Tokyo International Conference on African Development TICAD held in Kenya. However, due to the recent intensification of geopolitical tensions, free trade has been hampered and stable energy supplies and supply chains in general have been disrupted. Amid this situation, in May this year, I announced the updated free and open Indo-Pacific FOIP.
Rising seas threaten to erase island nations. That threat means that those island nations may disappear from the face of the Earth. And far from the ocean, the danger is just as real. In the mountains, a river can turn into a deadly flood. It may happen in seconds. These floods sweep away homes, roads, and lives. We just witnessed the catastrophic flood wave in Nepal, where also 33 Latvian citizens disappeared. Global climate change does not have borders or citizenship.
Again, listening, partnering, protecting. Australian values at work, in practice. Colleagues. Last year, Australia took the considered decision to join other partners and recognise the State of Palestine. It was motivated by the determination to try and end a cycle of violence that has stolen too many innocent lives. We know the only viable path to peace and security in Palestine, in Israel and in the broader Middle East is through a two state solution where the people of Israel and the people of Palestine can raise their children in freedom and safety. We will continue to speak out against actions that damage that prospect of peace, including illegal settlements in the West Bank. Just as we continue to oppose any role for the terrorists of Hamas in Palestine's future. The conflict in Iran has taken a severe toll on the Middle East and has had a devastating impact on the global economy. Australia has been consistent in our calls for a ceasefire and for the Strait of Hormuz to reopen and restore the freedom of navigation and trade. And we continue to call for Iran to halt its indiscriminate attacks on the region and to abandon any program to obtain nuclear weapons. Colleagues, Australia's approach to diplomacy is both local and global. Our geography gives us a unique perspective as a Pacific nation, inhabiting an entire continent and connected to Southeast Asia, the Indian Ocean and Antarctica. We feel joined to our region not just by geography, but by our close human connections, including family.
Not one of us could fault the people we represent for questioning its delivery. The world is on course to exceed the 1.5 degree threshold. Rising seas threaten coastlines communities, and for some members, the very territory of the state. The loss of biodiversity weakens the forests, reefs and mangroves on which our economies depend.
Madam president, excellencies, dear friends, the United Nations was born from a harsh lesson of history. The generation of 1945 had learned at terrible cost that while states can choose their actions they cannot control all the consequences they set in motion. That lesson is painfully relevant today. We are living through a period of profound uncertainty. Power is shifting, conflicts are multiplying, and there is a growing tendency to treat the rules and institutions of the international system as constraints belonging to another age. But the United Nations was built precisely for times of uncertainty, to bring rules and restraints to an unpredictable world, and to prevent conflict from descending into catastrophe. The task of our generation is both to preserve the institutions built by those that came before us, and also to remember the hard earned wisdom on which they rest. Today, that wisdom and the United Nations that embodies it is under enormous pressure. Madam president, this year marks 80 years since Iceland joined the United Nations. For eight decades, Iceland has held that a small state should enjoy the same protection, same rights and voice as a powerful one. That idea matters more today, not less. Despite its shortcomings, the United Nations has mattered and it has mattered a lot. UN peacekeeping and peace building operations have helped prevent and contain conflict around the world. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights transformed our understanding of human dignity. The convention on the law of the sea became the Constitution of the ocean, on which countries like mine depend, now strengthened further by the BBNJ agreement. The International Court of Justice has helped states settle disputes by peaceful means through law rather than force. And the International Criminal Court was created to ensure accountability for the most serious crimes. The United Nations has advanced gender equality, fought racism and discrimination, delivered humanitarian assistance, and help countries build more peaceful and prosperous societies. But loyalty to the United Nations cannot mean pretending that everything works perfectly. Bureaucracy can be cumbersome, decisions slow, and resources fragmented. The Security Council, entrusted with maintaining international peace and security, has too often been paralysed when action was needed most. Too often, the veto has become a shield against action rather than a tool for preserving peace. So yes, the United Nations needs reform, and Iceland fully supports the UN80 reform process. We need a United Nations that uses resources effectively and responds quickly when people need it. United Nations that delivers for all. The deeper challenge, however, is political. The strength of the United Nations depends on our willingness to uphold the principles and wisdom on which they were founded. Madam president, the most basic rules of international relations are being tested, not because we no longer know them. We do, but because increasingly governments apply them selectively, meaning that international law applies until it becomes inconvenient, that court decisions must be respected unless they challenge our own actions or those of our friends. That sovereignty is sacred only unless someone else's territory stands in the way of our ambitions. We cannot build courts, celebrate them when they prosecute our enemies and undermine them when they turn their attention to our friends. When grave violations go unanswered, they are more likely to be repeated.
Ladies and gentlemen, in order to recover trust, we must make headway together on the key issues that benefit our citizens. World trade, without a shadow of a doubt, is one of the best expressions of the freedom to produce, transport, and trade products from one nation to another. We're proud of being a country that connects the world through trade. Having the canal that unites two oceans, that transports goods from all countries of the world without any distinction, that is an icon of integration.
We will take the lead in shaping AI into a tool for solving the shared challenges we face, such as the climate crisis, public health, food insecurity, and refugee issues. Second, the green transformation. The climate crisis is often referred to as a global group project shared by all 8 billion people on earth. A single country cannot tackle this challenge alone. At the same time, abandoning growth cannot bring everyone on board. The Republic of Korea announced its 2035 Nationally Determined Contributions as part of its active participation in the Paris Agreement and UN Climate Action. The Korea Green Transformation Strategy aims to convert our industrial structure, creating a virtuous cycle in which carbon neutrality leads to new growth engines and decent jobs. We are ready to share our experience and best practices with the international community. Co-hosting the fourth UN Ocean Conference with Chile in 2028 reflects our commitment to leading discussions on the sustainable development of our oceans.
Here is the most uncomfortable thing I came to say. The hardest pill to swallow in my speech. This organization has not been commensurate with the challenges of our times. It's not only a leadership problem, one of the present or the future, but rather a problem in terms of action. For decades and for several reasons, the United Nations has not been part of the solution to the problems I've outlined. We cannot simply continue to play by the same rules of an order that was established in 1945 in 2026. What we've seen is the development of a UN architecture that holds too many discussions and is too quick to act. A Security Council that reflects the political arena of 1945 and the reality and not the reality of 2026. We have red tape that continues to proliferate, as is true for indeed many countries. We're seeing agendas that, however noble they might appear have ultimately postponed what this organization committed to do with its founding charter that is maintain peace, protect rights, life, and defend the freedom of its peoples. We believe in the United Nations, and believing in the United Nations means ensuring that the organization discharges its mandate. I propose three things reducing bureaucracy and focusing our resources where there are lives at stake. We must suspend agendas that are not priorities to return the spotlight to those that really are priorities. We must reform the Security Council, not as a symbolic gesture, but as a vital prerequisite to ensure that the council's decisions are once again respected and upheld. Chile signed the San Francisco Charter and has been present, ready and willing to defend all of its causes. We are committed to the High Seas Agreement known as the BBNJ, and we proposed Valparaiso as the headquarters of its executive Secretariat. That means that we now have the first UN body to ever have had a headquarters in Latin America and this is an agreement which brings together many different sectors in Chile to play this role, this housing of this headquarters is an expression of the multilateralism that we believe in a tangible, ambitious and able to yield results. There needs to be a multilateralism that is effective and efficient. And allow me to say that the reforms I talked about cannot wait.
To those cynics, I want to point out an instance that shows how hope can triumph over defeatism. And I go back to 1967 when representing the then geographically smallest member state of the United Nations, a member state that had been a member of the United Nations for less than three years, Arvid Pardo spoke up in this General Assembly in a stirring speech, Malta's permanent representative made a passionate plea to the world's common humanity. He may have been speaking on behalf of a very small nation, but he had a very ambitious vision. Pardo called for the world to treat the resources of the oceans beyond their own borders as the common heritage of mankind. His demand for a law of the sea was prescient, but to achieve it took persistence. In fact, it took 27 years before it came into being. What motivated Malta's action, then, is what motivates Malta's demands now? Doing nothing meant leaving the world's oceans to the mercy of the world's biggest, strongest and richest nations.
These threats require greater international cooperation, information exchange, stronger institutions, and a renewed commitment to international law and international humanitarian law. Mr. president, Costa Rica has demonstrated that environmental leadership is not measured by the size of a country's territory, but rather by how unstinting its commitment is to both present and future generations. For decades, we have championed a vision whereby economic prosperity and the protection of nature are not mutually exclusive goals. Rather, they complement each other. Climate change is dealing a particularly heavy blow to the most vulnerable among us. At the same time, biodiversity loss is picking up pace, as is ecosystem degradation, the pollution of our water resources and the pressures on our oceans. These are not isolated challenges.
Addressing these challenges is allowing us to focus on the future. Honduras is a conscientious country, a country of law, a country in which we invite you to invest. Anyone who invests in Honduras will be offered opportunities, order, transparency, and clear rules. We are adhering to the International Monetary Fund guidelines. In the seven months that my country has been in office, we have increased our international reserves to the tune of $1.3 billion, and that is an increase of 13%. We returned to the International Center of Arbitration, CIADI, on the 6th of March 2026. We'd been members of that center since 1989, and we returned to resolve our problems with a sense of solemn responsibility. With these steps, we sought to reiterate that in Honduras, rules apply to everyone, and rules are followed. On that basis, Honduras can offer concrete investment opportunities in logistics, industry, energy, infrastructure, agroindustry, mining, tourism, to name just a few sectors. We are the center of America. We stand between two oceans. We are optimizing Puerto Cortés— that is a port in our Caribbean-Atlantic area— and it is the port with greatest potential for growth in the country, and one of the largest, most important ports in Central America. We are investing to strengthen our road infrastructure so that we can create a logistics corridor to join the Atlantic with the Pacific. This project and its location means that we can offer to the world safe, reliable, and efficient supply chains. Honduras is one of the world's key textile exporters. We manufacture the clothes of well-known brands. We also manufacture cable harnesses and automobile parts that are sold around the world. They've come from Honduran factories. Around 200,000 Honduran people work in those industries. These factories, maquilas, and other forms of industry require stable energy at competitive prices. It is for that reason that the National Congress recently adopted a reform to our electrical energy law. That reform had been championed by the Presidency. In light of the above, we invite both national and foreign investment: investment in the development of Honduras's energy sector, investment in the generation, transmission, and distribution of energy. Our land is fertile land.
Their tragedy reminds us that maritime security is human security. Put the face to our identity as an archipelagic and maritime nation where open and secure seas are our lifeblood. For the Philippines, the safety of ships and seafarers cannot be separated from supply chains and global commerce. Open and secure seas free from interference and coercion are vital to our security, our economy, and our people. International law must remain our guiding lighthouse with the Universal Declaration of Common and the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea standing firmly as the constitution of the oceans. Next year marks the 45th anniversary of UNCLOS and the Manila Declaration on the Peaceful Settlement of International Disputes. This year also marks a decade since the 2016 South China Sea Arbitral Award, an award that is final and legally binding and that demonstrates how international law provides states with peaceful means to clarify rights and resolve differences. The Philippines stands firm in its conviction that disputes must be resolved through diplomacy and law, not violence and might. International cooperation to protect maritime security must also extend to critical maritime infrastructure, the physical and digital nervous system of our shared prosperity. From undersea cables carrying 90% of global data to strategic sea lanes and ports, sustaining trade to offshore facilities fueling economies, disruption of critical maritime infrastructure can send shock waves across borders. Rather than waiting for threats and asking who should respond, states must explore a framework anchored on UNCLOS that sets out clear rules, rights and obligations governing critical maritime infrastructure. Mr. president, excellencies, all our advancements will falter if they are not anchored in universal human rights and safeguarded from the shadow of modern threats. Since joining the United Nations as a founding member, the Philippines has proudly stood with the vanguard of human rights.
Mr. President, even as we work to restore trust, our world is transforming. Climate change is no longer tomorrow's warning; it is today's drought in Africa, floods in Asia, rising seas in the Pacific, and wildfires in Europe and the Americas. For Botswana, custodian of the Okavango Delta, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and the Kgalagadi ecosystem, climate change directly affects livelihoods, water security, and biodiversity. Botswana remains committed to the 30-by-30 target and the sustainable management of our natural capital.
Mr. President. I would like to also express my deep gratitude for the inscription during the most recent session of the World Heritage Committee in Busan of six medinas of the historic Comorian Sultanates on UNESCO's World Heritage List. This historic recognition is the fruit of 20 years of work and it honours our nation. I would like to express our gratitude to all of the partners who helped us technically and financially, and ultimately made this possible. Furthermore, in one year's time the Union of the Comoros will host, for the first time in its history, the Indian Ocean Islands Games. This major youth sporting event promotes cohesion and personal development in a world far too often marked by division and rejection of diversity. On behalf of the Comorian people, I would like to thank all of the countries and partners whose support has helped make this national and regional undertaking possible.
Let us allow cooperation with Cuba and with all nations to be guided by the interests and well-being of people. Let us ensure that small island developing states have fair access to the financing necessary to build resilience before disaster strikes. Let us equip our young people to lead the technological transformation rather than become casualties of it. Let us protect our oceans and our planet, and let us transform our multilateral institutions so that they deliver not simply promises, but progress. The measure of this United Nations cannot only be the resolutions we adopt, it must be the lives we improve, the children we protect, the conflict we help prevent the opportunities we create and the hope we restore. Mr. president, Grenada stands ready to work with all Member States and the international partners in advancing a future that is peaceful, resilient, inclusive and sustainable. One year ago, Grenada came before this assembly with a message about resilience and education. Today we build upon that message. Resilience gives us the strength to endure. Transformation gives us the power to change. Partnership gives us the ability to do both. Together, through renewed trust and genuine partnership, we can build a United Nations that delivers, a United Nations that protects, a United Nations that listens, a United Nations that acts, and ultimately a world in which no country, no community, and no person is left behind.
In the Asia Pacific, nearly six decades of the ASEAN's development have demonstrated that countries can transform suspicion into trust, confrontation into dialogue, division, into cooperation, and individual strength into collective might. In that spirit, Vietnam remains steadfast in its commitment to resolving disputes, including those in the East Sea by peaceful means in line with international law, particularly the 1982 UNCLOS. Vietnam is resolute in safeguarding its sovereignty, sovereign rights and jurisdiction. The seas and oceans must remain spaces of peace, cooperation, connectivity and sustainable development.
Unfortunately for us, in the context of the war in Ukraine, this topic is becoming ever more urgent. Resilience and balance within the marine ecosystems of the Black Sea are jeopardized by the harmful consequences of the military conflict. Bulgaria urges political commitment and compliance with Resolution 77/104 of the UN General Assembly, adopted on December 7, 2022, on the protection of the environment during armed conflict. For Bulgaria, investment in education, science, and culture means an investment in the long-term viability of our societies.
It has now been many decades since scientists first warned us of the dangers of climate change. Nevertheless, we have continued to run into the climate abyss, leaving the coming chaos for our children and their children. It is almost impossible to believe that we need to reiterate the facts. The climate crisis is real. We are seeing its effects every day, from heat waves that bake the soil to heavy rains that turned the parched ground into mud. People are starving in the heat and drowning in the floods. Crops can no longer be sustainably harvested. Animals and pollinators are dying out. Liechtenstein commits to working with all states to address these harms and to reverse these trends as much as we still can. We support the advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice on climate change, and this week we were proud to join the adoption of a High-Level Declaration on Sea-Level Rise, including a commitment to the continuity of statehood for all UN member states. Only a few years ago, member states in this debate wondered aloud if their nameplates would be switched off. The commitment we made this week is to guarantee that this will not happen. In the face of seas which inundate whole territories, standing up for self-determination is the least we can do for those most affected.
Confronted with this reality, we must have the courage to recognize and to accept the limitations of the multilateral system in its current form and functioning. It is urgent to initiate concerted and lasting action to guarantee every people the right to pursue their development in dignity and in stability. Mr. president, excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, far from observing the world as a passive spectator, Madagascar positions itself as an actor fully aware of its strategic place and responsibilities. Our country remains a committed and operational partner in the service of peace, development and security. Maritime security and the Mozambique Channel and the Western Indian Ocean remains at the heart of the regional initiatives in which Madagascar actively participates. We are determined to strengthen regional and multilateral cooperation founded on respect for national sovereignty, whilst also welcoming partnerships that align with our priorities and serve as genuine drivers of development. We also want to be part of strengthened regional cooperation in order to guarantee the security of maritime areas. This approach will make it possible to ensure the sustainability of our energy supply chains.
However, an unfair international financial system threatens the very existence of small states like Saint Lucia. The rules governing global finance affect our development and our attempt at economic diversification. Diversification is hindered by unfair and unequally applied rules. Oceans of water separate us from the global powers, but our challenges are mainly connected to decisions made in their capitals. Emissions released from these countries affect our climate. Weapons and drugs trafficked through international networks instigate violence and gang warfare in our region. Lack of access to affordable technology slows our development. Mr. president, Saint Lucia refuses to give up.
My administration is therefore also focused on ensuring that Colombia grows again. For years, we have discussed how to better distribute what we have. That is a legitimate, necessary discussion, but it's absolutely not enough. We also need to ask ourselves, how are we going to produce more? In the end, governments can't decree economic growth. What they have to do is lay the foundations for it to occur. In our miracle nation, we want an idea to be able to become a business, a business to create jobs, and for jobs to become well-being for our people. To those of you anywhere else in the world who are wondering where to invest, I would like to invite you to look at Colombia. It's a country with access to two oceans, productive land, energy resources, enormous biodiversity, an excellent geographical position, and a government that champions private enterprise. But above all, look at our people. Colombia does not want to watch the technological transformation of our time from the sidelines. We want to be a part of it. We want to train young people for super intelligence, for robotics, for data science, for agro industry for engineering, and for the new economy. Millions of Colombians are not asking the state to sort out their lives. They're asking the state to give them the opportunity to build those lives. And that is what gives meaning to what I have called the miracle nation. This isn't the name of a government, nor is it a naive promise that our problems will just disappear. No, that's not it. This is the country that we're going to build. It's a country where security allows us to reclaim our territories threatened by terrorism, where trust attracts investment, where investment creates jobs, and where growth leads to better living conditions. It is a schoolteacher in Mompox, Bolívar, teaching with the tools of the 21st century. It is a rural farmer in Ubaté Cundinamarca who can now sow, sell and prosper thanks to his work. It's a young woman in Pasto, Nariño, preparing to be a part of the future industries. This is the miracle nation that we've already started to build. I'm well aware that 47 days is far too little time to change a country, but it is enough time to change the course of a country. And I want Colombia to once again enjoy strong growth. That growth should lead to a job for a young person, a home for a family, timely access to medicines, a harvest that finds a market, and Colombians who, thanks to their own efforts and dedication, can escape poverty. This is our miracle economy, an economy that grows so that people can grow with it. Our relationship with the world is also a part of this purpose. Over the last few weeks, we have seen this very tangibly, when friendly countries and international organizations came to our aid following the earthquake. This solidarity makes full sense when it reaches people, when it solves problems, and when it produces results.
What the Palestinian people have endured and continue to endure in terms of suffering, repression and violations, must not become a normalized reality or a protracted crisis managed from one cycle to the other. Securing the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip in accordance with President Trump's and the Sharm el-Sheikh summit peace plan, ensuring full compliance with it, ending daily Israeli violations, completing the withdrawal, guaranteeing the safe and sustainable delivery of humanitarian aid, enabling the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza to carry out its duties and then moving immediately toward early recovery and reconstruction. These are not merely humanitarian steps, they are also the essential gateway to a serious political process that addresses the root causes of the conflict and resolves them. In this context, Egypt reaffirms its categorical rejection of any attempt to displace the Palestinian people from their land, whether from the Gaza Strip or from the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. The international community as a whole bears a clear responsibility to stop systematic Israeli violations of international law. Peace cannot be built on uprooting people from their land, believing that stability can be achieved in the region while ignoring the suffering of the Palestinian people and merely managing the occupation rather than ending it is nothing but illusion. The goal remains unequivocally clear the establishment of an independent, sovereign and territorially contiguous Palestinian state on the lines of the 4th of June 1967, with East Jerusalem as its capital within the framework of the two state solution and in accordance with international legitimacy resolutions. This requires preserving the unity of the Palestinian territory and the Palestinian political system, enabling the Palestinian people to manage their own affairs and build their state, and ensuring that the international community fulfils its responsibility to protect civilians, reject collective punishment and guarantee respect for international humanitarian law. It also requires recognising Palestinian rights as inalienable rights, not as bargaining chips to be granted or withheld according to power balances, political posturing or electoral calculations. Egypt has shouldered its responsibility alongside its partners to secure the ceasefire. It has been the largest provider of humanitarian assistance reaching the Gaza Strip. Egypt will continue to work toward reconstruction and opening a viable political horizon. However, the success of these efforts hinges on an international will capable of transforming legitimacy into decisive international action that moves from managing the tragedy to ending its causes. Mr. president, the experience of our region confirms that managing crises rather than resolving them, does not create stability. Rather, it postpones the explosion and increases its costs accordingly. Egypt remains committed to a clear vision for regional security based on state sovereignty, territorial integrity, respect for national institutions, rejection of the dismantling of states or the creation of parallel entities, and prioritizing political solutions and inclusive national settlements over the logic of force and the imposition of a fait accompli. In every crisis across the broader Middle East, from the Atlantic Ocean to the Gulf, circumstances and details may differ, but the capable national state that embraces all its citizens and legitimate institutions remain the only true foundation for stability. Security is indivisible. The security of one state cannot be built upon the insecurity of its neighbours, or upon threats to shipping, trade and energy routes, or violations of state sovereignty through attacks carried out in violation of international law. Likewise, any regional actor that believes that its political or economic interests can be achieved by undermining national state institutions, supporting militias or promoting separatist agendas and civil conflict clearly becomes part of the problem. Confronting such actors and their practices becomes the responsibility of the international community as a whole. Therefore, regional crises cannot be treated as isolated cases. They must be viewed within an interconnected regional security environment that supports the state's institutions unity and sovereignty, that encourages political settlements and peace building based on the principle of national and regional ownership of solutions ending external interferences and preventing crises from turning into arenas for regional and international competition over the resources and capabilities of the peoples of the region. The protection of states and their sovereignty is inseparable from protecting the resources upon which people's livelihoods depend.
Rather, it is a land of opportunity and potential, capable of devising solutions and putting forward initiatives. That is the idea summed up by His Majesty King Mohammed VI, may God assist him, in his eloquent words: Africa must trust Africa, end of quote. The enlightened royal vision for Africa, which has materialised through a significant number of projects, stems from a firm conviction that the continent has attained a level of maturity that qualifies it to participate effectively in all decisions relating to its affairs. Indeed, it is capable of contributing to formulating proposals and solutions to the challenges facing the world as a whole. Morocco has translated this vision into practical and tangible royal initiatives, the most prominent of which are perhaps the Royal Initiative to enable Sahel States to access the Atlantic Ocean, as well as the African Atlantic States Process, the African Atlantic Gas Pipeline project, as well as investments in regional infrastructure cooperation in the areas of food security, fertiliser production and training programmes for African executives. This is in addition to partnerships in the areas of health, renewable energy and water resource management.
Within the framework of the National Development Plan 2025-2044, Mozambique is committed to transforming its potential into shared prosperity for the people through the valorization of resources and investing in human capital, especially in the youth and women, which are the majority. We also want to increase value to natural resources. We also want to modernize our agriculture, promote industrialization, develop tourism, expand access to energy, invest in infrastructures, education, health, science and technology, digitalization, and in the economy in general. Natural resources should contribute to the economic diversification of our economy, the mobilization of income, and investment in our biggest asset, which is the talent of the Mozambican people and the talent of the African people. Our location in the Indian Ocean, our logistic corridors, and our agricultural potential, energy, and minerals make Mozambique a strategic platform for investment and regional integration. We therefore seek partnerships that build national capacity, promote local content, respect the environment, and generate employment, especially for the young people and women. Mozambique will continue to diversify its partnership in a sovereign way, transparent, and mutually beneficial manner, working with all the parties in light of the national priorities. This is also Africa's ambition: to be the architect of their own destiny, to participate in setting the rules, and to fully benefit from the wealth it helps to create.
A Security Council that is both legitimate and effective, measured in its ability to take meaningful action. President, there is no lack of challenges to be tackled. While wars and geopolitical tensions dominate the agenda, we must not lose sight of our most important shared responsibility, which is to take better care of the planet on which we all depend. Climate change, biodiversity loss and rampant pollution threatens life, property and prosperity everywhere. The catastrophic floods that struck the Himalayas last month is yet another stark reminder of the growing risk associated with climate change. The good news is that reducing emissions and ensuring a more responsible management of the world's natural resources is possible. We already have the insights and technologies to make this transition possible, and they are increasingly competitive from an economic perspective, as seen by the fast falling costs of renewable energy. But we can only succeed if we cooperate. We cannot put fences around our own climate, our own biosphere, or deal with the ills of our oceans on our own. President. We live in an era of artificial intelligence.
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 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 dared 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. It took humanity centuries to replace might is right with the rule of law. And we must not be the generation that backtracks on this. It's for this very reason that we must rebuild the nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament architecture to avoid a poorly designed security policy that brings us back to another global conflict. And we must impose strict regulations on the tech oligarchs who control the functioning of social networks and the development of artificial intelligence. Because at the end of the day, the future of our children is more important than the pockets of these tech oligarchs. And of course, doing all of these things will require compromise, time, strong leadership, being able to build agreements, to listen, to look beyond our known reality, and imagine a better alternative. And what I'm advocating for, for this leadership, is very clear. Nine men have served as Secretary-General of this organization in its 80 years of existence.
We believe in alliances, and above all, in nations. Argentina speaks from the experience of a country that knows its own mistakes. We know the cost of isolation. We know the cost of destroying a currency. We know the cost of turning the state into a permanent obstacle to human initiative. For a century, we tried almost every conceivable way of preventing our own greatness, and we survived. Not unscathed, but we survived. Perhaps that is why today we understand something that other nations may forget: decline is not destiny. It is the result of repeated decisions. And if a course can be chosen, it can also be changed. And that is what Argentina is trying to do. We have the energy that the world will need. We have food. We have critical minerals. We have human talent. We have the South Atlantic, and we are a natural gateway to Antarctica. And we have something that for far too long we lacked: the will to transform our potential into national power. We want an Argentina that is prosperous, influential, and powerful. Not to subjugate others, but to be free. Not to conquer others, but so that our destiny may be decided by Argentines themselves. That is why I say to the free men and women of the world, to scientists, entrepreneurs, and creators, to those who have dreamed of a land where they can make a new beginning: look south. There you will find a vast land of fertile fields, oil, minerals, and human talent. A land that has welcomed millions who crossed oceans in the hope that their children would live better lives than they had, and who built one of the most prosperous nations on Earth. We have a responsibility to live up to that legacy. We do not know exactly what the world now being born will look like, but we do know what kind of nation we want to be when it arrives: a free nation, a prosperous nation, a sovereign one, a nation capable of defending what is its own and open to the world. A nation unafraid, once again, to utter a word that for far too long seemed forbidden: greatness. No nation is guaranteed a place in history. It is built generation after generation, through work, through freedom, and through the determination of a people who refuse to accept that their best days are behind them. We believe that Argentina still has a great story ahead of it. And we have decided to go out and claim it. May God bless all peoples of the world. May God bless the Argentine Republic.
What we lack is not resources or intellect. What we lack is the political courage to see one another as a part of a single human family. We must see each other not as strategic rivals, economic targets or demographic threats, but as human beings who belong, that refugees fleeing violence belongs, that migrant seeking opportunity belongs. That child in Gaza, Sudan or Ukraine belongs. The descendants of enslaved Africans seeking justice belong. The indigenous community, protecting its ancestral lands and environment belongs. The small island states threatened by rising oceans belong to humanity. The poor, the vulnerable and the marginalised belong. They belong to our common human family, and because they belong, we must safeguard their dignity. We must enforce their rights. And most of all, we must hear their voices. When our first president, Osagyefo Doctor Kwame Nkrumah, stood on the eve of our independence in 1957, he declared that the independence of Ghana is meaningless unless it is linked up with the total liberation of the African continent. Today, from this respected global podium, we must expand that historic truth: The freedom of any nation is insecure unless it is linked to the freedom of all humanity.
Ladies and gentlemen, this morning on my way to New York, somewhere in the sky over the big and beautiful Atlantic Ocean, I read President Trump's post on Truth Social. The president wrote that Russia has lost control of its diesel oil industry due to its war with Ukraine, and it is hard to imagine a more humiliating loss for a country that has a permanent seat on the UN Security Council and takes so much pride in its oil exports. I quote," A large number of their diesel refineries have been blown up and are at least temporarily out of commission." End of quote. And this is true: Russia messed up. And the conclusion of the post is also right: this ridiculous and never-ending war with Ukraine must be ended. I do not know a single world leader who would say otherwise. I do not know anyone who is openly for this war, except one man. Ladies and gentlemen, for almost 5 years now, Russian generals have been trying to carry out Putin's crazy order to seize our eastern land, the Donetsk region. And just this year, from January through August, the Russian army lost 248,964 people on the battlefield in Ukraine. In 8 months, 248,000. Killed and badly wounded. Twenty-one countries in the world have smaller population than the number of Russian troops lost in just 8 months. We have video confirmation for every one of these losses. And these are not just statistics; it's about people. We have an archive of drone videos, videos showing thousands and thousands of Russians losing their lives in kill zones. It's madness. But they still keep going there to die, because that is what Putin wants. After losing so many people, Russia managed to capture just over 1,000 square kilometers of our land this year, and we have already liberated a significant part of it. Russia is a country that already has 17 million square kilometers of its own land, without any Ukrainian territory, by the way. So to add another 1,000 square kilometers, Putin is paying with 248 people for every kilometer. Does anyone still think that he is reasonable and moderate? His comrade, the leader of North Korea, sent his troops to Russia to support the weak points of the Russian army. The North Koreans also suffered losses. Heavy losses. You probably saw the broadcast from Pyongyang when they honored those who were killed. And this is madness too. Why should Koreans give their lives in a war against Ukraine? Kim Jong-un uses them like currency, and he gets something in return. And North Korea's neighbors and countries across Asia have probably already noticed its improved ballistic missiles and Pyongyang's much greater drone capabilities. So a war that was not prevented in time, was not stopped in time, and for which Russia was not punished in time, keeps spreading and spreads evil with it. Recently, we sent two North Korean prisoners of war to the Republic of Korea. These guys are not easy to capture alive. One of them, when he realized he was going to be taken prisoner, tried to kill himself, and he was shocked that fate didn't let him die. And this is how they raise people in the North. It's reality. They take away their freedom. They take away their right to choose. And they drill into them that they must die, no matter what. Do you really want to give such a force more time to learn how to wage war? This has already been going on for 5 years. And we know that Putin recently once again promised representatives from the American president that he would seize our Donetsk region, and he said he needs just a few more months. This is probably the 17th or 18th time in 5 years that he has made this promise. It's always the same:" just a few, a few more months." And then he moves the deadline, moves again. Putin will fail this time too. But after that, he will once again make it clear to the world that even our Donetsk region is not enough for him. He wants more of our cities: Odesa and Kharkiv, Dnipro and others. Someone in the Kremlin even put up a picture with the words "On to Kyiv." Russia has claims against our neighbor Moldova. It constantly threatens Poland and the Baltic States. Russia shows no respect for the statehood of the countries of the South Caucasus and Central Asia. And sadly, sadly, people in Syria and across Africa also know very well what Russian killers are. Something always seems to stop Putin from simply saying," That's it. Enough. Peace." Something always stops him from admitting that 17 million square kilometers of his own territory, internationally recognized by all of you, should be enough for this man. Putin is always looking for someone who can help him kill more people for every kilometer of land, take more territory, attack another country, instead of simply stopping and running his own country. After all of this, can you even imagine him without war? He is patient zero, the one from whom this idea of war keeps spreading further. And wherever it spreads, it brings only pain, instability, new risks, and of course new crisis. The more freedom Putin has to act, the more dangerous the world becomes for everyone else. That is why patient zero must be stopped. He must be denied the space to act and the space to spread this evil further. Ladies and gentlemen, last year, speaking here, I said that we are living in a time when weapons decide who survives. And I've said, if a nation wants peace, it must work on strong weapons. Ukraine is doing exactly that. And this is why, for the first time in Russia's history, we now hear that its pride, its oil industry, is running off fumes. But oil itself is not Ukraine's target, not our target. Not gasoline or diesel. Not factories or ports as such. Our target is Russia's ability to finance this war, to drag it out, to make it more brutal and more destructive. Russia's finances and Russia's production are what must be stopped if Putin is to be stopped. And our great soldiers and our weapons are working for this, only for this. The world's support for Ukraine helps us do it. And I am grateful to everyone, to every country that stands with us, stands with Ukraine, and helps our people.
For decades, other administrations allowed much of this region to be dominated by vicious gangs and bloodthirsty drug cartels, destabilized by uncontrolled migration and infiltrated by hostile foreign adversaries, foreign sick, demented adversaries. But not anymore. We are reasserting American power, including American military power, where necessary in our region and around the world, to create a safer future for all of us. It's happening, and it's happening quickly. Upon taking office, I designated the drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations and unleashed the United States Armed Forces to eliminate them. The cartels are the ISIS of the Western Hemisphere, not good people, they're enemies at war with civilization using murder, rape, torture, and extortion as instruments of terror. Like ISIS. They should be killed, exiled, or detained as enemy combatants without the possibility of release, which is what we're doing. To that end, the United States has carried out dozens of strikes on cartel drug boats, destroying 97% of the drugs coming into the ocean and sea. You've seen it. They disappear very quickly, and we're down 90%. They're down 97%. Nobody thought that was possible. It was a big source of delivery. And three months ago, we terminated the leader of the Venezuelan gang, Tren de Aragua. Mexico is the epicenter of the cartel violence. Unfortunately, it's unacceptable for the United States to share a 2000 mile border with a territory controlled by cartels, so Mexico must reclaim control of its soil from the enemies of humanity.
