AS DELIVERED
President-Elect Kőrösi, on behalf of the United States, as host country of the United Nations, we extend our sincere congratulations to you upon your election as President of the 77th session of the General Assembly. Welcome back to New York.
Mr. President-Elect, your campaign promised a vision focused on concrete solutions through solidarity, sustainability, and science. Inclusive pandemic recovery, protecting and promoting human rights, and tackling climate change will be key challenges for us during the General Assembly’s next session. The success of this ambitious agenda will rest not only upon our collective commitment to advance these initiatives, but also to ensure all voices are included and heard. That means keeping the doors of the UN open to multi-stakeholder participation, especially civil society. We appreciated your statement on this during the candidate forum and your pledge to hold regular meetings with civil society. We look forward to supporting your work to advance this important priority.
You will assume your new role as we emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic. Throughout this unprecedented crisis, the role of the PGA has been critical to developing solutions to ensure that the work of the General Assembly is accomplished. Going forward, we need to continue exploring new working methods to incorporate the many lessons we have learned over the past two years.
On this occasion, we would also like to commend President Shahid on his dedicated service and his tirelesss work over the past year. Mr. President, we especially commend your leadership through the extraordinary events and initiatives during the course of the 76th session. During your tenure, an Emergency Special Session enabled UN Member States to address Russia’s unprovoked war of choice in Ukraine. Through this emergency session, the overwhelming number of Member States in this chamber made clear their opposition to this unlawful invasion and their demand for the establishment of humanitarian corridors. You also convened important consultations on the Secretary-General’s report, Our Common Agenda. The process that began under your presidency will help us refocus and prioritize the UN to address the most pressing global needs, including accelerating progress towards the 2013* Agenda for Sustainable Development.
President Shahid, your stewardship has laid the groundwork for broad progress in the year ahead. We look forward to working closely with President** Kőrösi, as both Host Country and as a Member State, to move forward on the next phase of Our Common Agenda; to advance international cooperation that is inclusive, effective, and transparent; and to uphold the purposes and principles of the UN Charter. Thank you.
Original source can be found here.
