UNITED NATIONS (AP) 鈥 Cameroon鈥檚 former prime minister took over the presidency of the U.N. General Assembly on Tuesday, issuing 鈥渁 clarion call鈥 to the world鈥檚 divided nations to come together and take action to address global challenges from climate change and poverty to conflicts and armed violence.
Philemon Yang told the 193-member world body there are doubts that nations can join forces to tackle these and other pressing issues. But he said: 鈥淲e must demonstrate that international cooperation remains the most effective tool at our disposal for addressing the profound and borderless issues we confront.鈥
Yang, a former diplomat who was prime minister of his West African nation from 2009 to 2019, said the cornerstone of his one-year presidency 鈥渨ill be built on the principles of unity in diversity.鈥
He said peace and security will continue to be 鈥渙f paramount importance鈥 during his presidency.
鈥淭his is why, I will urge the assembly to intensify its determination to prioritize the resolution of conflicts, including the intractable ones in , , and as well as find durable solutions to the situation in the Great Lakes region and elsewhere in Africa,鈥 Yang said.
Outgoing General Assembly President Dennis Francis urged the United Nations, which was established on the ashes of World War II, to rise to meet its mandate 鈥 to maintain international peace and security.
鈥淚t is no understatement to say that the magnitude of manmade human suffering we are witnessing around the world is simply staggering,鈥 the former diplomat and ambassador from Trinidad and Tobago said, pointing to Gaza and other conflicts.
But Francis also warned that millions of people live in abject poverty and hopelessness today, and 鈥淥n our current trajectory, millions more will face poverty and hunger by 2030.鈥
also focused on the need for nations to work together.
He said the 78th session of the General Assembly, which ended Tuesday morning, was 鈥渁 tumultuous year鈥 of continued poverty, inequality, injustice, division, violence and conflict 鈥 and it was also the hottest year on record.
鈥淏ut this session also closes at a time of growing hope and inspiration in what we can achieve if we work as one,鈥 the U.N. chief said.
At Tuesday afternoon鈥檚 opening of the 79th assembly session, Guterres told diplomats: 鈥淪tep by step, solution by solution, we can rebuild trust and faith in one another, and in what we can accomplish through collaboration and solidarity.鈥
Yang will preside at the upcoming gathering of world leaders at the General Assembly, first at the Summit of the Future on Sept. 22-23 called by the secretary-general to spur multilateral action on global issues 鈥 and reform global institutions founded after World War II
Immediately after the summit ends, world leaders will hold their annual global meeting from Sept. 24-30, with public speeches in the assembly and lots of private meetings where a lot of the world鈥檚 business often gets done.
