UN General Assembly
2024

Mr. President, Your Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen, At the outset, I wish to congratulate His Excellency Ambassador Philemon Yang for his election as President of the 79th Session of the General Assembly. Rest assured, Mr. President, of Cyprus’ steadfast support for your mission. Your Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen, I humbly stood at this podium for the first time last year. My main premise then was that the UN Charter is not a reality. It is a promise. A sacred pledge that we inherited from our predecessors. From those who had the remarkable courage, the clarity of vision, to put pen on paper, vision to action, and to solemnly declare – Never Again. These great visionaries, who had the audacity to build peace upon still burning ashes of war, assumed the tremendous responsibility to look beyond the horrors of the past. To learn from history, no matter how painful, and to lay the foundations for a world anchored on peace and stability, respect for international law, the sovereignty and territorial integrity of states.