UN General Assembly
2020

Mr President, Excellencies All protocol observed, The year 2020 will go in history as the year of crises and the year of anniversaries. Crises were many, starting with the COVID-19 pandemic and consequent global economic downturn. They showed us clearly that reaffirming our collective commitment to multilateralism is more relevant than ever. Anniversaries are many as well. We celebrate 75 years of the United Nations, 25 years of Fourth World Conference on Women but also of the Dayton-Paris Peace Agreement. All these milestones in our collective history remind us how much we can achieve through joint action; how much it takes to make the world a better place. Let me first address the most pressing issue of our time. The COVID-19 crisis represents a major stress test for the functioning of multilateralism, both regional and global, but also for bilateral co-operation among nations. Never in the history of our Organization had we had the General Assembly high level debate like this one. We need no further evidence of the “new normal”, of pivotal changes in our lives, than this one.