UN General Assembly
2019

Allow me also to record our gratitude to your predecessor, Her Excellency Maria Fernanda Espinosa Garces, for her prudent and pragmatic stewardship of the General Assembly at its seventy-third session. At the same time, we commend Secretary-General Antonio Guterres for his continued sterling leadership of the Organization, including the timely convening of the Climate Action Summit. We express our thanks for the report on the work of the Organization (A/74/1) before us, which offers intriguing insights into the achievements within the last year and equally of the significant undertakings still ahead. In that context, we cannot but reflect on the increasingly challenging international situation, marked by diverse crises, shifting global power dynamics and reversals of long-standing commitments and obligations. Together these aspects require an intrepid interrogation concerning the extant global order, including many of the principles and understandings made sacrosanct by the harsh experiences and lessons of many generations, which have given meaning and purpose to the establishment of the United Nations.