Mr. President,
Your Excellencies, Heads of State and Government
Mr. Secretary-General
Distinguished Delegates,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Mr. President,
I am honoured to address the 75th session of the United Nations General Assembly. I congratulate you, Your Excellency, following your appointment as President of this session. I also express my appreciation to your predecessor for his outstanding work and contribution to the success of the 74th session.
Mr. President,
As we commemorate the 75th Anniversary of the United Nations, it is only proper that we reflect on who we are, where we come from and where we are going. The United Nations has stood for the lofty ideal of building an international system of collaboration and common purpose. This system allows us to collectively call to account those who choose conflict over peace, it recognizes the dignity and equal worth of all people. It values each and every one of us and the input that we make towards that end.
Though we have been faced with multiple challenges, as a collective, we have pressed forward, slowly, steadily, to forge an agreed system of rules and norms that are better, stronger, transparent and more consistent than ever before. It has resulted in an international order that has overseen unparalleled advances in human liberty, the attainment of dignity amongst peoples, given rise to prosperity and a global economy that has sought to uplift more than a billion people from poverty.
Yet we come together in reflection here, knowing that our work is far from complete, acknowledging that the spirit of cooperation that has held us bound, is faced with its’ greatest challenge thus far. It is for this reason therefore that we welcome this year’s theme, “The future we want, the United Nations we need: reaffirming our collective commitment to multilateralism — confronting COVID-19 through effective multilateral action”.
This year’s theme, rightly challenges us to critically self-examine. The 75th session of the United Nations General Assembly, must be a year when we come together to discuss our priorities as a human family, and how we can build a better future for all. It is a reminder to the United Nations to revisit and stick to the ideal that recognizes dignity, prioritizes the value of cooperation and the equal worth of all, leaving no one behind.
Mr. President,
Earlier this year, the United Nations held a commemoration of the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, presenting an opportunity for us all to reflect on the relevance of the Charter today, and recommit to those goals and principles laid down therein. The Kingdom of Eswatini welcomed the hosting of the event and joined others in sharing our thoughts related to that initial signing and the developments that have occurred between then and now.
Further, we cast our sights forward to imagine the potential challenges that could arise for us to deal with. What remained as an absolute fact for us, was that, whatever challenges had come before, whatever strife we are facing today and whatever incidents as may lay in wait for us, we deal with it best, when we deal with it together.
Mr. President,
There is a common acceptance that multilateralism and diplomacy underpin the advancement of the three pillars of the United Nations, namely, sustainable development, peace and security and human rights, which are interlinked and mutually reinforcing, while observing respective specific mandates and the Charter of the United Nations.
However, we still must recognize the inconsistencies in our collective behavior. Many of our countries continue to live in poverty amid great natural wealth. In many instances, national interests continue to impede resolution of crises. The challenge of migrant flows requires a collective approach.
If we continue to seek solutions in an individual manner, this will result in an impasse. This organization has become more necessary than ever to foster the kind of collective action to today’s global challenges.
Mr. President,
The Kingdom of Eswatini, like the rest of the world, has had to deal with the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. For us, this came at a time when the Kingdom was faced with multiple battles against the scourges of HIV, Malaria and Tuberculosis, all of which had placed a huge strain on our resources. As a relatively small economy, we did not boast huge reserves with which to finance the fight against the new onslaught. We welcomed the recently held High-Level Event on Financing for Development in the Era of COVID-19 and Beyond.
Global challenges and crises have a tendency of either pulling us together or pushing us apart; true to form, the COVID-19 crisis has created an unprecedented bond between and among countries. The crisis has taught and reminded us that we belong together, irrespective of location, distance and time on this planet. This is the time in history where our reflection and focus must be candid and transformational to deeply explore the lessons we have learnt and therefore, rethink generational to shape the future we want. Therefore, this is the opportune time to ask big questions, make great decisions and commit and act in solidarity.
Mr. President,
The intensity of the crisis has demonstrated glaring socio-economic gaps within and between countries. It has better defined and exposed our uniqueness in financial and human resource endowment and our strength, capacity and ability to cope with challenges. The pandemic underscored that our individual strength is weak without collective but differential commitment and solidarity. It has reiterated and re-emphasized that we are living in a global village and therefore, we need each other. We can conclude that, without collective commitment to multilateralism, we will never accomplish the ideals of the “Decade of Action and Delivery” and pinnacle of the 2030 Agenda — to leave no one behind.
Our community of Nations must accept the reality that the crisis has forever changed our way of life; and we must resist the temptation of reverting back to what we knew as normal, but our duty is to prepare for a “new normal”. Opportunity beckons as the pandemic revealed that what we considered as normal has been shown to have lacked the ability to deliver on many socio-economic needs. Therefore, our focus should entail both response to the crisis but more so, shaping our future in the face of other possible crises.
The most successful preparedness and response plans must incorporate strategies that strengthen our nations beyond recovery. Relevant strategies will mark the birth of a new society that will present the future we want. There is no easy and isolated way to fix the present and prepare for the future, except through collective commitment to multilateralism. The United Nations is not only an international body, but it is a family of nations, therefore, it will always be at the center of and a catalyst to multilateralism and support the future we want, and in extension, the United Nations we need.
Mr. President,
At this juncture, let me commend the President of the General Assembly, Secretary General and staff of the United Nations, the international financial institutions, developing partners and everyone for the quick response and reaction to mitigate the impact of the pandemic in the midst of implementation of the 2030 Agenda and sustainable goals. Many countries have benefitted and this has not gone unnoticed. As the world committed in Rio de Janeiro in 2012, this is the opportune time to reiterate and recommit to sustainable development and promotion of an economically, socially and environmentally sustainable future for our planet and for present and future generations.
Making the United Nations work for us all, calls for collective commitment at individual, communal, national, regional and global levels. The pandemic has also demonstrated the weakness in the classification of our development levels, which have jeopardized many countries’ opportunities to access development finance and debt restructuring, among others. It has further revealed the need to revise and extend countries’ success and development beyond traditional measurements of Gross National Income, but fully consider their vulnerability, particularly in crises such as we are experiencing. Every country’s needs must be considered in isolation, but tackled in the multilateral context. This will help us collectively commit to bottom- up multilateralism and help us collectively progress to the future we want and the United Nations we need.
As a ‘United Nation’, we must dissuade any tensions between nations that have been created by the play out of the pandemic. Every public and private institution must be ready to promote international cooperation, get better prepared to deal with future global threats and commit to multilateralism. COVID-19 has generated a strong global viewpoint where all people dread to think backward and inward but to think forward and outward, with the hope to create the world we want. Achieving effective and all-benefiting multilateralism and building back better together calls for ensuring that no one is left behind. This will entail leveraging of existing innovative partnerships, coordinating responses, refraining from protectionist measures, strengthening inclusion, investing in technologies that will sustain economic and social sectors in the midst of crises, among others
Mr. President,
We welcome the mandated events that are scheduled to be held on the margins of the General Assembly this year, namely the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Fourth World Conference on Women, the high-level meeting to commemorate and promote the International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons and the Summit on Biodiversity. We trust that these events shall be a success.
Mr. President,
As intimated earlier, 2020 marks the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Fourth World Conference on Women and the adoption of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action. This is a significant year for the accelerated realization of gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls. Nonetheless, it is lamentable that though the global community celebrates the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Fourth World Conference on Women, no country has achieved full gender equality. Poverty, violence against women and girls, the relentless pushback against women’s rights and gender equality remain prevalent across the world.
We believe that this anniversary is the appropriate occasion to give new momentum to action. We encourage Governments, Civil Society and other stakeholders to assess gains, identify gaps and challenges, and critically set priorities for this generation and future generations. With all the challenges the world is facing, it has never been more important to advance the elimination of all forms of discrimination and violence against women and girls, than it is now. We need renewed political will to deliver on the commitments made. Let us all recommit ourselves to our common goal of achieving gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls and their enjoyment of human rights, everywhere.
In this regard, it pleases me to note that the Government of the Kingdom of Eswatini has adopted numerous pro-gender policies that promote gender equality. Female representation in positions of power and decision-making compare favorably within our region.
Mr. President,
As we evaluate the current status of our Organization, we must reflect on the ongoing process of reforms. This process, is, in itself, a tacit admission on our part that change needs to happen to ensure the continued relevance of the UN and its’ subsidiary bodies. The time that has elapsed since the discussions began, is a cause for concern. However, we believe that this year gives us the moral imperative to push for accelerated progress in those reforms.
We support ongoing discussions within the framework of the Ad Hoc Working on the revitalization of the work of the UN General Assembly (AHWG) that seeks to find mechanisms to enhance the role and efficiency of the General Assembly. We recognize the work that has gone into streamlining the work of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), in particular how it relates to the functions of the General Assembly to enhance synergies and reduce overlaps between the two bodies.
The reform of the Security Council is a key aspect of the process and no transformation could be complete without its fundamental reform. To this end, the Kingdom of Eswatini wishes to reiterate Africa’s call for permanent membership to the Security Council in accordance with the Ezulwini Consensus.
Mr. President,
As we conclude, among the political issues that have continued to fester for too long is the continued denial of the right of the People of Taiwan to participate in the UN system.
Taiwan has shown significant commitment to the ideals of the United Nations and has aligned her priorities with those of the organization. Taiwan has, further, committed significant resources to the attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals, not only within her own boundaries, but going so far as to assist other Countries to do the same.
Earlier we reflected upon those who have assisted the Kingdom of Eswatini in our fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, Taiwan deserves a special mention in that regard. In these uncertain times, where resources are dwindling, Taiwan has not only expressed commitment towards collaborative global citizenship, but has shown manifest support to development initiatives undertaken by some of our countries and, in particular, the Kingdom of Eswatini.
In this globally interdependent world, it is crucial that we work together where we can and constructively counsel each other where appropriate. The United Nations is home to these interactions and in this role, retains the unmitigated support of the Kingdom of Eswatini.
I THANK YOU AND MAY THE ALMIGHTY GOD BLESS YOU.


Mister President,
Excellencies Ladies and Gentlemen, Heads of State and Heads of Government,
Mr. Secretary General,
Ladies and gentlemen,
Madagascar feels honoured at this moment when I take the floor to address our august Assembly, on behalf of His Excellency Mr. Andry RAJOELINA, President of the Republic of Madagascar, on behalf of the Malagasy People and on my personal behalf, on the occasion of this 75th General Assembly of our United Nations, during which we also celebrate its 75th Anniversary jubilee.
Mr. President,
I express my sincere congratulations on your election and wish you every success in leading this very special session, given the highly symbolic nature of the celebratory anniversary, as I said earlier, and the exceptional situation as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, which the whole world is currently experiencing and fighting.
I also reaffirm our support for our Secretary-General in succeeding in carrying out his important mission in the service of the Member States.
Excellencies Ladies and Gentlemen,
Given the seriousness of the global spread of the COVID-19 pandemic and its incomparable impact on all humankind, which, among other things, has led to almost 1 million deaths worldwide, including 216 in my country, I would like to convey from this rostrum a message of solidarity, compassion and encouragement to all the nations and peoples of the world.
Indeed, we are celebrating the seventy-fifth anniversary of the United Nations in exceptional circumstances, separated from one another by distance, and we should see the manifestation of the world’s vulnerability as an opportunity to come closer together in our common faith in our collective future based on the human values of shared peace and prosperity, which inspire the Organization.
In the context of the uncertainty enshrouding our shared planet, where it is undeniable that individual pursuits and gains have hit a wall with regard to common sense and effectiveness, we should become aware of what is most important in the shared values of the Organization, such as unity, solidarity among peoples and cooperation among nations.
We should therefore reaffirm both our commitment to what brings us together and our rejection of what divides us. We could overcome the COVID-19 pandemic through solidarity and cooperation. Therein lies the vision and true and beneficial message that we could provide and receive from multilateralism.
Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,
As at the very beginning of its 75-year history, the immediate challenges facing the United Nations remain immense, as we celebrate its milestone anniversary.
COVID-19, a shared threat, does not discriminate according to age, gender, religion or race.
The profound economic imbalances and social inequalities that we have continued to fight within the Organization have been aggravated by the health crisis.
The situation with regard to peace, international security and human rights has further deteriorated in some parts of the world.
Several national elections have had to be postponed because of the destabilization of democracy.
The economic crisis is widespread and the resulting social vulnerability has been significantly accentuated for millions of our peoples.
The unforeseen outbreak and virulence of COVID-19 has shed light on our collective shortcomings to deal with a common threat. That brings us back to the obvious need to rethink the scope and reach of the multilateralism that we are promoting so that all countries of the world can enjoy a shared source of resiliency with the appropriate tools for dealing with myriad crises like COVID-19 and avoid undoing decades of collective work within our Organization and various regional communities.
Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,
Madagascar has addressed the pandemic to the best of its ability and with all means available in terms of awareness raising and taking action in order to optimally safeguard its population and strengthen national resilience in responding to the COVID-19 crisis.
Since the official March announcement of the COVID-19 pandemic in Madagascar, our country has very quickly implemented a multisectoral response strategy to better meet the challenges and their social, economic and environmental repercussions.
The national response was based on the following three main goals: first, to contain the spread of COVID-19 to contain the pandemic; secondly, assist vulnerable populations and effectively meet their basic needs; and, lastly, safeguard and stimulate the economy, while maintaining human capital and facilitating recovery.
In that regard, our major efforts were focused on establishing and strengthening governance in combating the pandemic, shoring up measures related to social protection and supporting economic resilience.
The response was rapidly rolled out with the adoption of major measures, such as the establishment of the Operational Command Centre at the national and regional levels and the deployment of multiple forms of social assistance to support families affected by the health crisis and vulnerable families.
Furthermore, the State has decided to help the private sector to safeguard jobs and the means of production through unprecedented tax cuts to support the various affected sectors so that they can better cope with the consequences of the health crisis through a range of various kinds of assistance, such as the provision of seeds and agricultural inputs to farmers and food packs to affected workers; ordering more than 5 million masks from free-enterprise and small private companies; the launch of a major public investment project for infrastructure; and supporting research and innovation in producing Covid-Organics (CVO), as an modified traditional remedy to effectively combat COVID-19.
Indeed, Madagascar has stood out with the development of CVO, which is the result of important research carried out by the Malagasy Institute of Applied Research (IMRA) — a logical consequence Madagascar’s recognized status as a sanctuary of world biodiversity with an extremely varied and rich traditional pharmacopoeia.
With its preventive and curative qualities, CVO undoubtedly enabled Madagascar to avert a human tragedy, as opposed to what tragically unfolded in many countries around the world with the spread of COVID-19, as Madagascar implemented the wide-scale distribution of the treatment in tandem with other multiple health-care and social measures.
During this ordeal, Madagascar did not struggle alone but benefited from the precious and substantial support of the international community and scientists from all walks of life, and I would like to express to all of them here, without exception, the deep gratitude of the Government and the people of Madagascar.
Finally, on behalf of His Excellency Mr. Andry Rajoelina, President of the Republic, I pay tribute, in particular to the entire medical corps in Madagascar, the defence and security forces, all the volunteers and all those involved in providing essential public and private services for their sacrifice and tireless service in caring for and treating the sick and protecting our fellow citizens and their property, while sometimes risking their own lives. Our findings show that the spread of COVID-19 is under control in Madagascar, as the recovery rate of confirmed cases is 93 per cent, with a 1.2 per cent mortality rate. May the entire Malagasy people also be warmly thanked for their conscientiousness and understanding throughout this difficult ordeal and sacrifice combined with patriotism that they have shown during this dark page of the history of the country and all other nations of the world.
Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,
Madagascar believes that we must urgently make up for the time that the world has lost with regard to collective and synergistic deliberations and actions to deal with the effects of COVID-19.
In that regard, it has become imperative to: develop and promote a new concept involving new innovative response instruments fostering global, regional and local initiatives to come up with medical solutions, in particular treatments and vaccines; strengthen international cooperation in the area of health care to enhance the comparative advantages of every country in the multiplicity of models adapted to the level of technology and innovation of the countries concerned and advocate universal access to innovative practices and scientific data; and establish mechanisms for financing health-care systems.
Given the global health challenge posed by COVID-19, those proposals could be realized only through unprecedented cooperation among nations, the scientific and medical research community, the pharmaceutical industry and multilateral partners.
Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,
Madagascar intends to catch up in terms of its development. Within that framework, large-scale priority measures are being taken in several areas, such as strengthening the fight against corruption, particularly at the level of public administration. As guarantors of good governance, the security and justice sectors are also being strengthened. Despite the impact of COVID-19 on our country’s resources, respect for the rule of law and the advancement of a responsible democracy are providing us with the momentum to hold senatorial elections in December 2020 as senators’ terms will end in January 2021.
Economic development and social progress remains our country’s the number- one priority, as only shared prosperity can beneficially effect the social welfare of our people and ensure a better future for our children.
Today, the international community stands together with us as a partner in our many initiatives to meet the important development challenges facing Madagascar. I take this opportunity to thank our partners for their full commitment to Madagascar and its people.
Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,
The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the limits of multilateralism in terms of cooperation in the area of public health, which, as I mentioned earlier, must be imperatively rectified in a number of various and important spheres so that achieving the goals of the 2030 Agenda is not entirely jeopardized by the pandemic’s effects. In the light of our shared challenges, Madagascar calls for a new universal multilateral initiative through the adoption of a post-COVID-19 global agenda under the auspices of the United Nations.
Such an initiative, which could have a specific timeline, would be geared towards better delegating and coordinating all our multilateral commitments and actions to counter the major socioeconomic risks posed by the current health crisis, particularly on the most vulnerable economies.
Such an approach, which we hope will be more focused and dynamic, will enable us together to regain confidence in ourselves and breathe new life into the ideals of solidarity and multilateralism that bring us together within the Organization.
Today more than ever, it is the responsibility of every Member State of the Organization to adhere to the ideals of the Charter on which the UN was founded and strengthen its standing as the ideal framework for international cooperation to resolve major global problems, such as COVID-19. That is the basic condition necessary for successfully building the United Nations that we need in order to achieve the future we all want.
I wish every success to the work of the seventy-fifth session, and thank you for your attention.


Honoured President of the General Assembly,
Secretary General Guterres,
Dear Members of the UN family,
My Brothers and sisters,
French author Albert Camus has written: “There have been as many plagues in the world as there have been wars, yet plagues and wars always find people equally unprepared.”
Last year we all gathered in New York for the traditional UN General Assembly that now seems to be in a distant past and the occasion itself to belong to a world that doesn’t exist anymore.
The pandemic that gave a thorough shock on our way of life also taught us a lesson. A lesson about what does climate change mean in reality — loss of diversified ecosystems, risks of the co-habitation of people and all other species in crowded towns. Bitter worry about the survival of the humankind and constant hard work in multilateral organisations to make sure we avoid global fights over limited resources.
A lesson about the need to avoid restricting human rights and freedoms for the survival of the fittest.
A lesson about the importance of technology and digital solutions, both to avoid health related risks and to stop unnecessary pollution of our planet.
A lesson about fair burden sharing in fighting the climate change, fair access to technology to promote more equal opportunities for people globally, fair and transparent means to control that technology is not used to harm our societies.
Estonia is the world’s first digitally transformed state, where all public services run online. Disruption by pandemic was limited to upscaling e education and distant working. We saw less scramble than any other country to move everything online which previously ran on paper.
High penetration rates of digital technologies in society, equal access to digital services promoted by both public and private sector over various age groups and different societal groups combined with strong, legally protected digital ID has helped a lot.
We want the same for the rest of the world.
We want equal opportunities for people globally to work from distance wherever they are. We want equal opportunities for people with special needs and homebound women to be able to work through digital means, intermittently as their schedule allows. We want global free labour market, which does not necessitate people to migrate, but stay where they want.
30 per cent of jobs in Estonia are doable from distance. Estonia, as a late industrialiser, serves as a role model for countries looking to leapfrog with the help of technologies.
We are contributing to development of e-services globally, notably in Africa through digital memorandum between Estonia and African Union. This year we will also organise a Global Digital Business Summit together with the United Arab Emirates. Our small and medium sized enterprises are building e-services to other nations, cooperating with local partners to achieve tailor-made solutions and increase resilience of the digital ecosystems. Because we know — every digital state will preserve its identity and culture also online.
This is an advantage, but also a catch. Leaders globally must understand that digital services do not by themselves rid any country from fat bureaucracy, corruption or inefficiency. By digitalising these problems we can only make things worse, unless we simultaneously rise transparency and straighten out our processes. Thus digitalisation can make our states more efficient and bring closer to our people.
Digital technologies also serve the fight against climate change. Smart grids, matching power supply and demand, developing digital solutions for that, is big part of C02 neutral economy to come. Green energy production is intermittent. We must balance this by not only developing reserve capacities like pump storage or hydrogen, but also to even out peak demands by smart consumption management.
In a way the pandemic and its aftermath gives us an opportunity for a great global technological leap. Digital solutions can make our societies more equal, more resilient, more accessible and sustainable.
But digital development comes also with its vulnerabilities and risks that is associated with cyber security. As an elected member of the UN Security Council since January this year we have kept our campaign promise to bring it to the formal table of the Security Council. Which we did already in March and continued in May. Because Estonia has the habit of keeping its word.
Dear colleagues,
As we tackle the global pandemic, conventional and unconventional threats have not disappeared. The world around us is as unpredictable and unsecure as it was before. Take the ongoing wars in Ukraine and Syria. Or the conflict in Sahel and the recent devastating disaster in Lebanon. As well as the grave human rights violations in Belarus.
Overall, the pandemic has even reinforced some of the consequences of conflicts, for example the health and well-being of the most vulnerable — the children, women and adolescents. The pandemic has been used as a pretext to lift sanctions or restrict humanitarian aid. New divisions have emerged. This, my friends, is unacceptable.
My dear UN family,
We are 75 this year. The UN is and remains the cornerstone of our multilateral world order. There is no alternative to it. It is the best possible forum to address global issues from peace and security to new emerging threats. It’s a forum where everybody has a voice.
From here in Estonia, I can promise you that we shall continue standing for multilateralism and international law, imperfect as it feels for those impatient to resolve the crisis’ of our world.
There is no better option than the UN, and we remain responsible and active partner to all other UN members during this crisis and beyond.


Mr. Secretary-General, Mr. President, members of this honourable Assembly:
Argentina was one of the founding States of the United Nations 75 years ago. Today, we are experiencing a health crisis of planetary dimensions that invites us to a new beginning.
Pope Francis calls on all of us, especially the leaders gathered on this occasion, to think about how to emerge better and not worse from this crisis.
Inspired by his preaching and his example, I come to ratify a call on the whole world to recreate a multilateralism based on our solidarity.
This is a time not to globalize indifference but to globalize solidarity in multiple dimensions.
This pandemic has revealed us to be fragile and has recreated the need to build bridges between people, between nations and between regions.
If we are able to manufacture artificial respirators by combining components and knowledge from different regions of the planet, we have to be able to dream and build “non-artificial respirators” for the time of the post-pandemic.
If we are pooling the efforts of doctors, researchers, investors and scientific systems from around the planet to discover a vaccine that prevents COVID-19, we have to be able to dream and build a vaccine against social injustice, environmental predation and discrimination in all its forms.
This spirit of solidarity is what my Government has prioritized since its arrival and because of the pandemic and poverty, no one is safe, until everyone is safe.
That is why, from the start of the pandemic, Argentina focused primarily on protecting lives and caring for the most vulnerable, while implementing a series of emergency measures that prevented the collapse of the health system and mitigated the immediate impact of the pandemic.
Immediate relief was provided to families and businesses through multiple measures, by a State that is present and active.
In the same spirit of solidarity, we argue that the vaccine produced to prevent the disease must be a global public good, accessible to all nations in an equitable manner.
We support the resolutions adopted to that end by the General Assembly and have made our capacities available for vaccine research and production.
I set a goal for the Government to put Argentina back on its feet. Together, we can put the world back on its feet.
This requires us to recognize the importance of balance.
Balance is restoring the priorities of the multilateral system, starting with those at the bottom and reaching everyone.
We must be architects of a new common house.
Before the pandemic, we raised the issue of the need to reform the United Nations Security Council. There are agreements to revitalize the World Trade Organization. We raised the issue of the crisis of the Bretton Woods Institutions, which had demonstrated shortcomings in responding to the 2008-2009 financial crisis. They are all part of the multilateral post-war architecture.
The pandemic also put traditional metrics in crisis with regard to determining access to development resources. Indicators commonly used to classify the needs of countries, such as per capita income, do not account for the diverse inequalities and specificities that exist within the same country.
The work of millions of domestic workers and unpaid caregivers, the majority of them women, has been made invisible.
It is also essential to consider how we conduct cooperation, while adopting a multidimensional approach that goes beyond per capita income to determine the eligibility criteria for official development assistance (ODA). More than 60 per cent of the poor live in middle-income countries. If we do not serve these countries, demonstrate solidarity and understand that real progress is built when everyone is involved, we will make very little steady progress in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.
All the aforementioned indicates that it is essential to revitalize the United Nations to enable it to respond to the mandate for which it was created.
We need a United Nations 4.0, with its foundational values intact and with the vision to incorporate the immense technological changes under way, to make them more human, more democratic and more socially inclusive.
This all points to the need for deep reflection, which goes above and beyond a response to the pandemic.
Overcoming the pandemic and achieving the Goals of the 2030 Agenda requires economic, industrial and social policies aimed at bringing about structural change in our economies.
Commitment to the environmental agenda requires the provision of considerable financial resources, capacity-building and technology transfer by developed countries, based on the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities.
Our country is committed to a fair transition towards comprehensive and sustainable development. A fair transition entails a gradual approach, strengthening the productivity and competitiveness of the economy and job creation.
We firmly believe that a collective commitment is needed to achieve the swift and effective implementation of the Paris Agreement.
No one is safe on a planet that is on fire, flooded or poisoned.
In this turbulent global environment, assuming toxic and irresponsible external debt for speculative purposes means another wave of delays and underdevelopment.
Argentina managed to seal a major deal with almost all of its private external creditors, becoming one of the first countries to meet the challenge of debt restructuring during the pandemic.
The support of the international community, which includes several of the countries represented here, the private sector, civil society and the international academic community, has been key to restoring public debt sustainability.
Negotiations with the IMF will be addressed in a similarly responsible manner, by respecting commitments and not jeopardizing the conditions that enable economic recovery and the construction of a path to inclusive and sustainable development.
Just over 5 years ago, on 10 September 2015, the General Assembly adopted resolution 69/319, entitled “Basic Principles on Sovereign Debt Restructuring Processes”.
The position of the General Assembly on the matter set a precedent for governing international finance and recognizing sovereign economic rights in the face of abusive and extortionist behaviour.
It is all with the aim of ensuring that debt restructuring processes are reasonable and predictable, based on good faith, transparency, fair treatment, sovereign immunity from jurisdiction and execution, legitimacy, sustainability and majority restructuring.
We urge the international community to continue to seek new multilateral approaches to facilitate orderly debt restructuring and ensure increased access to public policy, while addressing the pandemic and sustaining inclusive growth.
No country can service its debt while its people are left without health, education, safety or the capacity to grow.
There is also balance in prioritizing human rights over everything else.
The promotion and protection of human rights has been a core policy of the Argentine State since 1983. This decision has resulted in the ratification and granting of constitutional status to all existing international human rights instruments, as well as our active participation at the regional and international levels.
Memory, truth and justice guide the institutions of our democracy, as well as our respect for diversity and inclusion.
The post-pandemic world can exacerbate the severe refugee and displaced persons crisis facing the planet and our region. The answer should be the promotion and guarantee of the human rights of migrants.
As never before, our human condition demands solidarity from us. We cannot remain passive in the face of sanctions that include economic blockades that serve only to oppress people amid this humanitarian crisis.
The fight against all forms of discrimination and the consequent commitment to the rights of the vulnerable and persons and groups who have suffered long-term discrimination is part of Argentine State policy and is included in the many initiatives that Argentina supports and leads.
The global crisis caused by COVID-19 has also highlighted severe gender inequality.
For our society, achieving substantive equality between men and women is a priority and central pillar of Argentine democracy.
My Government is committed to the issue and that is why, for the first time in history, we have created the Ministry of Women, Genders and Diversity, as well as a National Cabinet, to ensure that gender policies are cross-cutting.
Our Government decided to strengthen national actions and mechanisms for the care of women victims of violence, in addition to implementing a gender approach to social and labour protection measures and promoting co-responsibility and a fairer distribution of unpaid domestic work.
That commitment is already evident. Argentina was recognized by the United Nations in its ranking as the country that implemented the highest number of measures with a gender perspective during the pandemic.
I	wish to reaffirm that Argentina condemns terrorism in all its forms and manifestations and is in favour of addressing it within the framework of multilateral forums and always in accordance with the rule of law and respect for human rights.
Twenty-six years after the bombing of the Argentine Israelite Mutual Association headquarters, I wish to maintain the policy initiated in 2003 and continued thereafter. I call on the authorities of the Islamic Republic of Iran to cooperate with the Argentine judicial authorities in order to make progress in the investigation on that attack.
We also ask the international community to comply with the requests contained in INTERPOL Red Notices in the event of the presence of an accused person in its territories — something Argentina has never ceased to demand.
In conclusion, I would like to reaffirm the legitimate and imprescriptible sovereignty rights of the Argentine Republic over the Malvinas Islands, South Georgia Islands and South Sandwich Islands and the surrounding maritime areas, which are an integral part of Argentina’s national territory but have been illegally occupied by the United Kingdom for over 187 years.
This year will mark the fifty-fifth anniversary of resolution 2065 (XX), the first adopted by the Organization on the question of the Malvinas Islands, which called on Argentina and the United Kingdom to hold negotiations in order to reach a peaceful and definitive solution to that sovereignty dispute.
That request has remained in force and has been renewed on multiple occasions, most recently with the adoption by consensus of a new resolution on the matter by the Special Committee on Decolonization on 5 August.
The United Kingdom persists in its attitude by ignoring calls to resume negotiations on the territorial dispute and has aggravated the dispute by calling for the illegal and unilateral exploitation of renewable and non-renewable natural resources in the area, which runs counter to General Assembly resolution 31/49.
The United Kingdom also insists on an unjustified and excessive military presence in the Islands, which brings only tension to a region characterized by peace and international cooperation.
We have asked the Secretary-General to renew his efforts in the mission of good offices entrusted to him by the Organization. We are confident that the mission will be of great assistance to us in fulfilling the requirements of the international community.
I wish to bid farewell to this honourable Assembly by urging all of us to seize this historic opportunity to unite as a society to address an unprecedented crisis.
The coronavirus pandemic has taken the lives of more than one million people and its painful aftermath is marked by increased poverty, hunger and inequality, which are putting us all to the test once again.
I hope that solidarity, dialogue and cooperation between nations, as we were once able to achieve, will continue to be the way to respond to the challenges facing humankind.
Thank you very much.


Excellencies,
We are celebrating the 75th anniversary of the United Nations in the midst of a global pandemic — a pandemic that has placed enormous pressure on our societies, our communities and our families. I would like to express my deepest condolences for the lives lost.
Times like these test the resilience of our societies and our international cooperation. More than ever, we need to work together in solidarity.
In this spirit, Sweden and Qatar co-chaired the negotiations on the “Declaration on the commemoration of the seventy-fifth anniversary of the United Nations”, which was adopted on 21 September. Member States sent a strong message of support for a rules-based international order and for multilateralism. We all re-committed to strengthening international cooperation, with a modern, innovative and inclusive UN at the core.
We now have the rare opportunity to build better societies — societies that are more resilient. We have the opportunity to jointly address shared challenges:
-	the pandemic,
-	the climate crisis,
-	widening inequalities,
-	violations of international law
-	and threats to international peace.
To create, as Secretary-General Guterres called for in his recent Mandela Lecture, a new social contract and a new global deal.
Excellencies,
Sweden fully supports the UN’s leadership of the global COVID-19 response and recognises the crucial role of the World Health Organization.
So far, Sweden has contributed more than $170 million to the global response. Together with a number of world leaders, I have expressed my commitment to securing equitable and global access to future COVID-19 vaccines. No one is safe until everyone is safe. Securing access to vaccines is a global challenge that requires international cooperation and solidarity.
Excellencies,
Climate change is one of our most pressing issues. Throughout the world, young and old people alike have marched together on the streets to demand that decisionmakers like us act in line with scientific recommendations. We must reshape our societies and lower emissions. Sweden is striving to be the first fossil-free welfare nation but welcome all competition to beat us to the post.
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We will continue to work with the industrial sector to achieve net-zero emissions, not least within the “Leadership Group for Industry Transition” that we launched with India at last year’s Climate Summit. We call for more ambitious nationally determined contributions under the Paris Agreement. We will work for an ambitious outcome at COP26 in Glasgow.
Excellencies,
As we celebrate the 75th anniversary of the United Nations, we need to strengthen our resolve to ensure that no one is left behind. Ensuring the equal participation of every individual, irrespective of their gender and sexual orientation, is essential to realising the 2030 Agenda.
The current pandemic is exacerbating existing discrimination and inequality and the risk of sexual and gender-based violence. It is having a disproportionate impact on women’s and girls’ access to essential health services. Robust funding of sexual and reproductive health and rights must be a priority.
The 25th anniversary of the landmark “Beijing Declaration” and Platform for Action” offers an opportunity to intensify our efforts for gender equality. Sweden is ready to take on a leading role in UN Women’s “Global Action Coalition on Economic Justice and Rights”. I am delighted to see that others have joined Sweden in pursuing a feminist foreign policy.
Excellencies,
The pandemic is placing enormous pressure on the ability of democratic institutions to function and is having serious consequences for human rights. Far too many leaders and governments are using it as a pretext in their attempts to silence opposition, civil society and human rights defenders.
Sweden will continue to promote our Drive for Democracy, which aims to strengthen respect for democratic principles and institutions, civil society and international law. We support the Secretary-General’s “Call to Action for Human Rights”.
Excellencies,
Millions of people around the world have lost their jobs and livelihoods because of the pandemic. Social dialogue in the workplace can help mitigate the impact of the pandemic and shape solutions. We need a sustainable transition in the global labour market, an issue I worked very closely on with President of South Africa, Cyril Ramaphosa, when we co-edited the ILO report on the Future of Work. Sweden invites more countries to join the Global Deal partnership for Decent Work and Inclusive Growth.
We have also seen trade barriers introduced during the pandemic. Free, fair and sustainable trade is key in order to create new jobs and increase prosperity. The World Trade Organization has an essential role in upholding a rules-based international trading system.
Around the world, record numbers of people need humanitarian aid to survive. The protracted conflict in Yemen has resulted in the world’s largest humanitarian crisis. I urge donors to step up their support of the humanitarian response. We support UN peace efforts and urge the parties to immediately agree on a ceasefire,
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inclusive political talks and continued implementation of the Stockholm and Riyadh agreements.
We extend our solidarity and support to the Lebanese people following the devasting explosion in Beirut.
Excellencies,
The pandemic is a threat to international peace and security. Sweden and the EU strongly support the implementation of the Secretary-General’s call for a global ceasefire. The UN Security Council has an enormous responsibility. To succeed in its mandated task of up-holding international peace and security, it must be reformed to effectively address current and future challenges.
The fight against impunity for international crimes remains essential. Sweden is steadfast in its support of the International Criminal Court.
Women’s influence — in peace processes, political transitions and crisis recovery — is crucial. This year marks the 20th anniversary of Security Council resolution 1325 (2000); it must be a year of concrete action.
Sweden remains an active partner to the United Nations through:
-	financial core support,
-	diplomacy,
-	mediation
-	and as a contributor of military and police personnel to UN peace operations, including MINUSMA. We are following developments in Mali with great concern. A peaceful, swift transition to civilian leadership, with democratic elections, is vital.
Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea and Sevastopol and aggression in eastern Ukraine constitute serious breaches of international law, challenge global security and cause human suffering. The European Union is clear on the need for the implementation of the Minsk agreements. Sweden and the European Union condemn in the strongest possible terms the poisoning of the Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny. The Russian government must investigate the assassination attempt thoroughly and transparently. Those responsible must be brought to justice.
We support, as the only viable means of solving the conflict between Israel and Palestine, a negotiated solution with two states living in peace and security. It must be based on internationally agreed parameters and an end to the occupation. The EU position is clear: annexation of occupied territory is illegal.
In Syria, sustainable peace can only be achieved through a political solution in line with resolution 2254 (2015). Sweden recently pledged 96 million dollars to the crisis response at the Brussels 4 Conference.
While there are plenty of challenges across the globe, there is also hope. The Sudan now has a once-in-a-generation opportunity. Women and young people took to the streets in 2019, demanding political change, and courageous political decisions followed. The Sudan deserves our support on its difficult path to democracy.
Excellencies,
Next year, Sweden will assume the role of Chair of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe. Our main priority will be working for conflict resolution that builds on the OSCE comprehensive concept of security, with democracy and human rights at the core. The European security order must be upheld, not renegotiated.
Sweden is alarmed at the situation in Belarus following the elections on 9 August, which were neither free nor fair. The increased repression of peaceful demonstrators, journalists and opposition leaders is unacceptable. We stand in solidarity with the Belarusian people in their desire to exercise their fundamental democratic rights. We continue to call on the Belarusian leadership to stop the repression and engage in genuine dialogue with the op-position. We stand ready to facilitate such dialogue.
Excellencies,
This year also marks the 75th anniversary of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. It serves as a tragic reminder of the catastrophic humanitarian consequences of the use of nuclear weapons. The nuclear threat is as present as ever. Milestone treaties have been abandoned or are at risk, and new nuclear capabilities are being developed. We call on the United States and Russia to agree on an extension of the “New START Treaty”, and on China to join discussions on follow- on arrangements.
As part of our multilateral disarmament diplomacy, Sweden — together with 15 non-nuclear-weapon states — continues to pursue the Stockholm Initiative on Nuclear Disarmament, which aims to contribute to a successful NPT Review Conference.
Together with the EU, we strongly support the full implementation of the “Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action”.
We call on the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea to adhere to its international obligations and take steps towards denuclearisation.
We remain committed to a peaceful resolution of the situation on the Korean Peninsula.
Excellencies,
Future generations will grow up in a different world. We now have the opportunity to shape its direction.
Together with other countries, Sweden will mobilise support for the Secretary-General in advancing our common agenda laid out in the seventy fifth anniversary Declaration.
-	Together, we can build better societies.
-	Together, we can build stronger societies.
And, together, we can address the challenges that lie ahead. Thank you.


In the name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful,
Mr President,
Mr Secretary General,
Your Excellencies:
These are indeed extraordinary times in our history and in the history of the United Nations, when we find ourselves meeting virtually for the first time in the UN’s 75 years, as our world continues to grapple with COVID-19 and its far-reaching implications, and as our peoples look towards us to navigate these uncharted waters, with bold statesmanship.
It is incredible how a virus that infected a single person in one corner of the globe, has grown and expanded to hit the very foundations of our international system, our global economy, all of humanity.
It would be equally incredible if the lesson of just how interconnected we really are, is lost on us. We cannot beat this virus by turning inwards. It does not stop at borders, and nor should our cooperation.
We can only overcome COVID-19, and what comes beyond it, through a renewed integration of our world, a re-globalisation that makes the wellbeing of all our peoples the ultimate goal; a re-globalisation that capitalises on each country’s potential, its strengths, and resources, with regional safety nets keeping the flow of vital supplies open; a re-globalisation that better equips us for a post-COVID-19 world.
My friends,
Among the multiple challenges that our world will have to face is hunger, at a substantially larger scale than previous decades. Indeed, it has already begun to creep up on us. We see threats to food security in Lebanon. We see hunger threatening vulnerable refugee communities in our region. We see it threatening communities living in poverty across the Middle East, Africa, Latin America, and elsewhere.
Preparing for this is a key priority for Jordan, and we also stand ready to do what we can for our region and our friends, by channelling our capabilities to operate as a regional hub for food security.
And it is out of our belief in the importance of maintaining food security for generations to come, that we are also strongly committed to safeguarding the main source of humanity’s subsistence—our environment.
Recognising that protecting our natural environment would ultimately protect all existence, Jordan has drafted a charter, to be submitted to the UNGA, that grants selected ecosystems and all species of flora and fauna the legal right to exist. And thus ensuring humanity itself continues to exist. This initiative would be in line with the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals, which contribute to safeguarding our environment for the prosperity of our world.
My friends,
The COVID-19 crisis has brought a mirror to our world, and shown us the cracks in our global system. In so doing, it has offered us what could be a historic moment to rethink the role of the United Nations and other multilateral organisations, to become more impactful in dealing with challenges, old and new—be they pandemics, or raging conflicts.
As long as injustice and lack of peace persist, anywhere in the world, the UN must not rest; we must not rest.
The Palestinian-Israeli conflict is the one conflict that started with the UN’s formation and that continues to fester to this very day. The only way towards an end to this conflict, the central conflict in my region, is through the two-state solution, in accordance with international law and UN resolutions.
The only way towards just and lasting peace must lead to an independent, sovereign, and viable Palestinian state, on the June 4th, 1967 lines, with East Jerusalem as its capital, living side-by-side with Israel, in mutual peace and security.
And we cannot resolve this conflict without working to preserve Jerusalem for all humanity, as a unifying city of peace. As Hashemite Custodian, I am bound by a special duty to safeguard Jerusalem’s Islamic and Christian holy sites, but the responsibility for the Holy City falls on us all.
My friends,
Jordan joined the United Nations a decade after its founding. Ever since, we have embraced our role as an active member state, working towards global peace and sustainable development.
In the 75th anniversary of this important body, we remain deeply committed to its promise in building a more prosperous, inclusive, and peaceful world, and we see in these extraordinary times an opportunity to help fulfil that promise.
Let us use this opportunity to be bolder in our ambitions. Bolder in our actions. And bolder, in believing in our ability to succeed.
Thank you.


Your Excellency, Mr. Volkan Bozkir, I congratulate you on Turkey’s election to preside over this historic 75th Session of the United Nations General Assembly. I pledge Barbados’ full support during your presidency. We are confident that the work of the General Assembly will be facilitated, Mr. President, by your steadfast dedication and competent leadership.
I also wish to express my appreciation to your predecessor, H.E. Mr. Tijjani Muhammad-Bande of Nigeria, for his excellent stewardship of the 74th Session, and his wise guidance in adapting the Secretariat and Member States to the world of virtual diplomacy to advance the Organization’s work in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.
At this critical juncture in its history, Mr. President, when the United Nations should be celebrating its 75th Anniversary, the world is consumed by many complex challenges. Challenges that arise from a world in crisis, and a world with no global leadership.
A world that appears to have lost its moral compass.
Globally, we are witnessing an increased focus on systemic racial injustices, economic and social inequities, transnational crime, terrorism, human trafficking, increased human displacement, rising autocracies, violence against women and the climate crisis, to name but a few.
Geopolitical tensions are increasing as some countries, displaying an alarming preference for unilateral action, are dominating and marginalising others. Multilateralism, one of the philosophical underpinnings on which this very organisation was founded in 1945, is under serious threat.
Power imbalances are causing the world to lose its equilibrium.
Notwithstanding, Barbados continues to hold in highest regard the fundamental precepts of international community and collective action.
The imbalance of which I spoke earlier Mr. President is also evident when you look at how some States are being treated with respect to their debt management.
The refusal of those who have it in their power to help revive our economies — whether it be by moratoria or refinancing, or even access to concessional loans and grants — is causing us greater economic hardship.
Small island developing states, many of which are in the Caribbean and Pacific, labour under onerous debt burdens. Our African brothers share a similar fate. Sadly, for many of us, this remains our post-Independence legacy.
When Barbados joined the United Nations, it was our intention to be craftsmen of our fate and plan trajectories for our post-colonial development. Instead, we now find ourselves ensnared in the false per capita-based construct of so-called “middle income countries”. An assessment which bears little resemblance to our everyday existence. An assessment which prohibits our access to concessional loans or financing in adequate amounts, thereby stymieing our development.
Is not now the time for debt forgiveness? Is it not now the time for the creation of innovative economic instruments to reverse the widening gap of inequality?
Another instance of one-sidedness is in the global financial system where organisations of limited membership engage in universal “blacklisting”, and correspondent banking relationships are unilaterally withdrawn. Our small countries are blacklisted for daring to exert their sovereign right to create their own taxation systems and are forced to compete under rules that we have had no voice in setting.
This arbitrariness in engagement with countries like Barbados must cease. It is done without out knowledge and involvement. It is contrary to the laws of natural justice. These combined factors are pushing our countries back into a state of postcolonial penury.
Mr, President, nothing more starkly exemplifies this imbalance of power like climate change. Severe weather events are occurring across the globe and are making our climate mitigation and adaptation efforts even more urgent. As small island developing states, we are struggling to stay afloat literally and figuratively. Just think about what is happening to The Maldives.
In Barbados we have lost over 60 per cent of our coral reefs along with the rich abundance and diversity of species that the reef ecosystems support. In response, my government has launched an ambitious programme called Roofs to Reefs to save the remaining reefs and hopefully use modern exciting new technologies and the creation of new marine protected areas to rehabilitate damaged reefs.
What is ironic is that some countries represented here today provide advice on how Small Island Developing States can increase their resilience, and then take decisions in other areas that can significantly undermine those efforts. It is no secret that the greatest contributors to the climate crisis do not bear the consequences proportionally, and consequently they are not incentivized to decrease their greenhouse gas emissions.
Barbados, for its part, is not postponing its climate ambition. We will not be deterred! Barbados will be fossil-fuel free by 2030.
The United Nations must take greater steps to strengthen and revitalize the climate agenda. The challenges of sustainable development and creating resilience to climate change will assume even greater importance for our deliberations and negotiations. The UN will, of necessity, have to thread the needle carefully on these issues, some of which are of an existential nature for our countries.
I take this opportunity to express Barbados’ appreciation to the host of COP- 26, the United Kingdom, for doubling its contribution to the Green Climate Fund to £1.44 billion. We are of the view that the need for adequate climate finance in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic cannot be overstated.
Mr. President, yet another reality that confronts us now is that once again the world is on the brink of devastation, This time at the hands of a pervasive new enemy, the COVID-19 pandemic.
This novel coronavirus has stripped us bare!
It has manifested into a “perfect storm” that has undoubtedly derailed what limited progress we were positioning ourselves to make in implementing the 2030 Agenda, and has jeopardised our ability to meet the Sustainable Development Goals within the agreed timeframe. Above all, it has exacted a horrific toll on millions of families worldwide and has already taken close to a million lives.
That is why, Mr. President, Barbados unequivocally supports the Secretary- General’s call in his recently issued Policy Brief on Debt and COVID-19 that the international financial institutions, the multilateral development banks and the UN should provide debt relief. Equally, we support the calls by ECLAC for the use of a vulnerability index through which issues of debt can be addressed and access to capital determined.
We also eagerly look forward to the results of the upcoming High-Level Event on Financing for Sustainable Development in the COVID-19 Era and Beyond where Member States will be presented with to address areas ranging from Illicit Financial Flows to Sustainable Recovery and the crushing debt burden faced by Small Island Developing States.
We are resolute in our view that debt relief and support measures, or additional financing, cannot be bound to any conditionality.
Barbados is also supportive of the UN’s Economic Commission for Africa in its call for the creation of a special purpose lending vehicle, the Liquidity and Sustainability Facility, to support African, American and Caribbean countries in advancing sustainable development initiatives and, more immediately, facilitating access to liquidity, lending and investment. In terms of the current COVID-19 crisis, such a facility could significantly lower borrowing costs, support financial sustainability, and help countries access markets for needed bridge financing and liability management.
Mr. President, Barbados’ recovery from the economic and social impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic will be slow and painful. Resuscitating our economy has been a balancing act between reopening for tourism-related services and air travel, and ensuring that our population remains safe. Given the importance of the global tourism industry, we are of the firm view that workers in these sectors should be prioritised among those frontline workers earmarked to receive approved vaccinations. This would put hundreds of millions of people back to work and stimulate the largest global economic driver,
Barbados and the Caribbean community owe a great debt of gratitude to Director General Dr. Tedros Ghebreyesus and the World Health Organization for their support and solidarity in ensuring our access to stocks of tests and equipment needed to combat COVID-19. Barbados is also grateful for the assistance received from many other countries, allies, partners and agencies around the world which enabled us to manage and control the spread of the virus.
The United Nations must continue to play a key role in the global response to the pandemic to help its Members in their recovery and to assist them to build back better and greener — better economies, better societies, better conditions for the upliftment of the poor and marginalized,
Permit me, Mr. President, to mention of a few other issues of key importance to Barbados.
It is widely recognised that chronic non-communicable diseases are a global problem and constitute the largest cause of morbidity and mortality in the world. We therefore call on the United through its Inter-Agency Task Force on the Prevention and Control of NCDs, and on the World Health Organisation, to develop a health strategy aimed at treating these NCDs as part of a comprehensive development plan. I take this opportunity to point out the nexus between NCDs as both predisposing and exacerbating factors for COVID-19. This linkage makes the management of the NCDs all the more critical.
Mr. President, Barbados calls once again for an end to the Economic and Trade Embargo imposed on Cuba, our sister Caribbean nation. Deep bonds of friendship and family link our two countries, and I wish to place on record Barbados’ deep gratitude to the Government and people of Cuba for their invaluable assistance rendered through the provision of much-needed healthcare workers to help us respond to COVID-19.
With respect to Venezuela, Barbados continues to call for sustainable, legitimate and peaceful stability in this important regional partner. In this regard, we look forward to the holding of inclusive elections.
I am pleased to advise, Mr. President, that from April 25th to 30th 2021, Barbados will be the first Small Island Developing State to host the UNCTAD quadrennial meeting. We eagerly await the opportunity to welcome the world to our shores.
The UNCTAD 15 theme From Inequality and Vulnerability to Prosperity for All will facilitate the discussion of a wide range of issues, including the impact of COVID-19 not just on trade and development, but also on our ability to attain the SDGs and Agenda 2030. We will also focus on the future of the multilateral trading system, the measurement of vulnerability, the management of debt, and the structural transformation of developing countries.
Mr. President, let me emphasize that Barbados is clear in its conviction that after seventy-five years the United Nations remains the pre-eminent organisation to respond to the global challenges before us, and to support the international community in the task of rebuilding our societies and economies in an inclusive and sustainable manner.
However, the organization must become nimble and focus more on people, more on delivery and less on bureaucracy. Barbados fully supports Secretary- General Guterres in his repeated calls for a New Global Deal. This New Global Deal must make the United Nations relevant not only to its founding members, but also to countries like Barbados which joined the organisation well after.
Mr. President, now is the time for leaders to foster unity and solidarity. Now is the time for us to display global moral leadership to promote international cooperation and collective action.
I am obliged to you.


Never in the history of our species — not since the almighty felled the tower of babel — has the human race been so obsessed with one single topic of conversation. We have been following the same debates, researching the potential of the same drugs, and time and again we have been typing the same word into our search engines. COVID-19, coronavirus, has united humanity as never before.
And yet the crisis has also been an extraordinary force for division. We have all been up against the same enemy. The same tiny opponent threatening everyone in much the same way, but members of the UN have still waged 193 separate campaigns, as if every country somehow contains a different species of human being. Across the world there has been an infinite variety of curfews and restrictions and closures, and we have fought in a spirit of sauve qui peut.
And the pace has been so urgent and the pressures so intense that each national government — democracy or otherwise — has decided entirely understandably to put the interests of its domestic population first. We have seen borders spring up between friends and allies, sometimes without consultation. We have seen the disruption of global supply chains with cheque book wars on airport tarmacs as nation has vied with nation for a supply of PPE.
And after nine months of fighting COVID-19, the very notion of the international community looks, frankly, pretty tattered. And we know that we simply can’t continue in this way.
Unless we get our act together. Unless we unite and turn our fire against our common foe, we know that everyone will lose. The inevitable outcome would be to prolong this calamity and increase the risk of another.
Now is the time — therefore, here at what I devoutly hope will be the first and last ever Zoom UNGA — for humanity to reach across borders and repair these ugly rifts.
Let’s heal the world — literally and metaphorically. And let’s begin with the truth, because as someone once said, the truth shall set you free.
And with nearly a million people dead, with colossal economic suffering already inflicted and more to come, there is a moral imperative for humanity to be honest and to reach a joint understanding of how the pandemic began, and how it was able to spread — Not because I want to blame any country or government, or to score points. I simply believe — as a former COVID patient — that we all have a right to know, so that we can collectively do our best to prevent a recurrence.
And so the UK supports the efforts of the World Health Organisation and of my friend, Tedros, to explore the aetiology of the disease, because however great the need for reform, the WHO, the World Health Organization, is still the one body that marshals humanity against the legions of disease. That is why we in the UK — global Britain — are one of the biggest global funders of that organisation, contributing £340 million over the next four years, that’s an increase of 30 percent.
And as we now send our medical detectives to interview the witnesses and the suspects — bats, the pangolins, whoever — we should have enough humility to acknowledge that alarm bells were ringing before this calamity struck.
In the last 20 years, there have been eight outbreaks of a lethal virus, any of which could have escalated into a pandemic. Bill Gates sounded the alert in 2015, five years ago he gave that amazing prediction — almost every word of which has come true — and we responded as if to a persistent Microsoft error message by clicking “ok” and carrying on.
Humanity was caught napping. We have been scrabbling to catch up, and with agonising slowness we are making progress
Epidemiologists at Oxford University identified the first treatment for COVID-19. They did trials with our national health service and found that a cheap medicine called dexamethasone reduces the risk of death by over a third for patients on ventilators. The UK immediately shared this discovery with the world, so that as many as 1.4 million lives could be saved in the next six months by this one, single advance.
And as I speak there are 100 potential vaccines that are trying to clear the hurdles of safety and efficacy, as if in a giant global steeplechase. We don’t know which may be successful. We do not know if any of them will be successful.
The Oxford vaccine is now in stage 3 of clinical trials, and in case of success AstraZeneca has already begun to manufacture millions of doses, in readiness for rapid distribution, and they have reached agreement with the Serum Institute of India to supply one billion doses to low and middle-income countries.
But it would be futile to treat the quest for a vaccine as a contest for narrow national advantage and immoral to seek a head start through obtaining research by underhand means. The health of every country depends on the whole world having access to a safe and effective vaccine, wherever a breakthrough might occur; and, the UK, we will do everything in our power to bring this about.
We are already the biggest single donor to the efforts of the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness to find a vaccine. And it is precisely because we know that no-one is safe until everyone is safe, that I can announce that the UK will contribute up to £571 million to COVAX, a new initiative designed to distribute a COVID-19 vaccine across the world. Of this sum, £500 million will be for developing countries to protect themselves.
The UK is already the biggest donor to Gavi, the global vaccine alliance. In June we helped to raise almost $9 billion to immunise another 300 million children against killer diseases, and Gavi also stands ready to help distribute a COVID-19 vaccine.
But even as we strive for a vaccine, we must never cut corners, slim down the trials or sacrifice safety to speed. Because it would be an absolute tragedy if in our eagerness, we were to boost the nutjobs — the anti vaxxers, dangerous obsessives who campaign against the whole concept of vaccination and who would risk further millions of lives.
And now is the time above all to look ahead and think now about how to stop a pandemic from happening again. How can we stop another virus from coming along and again smashing that precious Ming vase of international cooperation? How can we avoid the mutual quarantines and the brutal Balkanisation of the world economy?
I don’t think there is any reason for fatalism: of course, the dangers can never be wholly eliminated, but human ingenuity and expertise can reduce the risk. Imagine how much suffering might have been avoided if we had already identified the pathogen that became COVID-19 while it was still confined to animals?
Suppose we had been able to reach immediately into a global medicine chest and take out a treatment? What if countries had been ready to join together from the outset to develop and trial a vaccine? And think how much strife would have been prevented if the necessary protocols — covering quarantine and data-sharing and PPE and so much else — had, so far as possible, been ready on the shelf for humanity to use?
So we in the UK we’re going to work with our friends, we’re going to use our G7 presidency next year to create a new global approach to health security based on a five point plan to protect humanity against another pandemic.
Our first aim should be to stop a new disease before it starts. About 60 percent of the pathogens circulating in the human population originated in animals and leapt from one species to the other in a “zoonotic” transmission. The world could seek to minimise the danger by forging a global network of zoonotic research hubs, charged with spotting dangerous animal pathogens that may cross the species barrier and infect human beings.
The UK is ready to harness its scientific expertise and cooperate to the fullest extent with our global partners to this end. Of the billions of pathogens, the great mass are thankfully incapable of vaulting the species barrier. Once we discover the dangerous ones, our scientists could get to work on identifying their weaknesses and refining anti-viral treatments before they strike.
We could open the research to every country and as we learn more, our scientists might begin to assemble an armoury of therapies — a global pharmacopoiea — ready to make the treatment for the next COVID-19.
Our second step should be to develop the manufacturing capacity for treatments and vaccines So that the whole of humanity can hold them like missiles in silos ready to zap the alien organisms before they can attack. But if that fails and a new disease jumps from animals to human beings and overcomes our armoury of therapies and begins to spread, then we need to know what’s going on as fast as possible.
So the third objective should be to design a global pandemic early warning system, based on a vast expansion of our ability to collect and analyse samples and distribute the findings, using health data-sharing agreements covering every country. As far as possible, we should aim to predict a pandemic almost as we forecast the weather to see the thunderstorm in the cloud no bigger than a man’s hand.
And if all our defences are breached, and we face another crisis, we should at least be able to rely on our fourth step, and have all the protocols ready for an emergency response, covering every relevant issue, along with the ability to devise new ones swiftly.
Never again must we wage 193 different campaigns against the same enemy. As with all crises, it is crucial not to learn the wrong lessons. After the harrowing struggle to equip ourselves with enough ventilators — with countries scrabbling to improvise like the marooned astronauts of Apollo 13 — there is a global movement to onshore manufacturing. That is understandable.
Here in the UK we found ourselves unable to make gloves, aprons, enzymes which an extraordinary position for a country that was once the workshop of the world. We need to rediscover that latent gift and instinct, but it would be insane to ignore the insights of Adam Smith and David Ricardo.
We need secure supply chains — but we should still rely on the laws of comparative advantage and the invisible hand of the market. Many countries imposed export controls at the outset of the pandemic, about two thirds of which remain in force. Governments still target their trade barriers on exactly what we most need to combat the virus, with tariffs on disinfectant often exceeding 10 per cent, and for soap tariffs for 30 per cent.
So I would urge every country to take a fifth step and lift the export controls wherever possible — and agree not to revive them — and cancel any tariffs on the vital tools of our struggle: gloves, protective equipment, thermometers and other COVID-critical products. The UK will do this as soon as our new independent tariff regime comes into effect on 1st January and I hope others will do the same.
Though the world is still in the throes of this pandemic, all these steps are possible if we have the will. They are the right way forward for the world, and Britain is the right country to give that lead. And we will do so in 2021, as we celebrate the 75th anniversary of the founding of this great United Nations in London in January, and through our G7 Presidency, and as we host the world’s climate change summit, COP26, in Glasgow next November.
The COVID-19 pandemic has been an immense psychic shock to the human race. Global fears have been intensified by the immediacy of round the clock news and social media. We sometimes forget, we face a virus — a small package of nucleic acid that simply replicates. It is not even technically alive.
Tragic as its consequences have been, it has been nothing like as destructive as other plagues — let alone the influenza of a century ago. It is absurd, in many ways, outrageous that this microscopic enemy should have routed the unity of the human race.
COVID-19 has caused us to cease other vital work, and I’m afraid it made individual nations seem selfish and divided from each other. Every day people were openly encouraged to study a grisly reverse Olympic league table, and to take morbid and totally mistaken comfort in the greater sufferings of others.
We cannot go on like that, we cannot make these mistakes again. And here in the UK, the birthplace of Edward Jenner who pioneered the world’s first vaccine We are determined to do everything in our power to work with our friends across the UN, to heal those divisions and to heal the world.


His Excellency Mr. President, His Excellency the Secretary-General,
Excellencies Heads of State and Government, Ladies and gentlemen,
On behalf of my people and my country, allow me to congratulate His Excellency Mr. Volkan Bozkir on his honourable and distinguished role as President of the United Nations General Assembly at its seventy-fifth session.
Your Excellency’s election to this highly representative body of the international system shows the confidence that your country, Turkey, a friend of Guinea-Bissau, and all Member States of our Organization have placed in you. We express our most ardent wishes for the success of this noble office.
I assure you of the fullest cooperation of my country, Guinea-Bissau, during the deliberations of the session under your leadership.
His Excellency Mr. President, Excellencies,
First of all, I would like to extend my deepest condolences to the Member States of the Organization following the loss of life among their populations as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic currently wreaking havoc around the world.
I would like to thank health professionals throughout the world, in particular those from my country and those from all international organizations now present in Guinea-Bissau, who, together and on a daily basis, alongside our authorities, are on the front lines helping to control the spread of COVID-19 and save the lives of those infected.
The agenda of the Special Session of the United Nations General Assembly in Response to the Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) Pandemic is of particular importance. We must all cooperate with the scientific community in its efforts to find solutions and support the most vulnerable so as to address the immediate negative impacts of COVID-19, by helping to strengthen health systems and develop and equitably distribute treatments and vaccines.
The challenges encountered daily in various parts of the world — as remote as they may appear in the globalized world in which we live today — should remind us that they could end up being common problems.
The pandemic has underscored that truth and taught us the importance of uniting our efforts to combat COVID-19 and all other scourges and challenges we face on our planet.
That is why, this year, as we celebrate the seventy-fifth anniversary of the founding of the United Nations, we must work together to restore to the United Nations the values and ideals for which it was created. To build the United Nations that we want and truly need to guide and combat the global adversities of today’s world, the time has come to reiterate our commitments and strengthen multilateralism. Only in this way will we be able to move forward with the humanitarian agenda, while considering vulnerabilities, promoting gender equality and finally achieving the 2030 Agenda that guarantees everyone’s well-being.
His Excellency Mr. President, Excellencies,
I am honoured to address this great Assembly today, 24 September — the day when my country, Guinea-Bissau, marks another year of its existence as a free and independent nation. Our independence was achieved with great honour and sacrifice. I congratulate my people.
During these 46 years of our history, our country has experienced challenging times in its quest for a path to stability and sustainable development that would ensure the well-being of its sons and daughters. The support of the international community, in particular the United Nations and regional and subregional organizations, has been essential to ending for good the conflicts that have plagued our country. I deeply thank the Secretary-General of the United Nations, His Excellency Mr. Antonio Guterres, and all the friends and partners of Guinea-Bissau for their assistance throughout this period.
However, as we approach the end of the mandate of the United Nations Integrated Peacebuilding Office in Guinea-Bissau (UNIOGBIS), and as we assume, through national efforts, primary responsibility for stabilizing our country, with the normalization of the functioning of all State institutions under way, the continued and indubitable assistance of the international community, through its cooperation and coordination with the authorities of the country, is crucial for us to conclude the necessary reforms and continue along our path to development.
In this regard, I would like to take the opportunity offered by this noble forum to reaffirm to my people that, under my presidency, I will do my best to turn this tragic page of crises and conflicts in our history. I will work hand in hand with all Guineans to meet the challenge of rebuilding a new Guinea-Bissau — one well aware of our problems, but with collective national strength within the country and the diaspora alike, in order to move forward together and guarantee a better future for the next generations.
The year 2020 has been a year of challenges for the world without exception, but it is proving more difficult for the most vulnerable countries, such as Guinea- Bissau. It is an extremely vulnerable country as it is a post-conflict African country, a least developed country (LDC) and a small island developing State (SIDS), facing considerable threats from climate change.
The COVID-19 pandemic has compounded already existing vulnerabilities, thereby exacerbating the socioeconomic problems of the country and the lives of our peoples.
In the light of the volatile supply chain and commodity prices that have had a negative impact on international trade, Guinea-Bissau, a country dependent on agriculture and its waters, has not been spared. The cashew campaign for its main export product has been severely affected and that will have an adverse effect on the economy and well-being of its people. Negative growth is influencing poverty trends in many countries like ours and putting at risk those who were already without social protection.
Climate change is irrefutable. Although it already affects small island developing States, including Guinea-Bissau, it is a danger to us all because it is a threat to the existence of our planet.
The Government has developed national strategies and sectoral policies with international partners to address these challenges. It has also implemented medium- and long-term climate change adaptation plans. It has made available more than 26 per cent of its territory to the National System of Land and Marine Protected Areas, among several other initiatives, such as its contributions to the mitigation of greenhouse gases and NDCs.
Mr. President, Excellencies,
Gender equality is a crucial issue for Guinea-Bissau. The participation of women is unequivocal in all spheres of our society. Since the struggle for independence — and this year marks another year of independence — women have always stood alongside men to take political and social decisions in the country. Guinean women are the drivers of positive change. They are the best mediators of conflicts, promoters of dialogue and peacemakers.
On our new path to recommit to multilateralism, women must have a place as one of the main driving forces.
Young people are another important group given that in many of our countries they account for the majority of the population. In Guinea-Bissau, we have the strength and support of this sector of society, which has actively participated in dialogue processes for peace and stability.
We count on our young people and call on our development partners to continue to assist us with instruments, such as qualified education and technologies, to better empower our youth. In this way, we assist not only in reducing the unemployment rate in our country, but also in ensuring a bright future for the next generation.
We cannot talk about multilateralism while allowing the economic and financial embargo to continue to be imposed on one of the most supportive members of our Organization — Cuba. Despite the negative impacts of this embargo, Cuba has been a leader in all global health challenges, including the COVID-19 pandemic. Cuba remains on the front lines in providing assistance to the world.
We demand that the economic and financial embargo imposed on Cuba by the United States of America be lifted without delay. The Cuban people deserve the opportunity to make the most of its potential and freely seek economic relations with other States and peoples.
With regard to Palestine, we hope that the main actors in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process continue to be engaged in diplomatic negotiations in the quest for lasting peace and for the peaceful coexistence of the two States living in harmony, side by side and with mutual respect.
Mr. President, Excellencies,
Before concluding, I would like to reaffirm our country’s commitment to working towards the United Nations we want and need. We expect strong commitment from our development partners in renewing multilateral commitments aimed at building a more just and brotherly world, while guaranteeing human security for the well-being and progress of all peoples and cultures.
I cannot end my statement without thanking and aligning myself with the statements made by those who spoke on behalf of the G77 and China, the SIDS and the LDCs, of which my country is a member.
I thank you.