Multilateral System ‘Most Powerful and Effective’ Tool to Overcome World’s Complex Challenges, Says General Assembly President, Closing Seventy-Eighth Session
The General Assembly concluded its seventy-eighth session today, with outgoing President Dennis Francis (Trinidad and Tobago) urging Member States to recommit to ending poverty and hunger, combating inequalities and building peaceful societies that leave no one behind in a world currently aflame with heightened conflict.
“It is no understatement to say that the magnitude of man-made human suffering we are witnessing around the world is simply staggering,” he stressed. Recalling this session’s theme — “Rebuilding Trust and Reigniting Global Solidarity: Accelerating Action on the 2030 Agenda and its Sustainable Development Goals towards Peace, Prosperity, Progress and Sustainability for All” — he called on the United Nations to fulfil its mandate to maintain international peace and security as conflicts proliferate across Ukraine, Haiti, the Middle East and Africa.
On the situation in the Gaza Strip, he reiterated calls for both a ceasefire and the immediate, unconditional release of all remaining hostages. He also urged the Russian Federation to comply with international law by abandoning its aggression against Ukraine, paving the way for a reciprocal withdrawal of troops based on confidence-building evidence.
Recalling that he visited 31 countries during his tenure, he said that he engaged not only with Heads of State and Government, but also with students, young people, parliamentarians, civil society, women’s groups, community leaders, refugees and forcibly displaced populations. It was his visits to Haiti, South Sudan and Ukraine that were especially poignant, he said, while at the same time expressing frustration for being unable to meet with Israelis and Palestinians on the ground “in the vicinity of the theatre of ongoing action”.
If the world stays on its current trajectory, millions more will face poverty and hunger by 2030, he warned, expressing concern over the number of countries trapped in debilitating debt cycles, “forced to make impossible choices between meeting immediate socioeconomic needs and planning for the future”. The most vulnerable of these are least developed countries, landlocked developing countries and small island developing States.
While the world is undergoing unprecedented transformation — driven by revolutions in artificial intelligence, digital technology and scientific innovation — he underscored that “benefits cannot be confined to a privileged few”. And yet, significant disparities persist, particularly in access to these powerful tools of progress. Nevertheless, he said that he was especially proud of “our success in achieving gender parity among speakers and panellists at General Assembly meetings”, expressing hope that this “remains a consistent feature moving forward into the seventy-ninth session and beyond”.
Turning to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, he said that — while the plan was imbued with immense hope — its lofty ambitions have disappointingly been met by sluggish progress. “We are far off-track in meeting the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030,” he observed. Further, if the world does not meet the Paris Agreement’s 1.5°C target, millions in vulnerable situations will suffer devastating effects. Noting that August 2024 was the hottest month on record, he also warned that rising sea levels threaten to inundate small island developing States and low-lying coastal communities, displacing millions and threatening livelihoods, heritage and identity.
Yet, while the challenges the world faces may be complex, they are not beyond the international community’s capacity to overcome them. Urging those present to use every tool available to this end, he stressed: “The most powerful and effective of these tools is the multilateral system.”
At the outset of the meeting, Secretary-General António Guterres noted that it has been a “tumultuous” year — one marked by continued poverty, inequality and injustice coupled with division, violence and conflict, in addition to being the hottest on record. Still, there is “growing hope and inspiration in what we can achieve if we work as one”, he stressed, underscoring the “spirit of solidarity” that characterized the Assembly’s achievements. Through diplomacy, dialogue and debate, the organ worked to deliver solutions and hope for both people and planet during its seventy-eighth session.
Commending the “consummate skill, stewardship and dedication” of the outgoing President, he spotlighted Mr. Francis’ focus on addressing the needs of small island developing States, convening the high-level meeting on pandemic prevention and contributing to the success of the 2023 Sustainable Development Goals Summit. Moreover, Mr. Francis inspired action to address rising sea levels at the highest level and convened the first-ever Sustainability Week, he said, also thanking the outgoing President for his leadership in advancing preparations for the Summit of the Future.
“The United Nations — and the multilateral system itself — is only as effective as Member States’ commitment to it,” he stressed, urging those present to work together. Looking ahead, he called on Member States to consider the seventy-ninth session “as a moment in which the world can deliver the trust, solutions and peace that the world needs”.
Following these statements, delegates observed a minute of silent prayer or meditation. The Assembly then invited Philémon Yang (Cameroon), President-elect of the seventy-ninth session, to take an oath of office, before Mr. Francis declared the seventy-eighth session closed.