The COVID‑19 pandemic is a wake‑up call to the world to halt an alarming decline in its rich biological diversity, but it is also a unique opportunity to put bold and ambitious environmental action at the heart of national post‑coronavirus economic recovery strategies as the international community strives to fulfil the Sustainable Development Goals, speakers said today as the General Assembly hosted the first‑ever global summit ever dedicated to biodiversity.
The COVID‑19 pandemic has been a test, demonstrating that multilateral cooperation is the key to overcoming global challenges, the President of the General Assembly said today at the conclusion of the seventy‑fifth session’s unprecedented general debate, as Member States — largely via pre‑recorded video statements — overwhelmingly stressed the need for collective action to tackle common threats and “vaccine multilateralism” to combat the coronavirus.
The recent normalization of relations between Israel and two Arab countries presents an opportunity to re-engage Palestine and Israel in negotiations towards a two-State solution to their long-standing conflict, a senior United Nations mediator told the Security Council today.
Undaunted by the global forces shaping their societies and challenging their very existence, the leaders of small countries — which comprise about half of the United Nations membership — took centre stage in the General Assembly today, reminding the world of their service to bygone power structures and outlining visions for progressive cooperation that favours their ingenuity and mettle.
On the heels of considerable political progress in Sudan, the global community should help the country weave together its patchwork of recent peace agreements into a “single, unfractured vision of the future”, senior officials said today, as they briefed the Security Council on latest developments.
Climate change continues to pose an existential threat to many small island developing States, even as the coronavirus pandemic presents an immediate crisis, world leaders said today as they beamed their pre‑recorded messages into a socially distanced seventy‑fifth General Assembly hall.
The Security Council today extended the mandate of the United Nations Verification Mission in Colombia and related reporting requirements until 25 September 2021.
Fears that the COVID‑19 pandemic is reversing hard‑fought development gains, particularly in Africa, were conveyed today with 33 Heads of State and Government taking the digital stage as the General Assembly continued its seventy‑fifth session under unprecedented conditions.
While the COVID‑19 pandemic represents a stress test for the international community, it is also an opportunity to build a fairer, greener global economy, the General Assembly heard today as it continued its general debate with pre‑recorded video messages from 35 Heads of State and Government around the world.
World leaders gathered in pre-recorded videos for an unprecedented opening of the General Assembly’s annual general debate today, as the United Nations Secretary-General described the epic upheaval wreaked by COVID-19 across the globe, wiping out decades of development gains and laying down an ultimatum for nations to stand united in weathering the human and economic onslaught.
