The United Nations General Assembly has elected by acclamation Sam Kahamba Kutesa of Uganda as President of its upcoming 69th session in New York.
Taking the charge immediately after his election, Mr. Kutesa, who is Minister for Foreign Affairs of Uganda, said that today, “our world continues to be confronted with different challenges of global reach and impact,” including poverty and hunger; unemployment; myriad impacts of climate change; armed conflicts; and emerging security threats such as transnational organized crime, terrorism, piracy and human trafficking.
“Collectively, we must continue to take concerted action to address these challenges. This is what has made the United Nations a strong, unique and indispensable organization,” he said, proposing that theme of the 69th session would be: “Delivering on and Implementing a Transformative Post-2015 Development Agenda.”
That theme, Mr. Kutesa extended, shapes on the significant work and development being made in the current session.
It emphasises the demand to stress, not only on providing or agreeing the post-Millennium Development Goal (MDG) agenda, but also, and most prominently, on safeguarding its operative application.
“I am motivated by putting people at the centre of everything we do. I am motivated by the need for socio-economic transformation,” he declared, looking forward to working with all Member States to develop an agenda that will eradicate poverty and hunger, create sustained and inclusive growth, employment and better livelihoods for all.
Mr. Ban went on to say that the position of Assembly President “demands a variety of skills” – bridge-building among all UN Member States; patience to guide the body through lengthy and complex negotiations; and “as a quiet guide, a messenger, a seeker of consensus.”
He said that a General Assembly President is steered above all by the standards, principles and responsibilities of the UN Charter – which will make merry of its 70th anniversary during Mr. Kutesa’s term. “These many roles will also be especially important during the Assembly’s upcoming session, when many critical streams of work will converge and reach moments of truth,” he added.
Mr. Ban said that the organization’s endeavours to quicken its work in the direction of the MDGs will come into the home stretch, and deliberations among Member States on the period beyond 2015 will move towards what is hoped will be an stirring yet practical vision and a brief set of sustainable development goals.
Underlining that the 69th session will take place among a period of “great consequence for the well-being and shared fate of people and the planet,” the Secretary-General pressed cooperation to “keep ambition high and meet the expectations of the billions across the globe who look to the Assembly, this house of all nations, for dialogue, decisions and action to bring about the world we want and a life of dignity for all.”
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