Remarks by the President of the eighty-first session, published as delivered. Statements in the General Assembly Hall are listed alongside those given at high-level meetings, thematic debates, commemorations and briefings. Most recent first.
“Outside these walls, people are not asking whether the United Nations still exists. They are asking whether it works.”
November 2026
“Let us judge success not only by targets announced or finance pledged, but by emissions reduced, resources delivered and lives protected.”
“But speeches do not cool our planet. Decisions and delivery do.”
“No country should have to choose between protecting forests and advancing development. Our task is to make both possible.”
“Now that the Decade is opening, it needs champions. It needs leaders who will take the movement further at a time when global environment has come under very, very serious stress.”
“International legal institutions operate within their respective mandates and applicable legal frameworks.”
“Moving posts may cut costs. Merging units may cut duplication. But unless we examine the underlying logic – what we do, why we do it, and how decisions translate into results – we risk changing the organizational chart without changing the Organization.”
October 2026
“Participation is not an accessory to multilateralism. It is the foundation of its legitimacy.”
“Before the law, the strength of an argument must matter more than the power of its author.”
“Let us reaffirm that no veto should bring an end to dialogue and diplomacy; and that the principles of the Charter must continue to guide our collective search for peace.”
“Finding common ground does not require denying our differences. It requires deciding that our shared interest in an effective system of collective security is greater than our attachment to any single formulation.”
“Political commitment becomes credible when it survives the budget process.”
“Let COP31 be judged not by the promises we repeat, but by the people we protect.”
“The choices we make today will determine whether international law remains a living force or becomes an increasingly distant ideal.”
“The ultimate test of this Committee is not how many resolutions it adopts. It is whether those resolutions have a real impact on people and communities.”
“AI can automate tasks. It must never automate accountability.”
“Africa has resources. Africa has people. Africa has ambition.”
“The adoption of a resolution is not the end of our responsibility; it is just the beginning.”
“People do not measure us by meetings, resolutions or pages of documents. They measure us by whether development reaches them.”
“No State can build lasting security on the insecurity of another.”
“If the other Committees are where we make promises, the Fifth Committee is where we determine whether those promises will be kept.”
“Trust must be earned through commitments honoured and results delivered.”
“The Council’s deliberations revealed significant differences concerning the draft resolution; it is precisely when positions diverge most sharply, that dialogue and diplomacy become most indispensable.”
September 2026
“The starting point must be a simple truth, reaffirmed in the Pact for the Future: a nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought.”
“Hatred is learned. But so are respect, solidarity and our shared humanity.”
“Dialogue can be difficult. It can be frustrating. But it is always better than a world in which we stop talking and take up arms.”
“Pandemics do not respect borders, wealth or military power.”
“From Sagarmatha to the sea, we are witnessing one interconnected climate crisis.”
“Solidarity is a powerful force, and we should draw on these shared experiences as we chart a path forward.”
“If middle-income countries succeed, the Sustainable Development Goals can succeed. If they remain trapped, the world will remain off track.”
“Sea-level rise is ultimately about people. About our heritage, our identity and the world we leave to our children.”
“We have a moral, legal and practical responsibility to sustain the work of Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵRWA.”
“Together, let us turn opportunity into access and partnership into progress, leaving no country locked out.”
“The LDC agenda is not an act of charity. It is a test of justice, foresight and the credibility of multilateralism.”
“The world has changed profoundly since 1986. Our commitment to the right to development must not.”
“The Rohingya have made their aspiration clear again, and again, and again: they want to return home.”
“Young people must advance from participation to leadership: from being consulted to co-designing policy; from receiving programmes to building enterprises; and from demanding change to implementing it.”
“Let us choose dialogue over division; respect over contempt; and solidarity over hatred.”
“King Harald reminds us that trust is not proclaimed; it is built, patiently, by seeing one another and working with each other.”
“Faced with extreme risks, countries of the South have not surrendered their agency or hope… they reach out a hand – and find another reaching back, across southern geographies, as a partner in shared resolve.”
“The question is whether all of us will have a voice in how that transformation unfolds.”
“On behalf of the General Assembly, I extend our deepest condolences to the Government and people of the State of Qatar, and especially to the family of His Highness.”
“Peace must be built. And it is our shared responsibility to build it.”
“My main pledge for this 81st session, dear colleagues and friends, is to work tirelessly to revive trust in this institution, upon which success of our collective action ultimately depends.”
“As a candidate, I ran on the theme: ‘Restoring trust, managing transformation’. Now, as President, I add to this, we must make the United Nations ‘Fit for the Future’.”
“We remember that community is measured not by how it treats the mighty – but by how it protects the marginalized.”
Before the Session Opened
Statements given between his election on 2 June 2026 and the opening of the session.
Delivered immediately after his election: a commitment to engage all Member States, to rebuild trust and nurture consensus, and to organise the Office reflecting geographical, gender and linguistic balance. The six areas of action set out that day became the pillars of the presidency.
A session normally produces some two hundred statements. Each is posted here, usually on the day it is delivered, with translations added where they are issued. The calendar of meetings and events shows what is scheduled next.