Statement by Simon Thomas, UK Ambassador to the General Assembly, at the UN General Assembly.
Mr Secretary-General, let me begin by expressing our sincere thanks to you for your leadership over the past nine years.
You have steered the United Nations through an era of unprecedented global challenge, with vision and resolve.
Under your tenure, and with our support, the UN has advanced major priorities: elevating climate action to the top of the global agenda, championing digital cooperation, and strengthening humanitarian response in times of crisis.
The adoption of the Pact for the Future stands as a landmark achievement, charting a course for a more inclusive, sustainable, and resilient world order.
But as you have set out this morning, there is no shortage of challenges ahead for the organisation, for multilateralism, and for our planet.
Your New Year's message set the tone for the months ahead. We must, as you said, "get our priorities straight." We must "choose people and planet over pain."
And as you said so powerfully this morning, we must work "full steam ahead" fully and faithfully, in support of the Charter, as an important "living promise" to the people of the world.
Alongside the three principles you highlighted, we welcome your UN80 reform initiative and your commitment to make this organisation more inclusive, more efficient, and better able to serve those who depend on it most.
And we welcome your clear message today about taking that forward with continued high ambition.
These efforts are essential to ensuring the UN can meet the defining challenges of our time.
And the UK stands ready to work with you, and all Member States, to advance this important agenda.
Madam President, Mr Secretary‑General, this week we mark 80 years since the first General Assembly, Security Council and ECOSOC meetings, held in London in January 1946.
And we look forward to welcoming you to London this weekend to celebrate this important anniversary.
As we reflect on this organisation's first eight decades, we recall the remarkable efforts and achievements of those first delegates who came together in the extraordinary circumstances of the aftermath of World War, and we renew their conviction that nations acting together can achieve far more than they can alone.
Let us approach the year ahead in that spirit, determined to work together to deliver the progress that this world so urgently needs.
