General Assembly: 1st plenary meeting, 80th session

It's my great pleasure and honor to declare open the 80th regular session of the General Assembly and call to order its first plenary meeting. In accordance with Rule 62 of the Rules of Procedure of the Assembly, I invite representatives to stand and observe one minute of silent prayer or meditation. The 80th session of the General Assembly is no ordinary session. 80 years. Longer than the average human lifespan. Normally, this would be a moment to celebrate. But are we really in a mood for celebration? Can we celebrate while parents in Gaza are watching their children starve? While Afghan girls are banned from school prevented from having a normal childhood. While grandfathers in Kharkiv are sheltering in bathtubs, fearful of drones and missiles. While women in Darfur are hiding their daughters from being raped. While Pacific Islanders are watching seas rise and waves lap against their home. And while 808 million people are still trapped in extreme poverty, worried about how to simply feed their family. Instead of celebrating, one might rather ask, where is the United Nations? Which was created to save us from hell? Where is the United Nations as conflicts spread, as our planet burns, as human rights are trampled? Our answer must be clear: We are not giving up. We are here. We see you. Even when we face setbacks and frustrations. When diplomacy fails us and consensus eludes us. We will unite to deliver for the people of the world. We will unite to defend the principles of this institution. If girls in Afghanistan or parents in Gaza can wake up in the darkest hours of life and push forward, then so can we. We owe it to them. But, dear Excellencies, we owe it also to ourselves. Because there is simply no alternative. The world needs the United Nations. In no way would we be better off without it. This remains the only organization capable of bringing together every country in the world. The only one capable of acting on a truly global scale. The only one with worldwide political legitimacy and moral authority. Yes, our world is in pain, indeed. But imagine how much more pain there would be without the United Nations. Just last year alone, without UNICEF, 26 million children would not have received an education. Without the World Food Programme, Nearly 125 million people would have lacked life-saving food assistance. Without the UN Refugee Agency and the International Organization for Migration, over 62 million people would not have received critical aid. Without the World Health Organization, 70 million people would not have benefited from mental health services. And without ICAO, almost 5 billion airplane passengers, including all of us, would not have arrived safely at our destination, not even here in New York. Even the biggest economies cannot handle everything all by themselves. It has been said If the UN did not exist, we would have to invent it. Thankfully, we do not have to invent it. Our grandmothers and grandfathers did just that for us. Our job today, 80 years later, is to keep it alive, to strengthen it, and to make it fit for the 21st century. That is why, dear Excellencies, this is no ordinary session. This is a year to adapt, to evolve, and to build the United Nations we need for the next 80 years, for the lifetimes of our children. It is a moment to show 8 billion people around the world why this organization still matters. Why they are right to look to the streaming blue flag of the United Nations as a source of hope. Yes, it will not be easy. It requires courage to stand up. Courage to cease the processes already underway. Processes with the power to reshape and reinvigorate this organization so that it's capable of realizing its core objectives: to deliver on peace, on security, on sustainable development, and human rights. That includes building on the successful adoption of the Pact for the Future and ensuring its implementation. It includes advancing the UN80 reform agenda and ensuring that it's more than a cost-cutting exercise. Reform must be a means to increase effectiveness, not an end in itself. Throughout my candidacy and in bilateral meetings, one message came through consistently and clearly. The General Assembly must focus on its mandates, to deliver on its commitments. That means less procedure for its own sake and more deliver in substance. It includes selecting who will lead this, our organization, into the future. The selection of the next Secretary-General is one of the key processes during this 80th session. Our choice will send a powerful message about who we are and whether we truly serve all the peoples of the world, of which, everywhere in the world, half are women and girls. And to be frank, As Olli touched upon in the Pact for the Future, one might wonder how in 80 years not one single woman out of 4 billion potential candidates has ever served as the Secretary-General. As I said, this is not an ordinary session. We stand at a crossroad. A make-or-break moment. 8 decades of progress and setbacks, of achievement and failure, but also of renewal and resolve have brought us here. Now we need the will and ambition to turn promise into action, promise into practice, and commitments into measurable progress. Of course, history is rarely made all at once in one big splash. It comes more often in small steps and big strides alike. In the deliberate choices we ourselves make each day. In building one school after another until 26 million children are able to attend. In handing out food packets to the hungry until 125 million people are fed. In installing solar panels one by one until regions entire regions starved for power are electrified. And yes, also in the very tiny steps, practical ones, we can take ourselves in this hall to speak less and act more. Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, as I stand here today, and open the 80th session, I commit to serving each of the 193 member states of this organization equally. I will be impartial, a bridge builder, guided by only one thing: our United Nations Charter. It will be my North Star. I will always act with the belief that we are truly better together. As such, my door will always be open. I will consult, listen, and ensure every voice is heard, including those too often overlooked. I thank you, the membership for the trust you have placed in me. I thank my predecessor for the support afforded to my office by him and also by his wonderful team. I applaud President Philemon Yang for his patience, his wisdom, and his steady leadership in guiding the 79th session through a year of significant accomplishments. Excellencies, the spirit of this milestone session and its High-Level Week is "Better Together: 80 Years and More for Peace, Development and Human Rights." It sounds easy, but it's hard work. Because we are living not only in difficult times, but we all know, in times of disunity. Therefore, I encourage everyone to embrace the theme not only at this year's General Debate, but also throughout the work of the upcoming session, throughout the next weeks and months. This space, this hall, was created exactly for that purpose. To sort out our differences peacefully together. Our predecessors came together 80 years ago in San Francisco to establish this organization, also in a moment of despair. The world came together in 2015 after conferences after conferences of failure to adopt finally the Paris Agreement on climate change and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. And yeah, we came together only last year to adopt the Pact for the Future. These are not exceptions. They reflect an understanding deep within us. That to forge a better future, we must work together, be better together. Let us not relearn the hard lessons. Let us instead come together, especially in moments we would like to give up, to take the easy way out, to respond to those desperate calls from around our world. Let us come together to bring relief to the hungry children of Gaza, to give Afghan girls their future back, to deliver peace to the people of Ukraine, to provide safety to Sudanese women and girls, to save small island states from the climate catastrophe. And to deliver on the promise of ending poverty in all its forms. This 80th session is our chance, our chance to make it, not break it. To live up to the promises of the Charter, for today, for tomorrow, and for the next 80 years, showing that we are indeed better together.

I thank you.

And now I have the honor to give the floor to the Secretary-General of the United Nations, His Excellency Antonio Guterres.

Thank you. Madam President of the General Assembly, Your Excellency Annalena Baerbock, congratulations once again on your election, which holds added significance as you become only the 5th woman in history to be elected to this important role. And I thank the outgoing President, His Excellency Philemon Yang, for so ably guiding this Assembly over the last year. I pledge my support to you, Madam President, as you take on this important role in an important year—the 80th anniversary of the United Nations. You bring a wealth of government and diplomatic experience to this task. Including serving as your country's Foreign Minister. And as you work to fulfill your inspiring vision, "Better Together," and address your priority issues of peace, development, reform, and transparency. Excellencies, 8 decades ago, the founders of our Organization gathered in San Francisco. Emerging from the fires of a world war, they envisioned something different. —a global problem-solving body that could not only prevent calamities like war, but could forge solutions to other age-old problems haunting humanity: poverty, hunger, illness and inequality. These efforts, built by the world for the world and grounded in the values and principles of the United Nations Charter, are what this Assembly is all about. Excellencies, the United Nations provides the place, the Charter provides the tools, and the Pact for the Future adopted last September provided a shot in the arm for the multilateral system and the values that have defined this organization from day one. The Pact reminds us that, 8 decades on, we can and must continue rising above division and and working together to make our world a better, more peaceful and prosperous place for all. To heal divisions and end conflicts. To recommit to the letter and spirit of international law. To summon the resolve to help all countries climb the development ladder and achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. To protect our planet and make the shift to renewables, supporting developing countries every step of the way; to adapt to the challenges and opportunities of a digital world; and through the Declaration on Future Generations, to ensure that the decisions we make today benefit those who will inherit and shape the future tomorrow. But nothing can happen without this Assembly, all of you working as one. The Charter is not self-executing. By design, it requires countries looking beyond their national interests and rebuilding trust and faith in one another, and in what we can accomplish through collaboration and solidarity. And it requires realizing that, while we cannot solve all the world's problems here, We can unite behind solutions that will ultimately move humanity closer to a better, fairer, more peaceful and equal world for all. So, as we begin this 80th session, I call on all Member States to summon the same resolve and spirit of determination that brought delegates to San Francisco in 1945. Let's live up to their vision.— and most important, to the expectations and hopes of today's people around the world. Thank you.

I thank the Secretary-General. Next, I would like, in keeping with the established practice, pleases to invite the attention of the Assembly to Document A/80/362. It contains a letter from the Secretary-General addressed to the President of the Assembly, in which she informs the Assembly of Member States in arrears in the payment of their financial contributions to the United Nations within the terms of Article 19 of the Charter. I would like to remind delegations that under Article 19 of the Charter, a member of the United Nations which is in arrears in the payments of its financial contributions to the organization shall have no vote in the General Assembly if the amount of its arrears equals or exceeds the amount of the contributions due from it or for the preceding 2 full years. The General Assembly may nevertheless permit such a member to vote if it is satisfied that the failure to pay is due to conditions beyond the control of the member. May I therefore take it that the Assembly takes note of the information contained in document A/80/362. It is so decided. I would now invite the Assembly to turn to the appointment of the members of the Credentials Committee. Rule 28 of the Rules of Procedure provides that the Assembly at the beginning of each session shall appoint, on the proposal of the President, a Credentials Committee consisting of 9 members. According to its proposed that for the 80th session, the credentials committee should consist of the following member states: Andorra, Botswana, China, Dominican Republic, Malaysia, Russian Federation, Senegal, Trinidad and Tobago, and United States. May I take it that these states that I just mentioned are hereby appointed members of the Credentials Committee. It is so decided. Delegations are reminded that credentials should be submitted to the Office of Legal Affairs. Additional details are available in the information note issued as A/INF/80/4. The Assembly will now turn its attention to Document A/80/358 containing a letter dated September 2nd, 2025, from the Chair of the Committee on Conferences addressed to the Presidents. Members are aware that pursuant to Section 1, Paragraph 7 of Resolution 40/243, Resolution 185 of 18 December 1985, no subsidiary organ of the Assembly should be permitted to meet at United Nations Headquarters during the main part of a regular session of the Assembly unless explicitly authorized by the Assembly. In this connection, authorization is sought for the following entities: Qualified Group of Experts to Prepare a Comprehensive Study of the Questions of Nuclear Weapon-Free Zones. Special Committee on Peacekeeping Operations. Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People. Committee on Relations with the Host Country. Conference on the Establishment of a Middle East Zone Free of Nuclear Weapons and Other Weapons of Mass Destruction. Independent Audit Advisory Committee, Executive Board of the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women, Panel of External Auditors of the United Nations Specialized Agencies and the International Atomic Energy Agency, and Board of Auditors. May I take it that it is the wish of the Assembly to authorize these organs to meet during the main part of the 80th session of the Assembly on the strict understanding that all such meetings would be allocated conference services on an if-available basis from within existing resources in such a way as to ensure that the work of the Assembly and its main committees is not impeded. It is so decided. Before concluding, I would like to inform delegations that the General Committee will meet tomorrow morning, Wednesday, 10th September 2025, at 10:00 AM in the Trusteeship Council Chamber to consider the memorandum of the Secretary-General on the organization of the 80th session of the Assembly, adoption of the agenda, and allocation of items issued as A stroke birth stroke 80 stroke 1. The first plenary meeting of the Assembly at its 80th session is now concluded. The meeting is adjourned.