Excellencies,

Distinguished delegates,

It is an honor to join you all for the celebration of this International Day of Nowruz.

I thank the 12 Permanent Missions here in New York for coordinating this vibrant cultural tribute. Your solidarity in the organization of this event is in itself a testimony to the values of Nowruz.

As a celebration to mark the first day of spring and a new year, Nowruz ushers in new beginnings and new hope.

In these unprecedented times, the cultural heritage of Nowruz, based on the values of peace and solidarity, friendship, reconciliation, and embracing diversity among peoples and communities, are needed more than ever.

For more than two years now, the world has suffered under the weight of a global pandemic that has tested the foundations of our societies, tested humanity itself. And as we aspire to recover sustainably, we are confronted by the perils of division and disunity.

Humanity has endured a long, dark winter. Anxiety is high. We all yearn for hope, for renewal, for a promise of better days ahead.

Friends,

Nowruz is all about healing and rebirth of the earth. It symbolizes patience, love, and strength of forgiveness.

On this new day of spring, I call upon the kindness, humility, and grace of our fellow human beings to help us usher in a period of peace and unity, a period for reconciliation, a period for new beginnings.

Let us use the inspiration and the symbolic values of Nowruz to fulfill our promises to “leave no one behind”.

And let us deliver on the promise we made during the earliest days of the pandemic: to recover better, to rebuild better, to BE BETTER.

May this day not only mark the first day of spring and the renewal of nature, but also a renewal of our social, moral, ethical, and spiritual contract to one another.

Friends,

Nowruz is marked by joining hands to jump over fire as a way to heal rifts threatening to fracture families all over the world.

In these very testing times, lets all join hands to jump over the fire of conflict, climate change and the pandemic and usher in peace for the sake of humanity.

I offer my very best wishes to the families and communities around the world celebrating this happy and blessed day.

And to you my dear friends, Happy Nowruz!