Acceptance speech by Csaba Kőrösi on 7 June 2022

Csaba Kőrösi (at podium and on screens), President-elect of the seventy-seventh session of the United Nations General Assembly, addresses the 75th plenary meeting of the 76th session of the General Assembly. The Assembly elected Csaba Kőrösi of Hungary as President of the seventy-seventh session of the UN General Assembly during the meeting. Seated at dais are, from left to right: Secretary-General António Guterres; Abdulla Shahid, President of the seventy-sixth session of the United Nations General Assembly; and Movses Abelian, Under-Secretary-General for General Assembly and Conference Management.

I am honoured by the trust the General Assembly has placed in me through my election by acclamation to the position of President of the General Assembly at its seventy-seventh session. I feel truly privileged to have the opportunity to serve the community of Member States and work with other stakeholders throughout the upcoming session.

I express my special gratitude to the Member States in the Eastern European Group for supporting my nomination, to the President and the Government of Hungary for their valuable support to my candidature and to my team and the Permanent Mission of Hungary, who have worked with me persistently during the preparations for this endeavour. Yet, first and foremost, I am grateful to my family, who patiently stood by me all along this journey.

I would also take this opportunity to commend Abdulla Shahid for his outstanding work as President of the General Assembly at its seventy-sixth session. I congratulate President Shahid on his tireless efforts in guiding our work throughout the current session. His valuable support was crucial for me and my team to gain an insight into conducting the business of the General Assembly and to learn its good practices.

I also thank the Secretary-General for his leadership and commitment to guiding the United Nations to be up to the tasks of the twenty-first century.

We are living through multiple, global – and interlinked – crises of food, energy and debt, while water crises seem to be the next imminent threats. With global food supply shortages and soaring prices, 49 million people in 43 countries are already at emergency levels of hunger.

Owing to the continuous climate emergency, oceans have never been as acidic or warm as in 2022, with sea levels at a record high. Biodiversity loss is also at an unprecedented intensity. Global conflicts have never been this fierce since the end of the last century. Some 303 million people are in urgent need of humanitarian aid and protection in 69 countries across the world, a more than 10 per cent increase since December 2021.

The cruel war in Ukraine is adding new dimensions to these ominous challenges.

The Office of the President of the General Assembly at its seventy-seventh session will pursue an integrated agenda of peace, prosperity and sustainability and will be an agent of multilateralism, multiculturalism and multilingualism.

My doors will be open to all of you. Impartiality, with the intention to build bridges among sides, will be our principle of operation.

I will coordinate actions with the Secretary-General, the Security Council, the Economic and Social Council and all other relevant organs of the United Nations.

I will devote special attention to impact-oriented and regular consultations with civil society organizations, youth representatives, scientific institutions, knowledge centres, faith-based organizations, representatives of business communities and key institutions of finance.

We live in times that rock the foundation this Organization was built upon. With multiple crises looming, nothing less than the credibility of the United Nations is at stake. Seventy-seven years ago, Member States showed that lasting peace could be built on the ashes of war. We need the same resolve today to stand up to the challenges that threaten international peace and security and our sustainable future on this planet.

During my rounds of consultations, most of you expressed concern about declining trust and the loss of a spirit of cooperation. We all may have an interpretation of how we got here, but we concur that only by joining forces can we tackle the unprecedented global challenges of today and tomorrow.

Let me recall a quotation attributed to the industrialist Henry Ford: “Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success.”