I am honoured to join you as we remember the life of Dag Hammarskjöld 
55 years after his death.

Together, we salute his sacrifice and celebrate his extraordinary achievements. 

On this occasion, I also renew my call to the General Assembly to appoint an Eminent Person or Persons to review new information which may exist regarding the circumstances around his death and the loss of 15 others on their mission of peace. 

All these decades after Dag Hammarskjold’s death, we remain just as inspired by his actions and his words of wisdom.

Here this morning, surrounded by so many colleagues and friends of the United Nations, I recall his reminder to us all.

“We are not permitted to choose the frame of our destiny,” he said. “But what we put into it is ours.”

Let us join hands and put into our shared frame a life of dignity and a better world for all.  

That is the spirt that brings us here this morning – and that draws the world to our halls as we open a new session of the General Assembly for today.

Let us be inspired by Dag Hammarskjold’s life and work and advance the goals and values enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations.  

Thank you.