Peace and Security

[Bilingual as delivered]

[Bilingual as delivered]

[English version; scroll down for bilingual as delivered version]

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen.
 
As you know, 2020 marks a milestone for the United Nations – our 75th anniversary.
 
Too often, governments and international institutions are viewed as places that talk – not as places that listen.
 
I want the United Nations, in this anniversary, essentially to listen – so we are marking our anniversary based on conversations in every corner of the world about the future we want and the United Nations we need. 
 
There is no doubt that people have much to say.
 

I am very honoured to have presided over this first meeting of the year of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People.
 
I congratulate the Chair, Ambassador Cheikh Niang, and other members of the Bureau, on your election.
 
Last December, the General Assembly adopted all the resolutions on the Question of Palestine recommended by the Committee, including the one on its mandate.
 
This is a reaffirmation of how the work of the Committee is firmly rooted in the UN Charter and international law.
 

I just briefed the Security Council in relation to the Berlin Conference on Libya. I think it's very important to recognize that this is a major step.

Chancellor Merkel,
Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

We are here for an urgent and pressing reason: to stop Libya’s downward spiral.

I thank Chancellor Merkel for bringing us together to support efforts to end the conflict in Libya.

I am grateful to the Federal Republic of Germany for this important initiative – and I welcome the presence today of such a large number of distinguished Heads of State and Government. 

I would like to express my deep gratitude to Chancellor Merkel and the German Government for convening this conference.

Dear Chancellor, your consistent, continuous and I would say enthusiastic commitment to support all the efforts to bring peace and stability to Libya are absolutely remarkable and as Secretary-General of the United Nations I want to express my very deep appreciation and gratitude.

The New Year has begun with our world in turmoil.

We are living in dangerous times. 

Geopolitical tensions are at their highest level this century.

And this turbulence is escalating.

Even nuclear non-proliferation can no longer be taken for granted. 

This cauldron of tensions is leading more and more countries to take unpredicted decisions with unpredictable consequences and a profound risk of miscalculation. 

At the same time, we see trade and technological conflicts that fracture world markets, undermine growth and widen inequalities. 

I thank the Vietnamese Presidency of the Council for organizing this timely debate and I congratulate Viet Nam for the Presidency of the Security Council at the beginning of your tenure in the Security Council itself. 
 
I also welcome the presence of the Chair of the Elders, Mary Robinson.
 
And I am pleased that we begin the year of the 75th anniversary of the United Nations with a discussion on its founding document.