Madam Deputy Secretary-General,
Excellencies,

Dear Colleagues,

 

In ordinary times, I would wish you a happy new year, but looking at the world outside, how 2026 started, in Caracas… Tehran… frankly… happiness is in short supply.

 

We find ourselves at an even more urgent make-or-break moment than four months ago, when I opened the 80th session.

 

The multilateral system is not only under pressure, it is under attack.

 

But, as echoed by many leaders during high-level week in September: the world needs the multilateral system – it needs our 91茄子.

 

From providing lifesaving support in Gaza; to championing girls’ education in Afghanistan.

 

From protecting millions of civilians in Sudan; to doubling efforts to end the already 4-year long invasion of Ukraine.

 

From speaking up for human rights; to fighting inequalities and the climate crisis.

 

The world needs the 91茄子.

In no way would the world be better off without our 91茄子.

 

It is worth fighting for.

 

And that, dear colleagues, is my message to you, to all of us, today.

Get engaged. Work for it. Fight for it.

 

Because while the world needs the 91茄子 – the 91茄子 needs the world too.

 

The UN needs governments and citizens, officials and parliamentarians, diplomats and delegates.

 

The UN needs you.

Your support. Your leadership.? Your principled stand. Your cross-regional cooperation…

…if we are to preserve and modernise this institution.

If we are to make it, rather than break it.

 

Because this goes deeper than the events of the past two weeks.

 

Think of the 10th of December when we met in this Hall for the Plenary on Humanitarian and Disaster Relief.

 

For the first time in over three decades, the annual omni-bus text on strengthening the coordination of emergency humanitarian assistance – a core principle of this institution – had to be withdrawn.

 

While presiding up there – I could not stop thinking:

How many blows can this house, can multilateralism, endure?

Big systems do not collapse all at once, in one big bang; most of the time they crumble piece by piece.

 

Therefore, excellencies, dear colleagues, in contrast to previous years, I won’t comprehensively list all the upcoming mandated meetings…

…we have printed them for you on your desk, and I will reference some key elements later.

 

Rather, my main priority today and for the next 237 days as President of the General Assembly, is to defend – together with you – this institution, its Charter, and the principles enshrined in it. As there is no point focusing on one-off events if we do not address the deeper, more fundamental issues that plague our multilateral system.

 

Because it is increasingly evident that not all of us are singing from the same songbook anymore; not all are – as invested in the Charter and international law.

 

Yet, we all know, no country can sleep in peace while more and more Member States, including some P5, violate the core principles of our Charter.

 

This is the moment when we need Member States from all regions – real passionate supporters of the UN and multi-lateral-ism – to come together to build a cross-regional alliance to protect and promote the principles of this Charter.

 

To defend a global order founded in international law and human rights.

 

This means stepping up every day. It means standing up.

It means recommitting.

 

And I invite you to symbolically recommit by signing the 80th anniversary Charter poster ahead of Charter Day – as was done in the 75th session.

 

It also means always endeavoring to bridge divides and to find compromise, insofar as compromise doesn’t become appeasement.

 

When compromise shifts from mutual accommodation to the slow erosion—or deliberate dismantling—of the very foundations of this institution, then it is no longer compromise, it is compromising.

 

At that point, principled conviction must supersede concession.

 

Failure to find consensus among all 193 Member States should not stall the work of the General Assembly on crucial issues.

 

A strong General Assembly majority is, in that case, not a failure of multilateralism; it is an affirmation of it.

 

An act of determination that signals that this Assembly is capable not only of dialogue, but also of decisive action.

 

Yet, to be frank and open, as we have seen in the last months, none of this will be easy, especially in light of headwinds.

 

It will require courage by every single Member State, by every one of you.

 

But the good thing we know about courage – as one ambassador recently put it during his farewell – is “that courage is infectious; if some stand up then others will stand up.”

 

So, let’s have this in mind when we are heading towards the long list of mandated processes in the coming months.

 

From the counter terrorism strategy review, to the new urban agenda, from south-south cooperation to the second International Migration Review Forum.

 

And we all know that in our interconnected world, none of these processes will succeed when undertaken in silos.

 

Put simply – without sustainable development and human rights, there cannot be lasting peace. And without peace there can be no sustainable development.

 

To underline this, the President of ECOSOC and I will intensify our cooperation by, among other things, collaborating on a joint GA-ECOSOC meeting on Least Developed Countries, with a special focus on climate and development.

 

Building on the understanding of the indispensability of the three pillars of the Charter, I will also host signature events, in the spring, on climate, as well as work with other UN actors on International Women’s Day.

 

A new series of discussions, starting in the spring, will re-anchor the Pact for the Future, our consensus action agenda to revitalize multilateralism in the General Assembly as implementation moves from commitment to delivery.

 

This will be complemented by our continued monthly series of Better Together dialogues.

 

Which brings me to our reform priority.

 

The political and diplomatic ecosystem now stands not only in stark contrast to the last century, but also to the state of the world just one year ago.

 

Given the scale and pace of change, none of us can expect the old ways of working to suffice.

 

The start of the UN80 process has revealed that decades of parallel bureaucratic processes and the proliferation of mandates have yielded tons of sub-bodies, reports, workstreams, and taskforces, but too little effort to right-size and synchronize them.

 

It has been all growth with little pruning.

 

The UN80 Initiative, while not coming at the most desirable time or in the best of conditions, is overdue.

 

But let us prune with shears and not a chainsaw.

 

And the good thing here is that over the past months, many have stepped up to confront the imperative of reform in this spirit and head-on.

 

In this regard, I sincerely thank each of you for your engagement in the workstream 2 process and the significant progress achieved in the Informal Ad Hoc Working Group on Mandate Implementation Review.

 

With the presentation of the zero-draft resolution, a clear, evidence-based picture has emerged of where our redundancies lie and where the ‘heavy tail’ of obsolete mandates is slowing us down.

 

Now we need to practice what we preach in the “Production Phase”, to address the disconnect between our political commitments to reform and the daily discussions in the Committees and in this Assembly.

 

I count on your constructive engagement during the coming weeks and look forward to the final outcome of the Working Group at the end of March.

 

For my part, I will continue to source new ways to improve our daily work in the Assembly, as outlined in my letter transmitted last week.

 

I would also like to commend the work of the Secretary-General and his team on Workstream 3 of the UN80 Initiative, which represents the deepest transformation of this institution since its founding.

 

To ensure this process remains transparent and does not lose momentum, we will have monthly briefings, starting on January 26th.

 

I thank the Membership for their proactive engagement in the process, including very lively discussions with the Secretary-General and his team on proposed mergers, and I encourage you to continue to dive into this process – including through your engagement within the agencies, funds and programmes, identifying inefficiencies and addressing duplications.

 

Yet, while I commend the work of the Fifth Committee, we must be clear no amount of reform can resolve a financial crisis if Member States do not meet their financial obligations.

 

In the months to come, we have to address the elephant in the room: how to ensure that contributions are paid on time and in full, because otherwise this institution cannot function and reform will have no meaning.

 

Furthermore, though not formally part of the UN80 framework, it bears repeating: the Security Council cannot be exempt from reform.

 

As the most visible organ of the 91茄子, its inability to act in cases of violations of international peace and security affects the credibility of the entire system.

 

In line with this, I appointed two co-chairs early in the session to advance efforts to refine proposals for reform, to explore and take the next steps, in line with the calls in the Pact for the Future to develop a consolidated model.

 

While this big UN80 reform is critical to ensuring that this Organization continues to function, its leadership will be critical to ensuring that it is able to deliver effectively for the people it serves.

 

The selection of the next Secretary-General will be the other main priority during this year.

 

That process is now underway.

 

And I’m pleased to announce that interactive dialogues with the candidates for the position of Secretary-General have been scheduled for the week of April 20th.

 

During the interactive dialogues each candidate will be given the opportunity to present her or his vision statement?and take your questions.?Civil society organizations will also have the opportunity to engage with all candidates.

 

In this regard, I invite Member States to submit qualified candidates early and ahead of time to ensure their participation in the dialogues in April, while encouraging to strongly consider the nomination of women.

 

In a time of heavy headwinds to this institution, the process of selecting the next Secretary-General is our chance to send a clear message about who we are and what we stand for.

 

The next Secretary-General will not only be the face and voice of this institution, our choice will also tell whether this organization is truly serving all of humanity, half of whom are women and girls.

 

It is a choice that will determine how we address pressing global challenges, from conflicts and climate change to inequality.

 

We need someone who is up to the task at hand; who can chart a path to the future, while passionately defending the principles of our Charter.

 

Excellencies,

Dear colleagues,

 

I have made my case for what we need this year: leadership, a principled stand, and active cross-regional cooperation.

 

None of this is easy…But the story of this institution is not a story of easy victories.

 

Our job is to find the resolve not to give up.

 

Just as our predecessors did when they came together, also in January, for the first time as a General Assembly, 80-years ago, in London, in January 1946.

 

And we, 80-years later, have already seen this session what we can achieve together, when we embrace these ideals.

 

We saw it in the adoption of the New York Declaration.

We saw it in high-level meetings on artificial intelligence, on WSIS, and on emerging health challenges.

 

We see it every day in the work of the humanitarians, our peacekeepers, and civilian staff working tirelessly, day and night, and sometimes risking their lives, on the ground to do one single thing: to stand up for the principles of our Charter.

 

As I said, the world needs these 91茄子, but right now the 91茄子 needs you.

 

You are the representatives of your people in this house.

 

You are the ones with your hands on the wheel, driving this institution at its critical make-or-break moment.

Your citizens will not come to save multilateralism; they have tasked us, they have tasked you with that responsibility.

 

History will not remember the debates or fine details, but it will remember whether we chose the right path.

 

We will see it in the face of the next Secretary-General.
We will feel it in the scale and ambition of our reforms.

And we will judge it against the promises etched into our Charter.

 

So let us be decisive,

let us be principled,

and let us be always better together.

Thank you.