United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has urged world leaders to work together to preserve the organization's most important success since its founding -- avoiding a military confrontation between major global powers.
Guterres made the remark on Monday at the start of the 75th U.N. General Assembly, which is being held mostly online amid the coronavirus pandemic.
He said they are facing "a surplus of multilateral challenges and a deficit of multilateral solutions," and also stressed that COVID-19 has "laid bare the world's fragilities," which can only be addressed together.
As a sign of the importance of this year's UNGA, heads of government also spoke.
Chinese President Xi Jinping urged members to recommit to multilateralism, while French President Emmanuel Macron said the U.N. remained true to its promises made three-quarters of a century ago, to assert human rights and the equality of nations.
U.S. President Donald Trump was first on the list of 182 speakers, but he didn't offer remarks.
Instead, the U.S. was represented by its acting deputy U.N. ambassador, Cherith Norman Chalet, who criticized the organization for resisting "meaningful reform," lacking transparency and being "too vulnerable to the agenda of autocratic regimes and dictatorships."
South Korean President Moon Jae-in will address the General Assembly on Tuesday at 1 p.m. Eastern Time, or 2 a.m. Wednesday, Korea time.
<Photo: Yonhap News>
