UN Secretary-General says people are looking to leaders for action and a way out of the current global “chaos”.

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Leaders of a world torn by war, climate change and persistent inequality gathered under one roof Tuesday to hear the U.N. Secretary-General call on them to take united action on the enormous challenges facing humanity — and to begin offering their own assessments on the most global challenges. Stages.

“People are looking to their leaders to find a way out of this mess,” Secretary-General António Guterres said ahead of the annual gathering of presidents, prime ministers, ministers and royalty at the General Assembly.

He said the world needs action now – not just more words – to deal with the crisis The climate emergency is worsening Escalating conflicts, “massive technological disruptions,” and a global cost of living crisis that increases hunger and poverty.

“But in the face of all this and more, geopolitical divisions undermine our ability to respond,” Guterres said.

This year’s week-long session is the first full gathering of world leaders since the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted travel, and 145 leaders are scheduled to speak. This is a large number that reflects the multiplicity of crises and conflicts.

But for the first time in years, US President Joe Biden, who will speak shortly after the UN Secretary-General, will be the only leader from the five powerful veto-wielding nations of the UN Security Council to address the 193-member General Assembly.

The Chinese Xi Jinping, the Russian Vladimir Putin, the French Emmanuel Macron, and the British Rishi Sunak will all be absent from the United Nations this year. It should be put Spotlight on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskywho will make his first appearance on the assembly stage later Tuesday, and on Biden, who will be watched in particular because of his views on China, Russia and Ukraine.

The absence of the leaders of the four powers in the Security Council has sparked grumbling in developing countries that want major global players to listen to their demands – including money to begin closing the growing gap between the world’s haves and have-nots.

The G77, the UN’s main group of developing countries and which now has 134 members including China, has lobbied hard to have the global gathering this year focus on the 17 UN goals adopted by world leaders in 2015. It is lagging badly at Halfway to 2030. Due date.

At a two-day summit to begin work on achieving the goals, Guterres pointed to the grim findings in a UN report in July. He said that 15% of the approximately 140 goals set to achieve the 17 goals are on the right track. Many are moving in the wrong direction, and it is not expected that any goal will be achieved during the next seven years.

The broad goals include ending extreme poverty and hunger, ensuring every child receives a quality secondary education, achieving gender equality, and making significant progress in tackling climate change – all by 2030.

At the current rate, 575 million people will still live in extreme poverty, and 84 million children will not be able to attend primary school in 2030 – and it will take 286 years to reach equality between men and women, the report said.

Guterres told leaders at the opening of the summit on Monday that he called for saving the crisis 17 Sustainable Development Goals, or SDGsThey promised in 2015 to build “a world of health, progress and opportunity” for all people – and to pay for it.

Shortly after he spoke, leaders of the UN’s 193 member states unanimously adopted a 10-page political declaration acknowledging that the goals were “at risk.” But more than a dozen times, in different ways, it reaffirms the commitment of leaders to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, and reiterates their individual importance.

The declaration lacks specific details, but Guterres said he was “deeply encouraged” in particular by its commitment to improving developing countries’ access to “the fuel for progress on the Sustainable Development Goals: finance.” He indicated his support for stimulating the sustainable development goals by at least $500 billion annually, with the aim of compensating for the difficult market conditions facing developing countries.

At the summit, the leaders were then supposed to make pledges to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.

For example, Nepalese Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal, who chairs the UN Group of Least Developed Countries, said they need to “expand affordable financing,” including by stimulating the Sustainable Development Goals. He said that foreign investment in least developed countries decreased by about 30% in 2022 compared to 2021, and he urged developed countries to be more generous in helping the poorest countries in the world.

There are also hundreds of side events during the high-profile week.

Josep Borrell, the European Union’s top diplomat, told reporters after a closed meeting, in an attempt to revive this decades-old agreement. The peace process between Israel and the Palestinians That there was a “strong commitment to the two-state solution.”

He said that there were 60 participants in the meeting organized by the European Union, the Arab League and several other countries, and described it as a “good starting point.”

Borrell said there had been an “injection of new political will,” and three high-level working groups had been established to study what Israeli-Palestinian peace would look like. He said they would start work within a month in Brussels.