51ÁÔÆæ

Excellencies,

At the opening of the General Debate, I recalled that, in 1949, barely four years into the life of our organization, the General Assembly adopted resolution 310 (IV) on the proliferation and overlapping of programmes. What it did was to warn that multiplying activities, projects, meetings and subsidiary bodies could weaken effectiveness, overburden Member States and divert limited resources from agreed priorities. Instead, it called for greater focus, clearer priorities, simpler structures and more disciplined use of resources.

In a sense, this was one of the Assembly’s earliest acts of revitalization: a young institution pausing to examine not only what it decided, but how it worked – and resolving to do better.

Seventy-seven years later, now, that lesson remains highly relevant.

Today’s joint debate concerns two closely related questions: whether the United Nations implements the resolutions adopted by Member States, and whether the General Assembly is organized to fulfil its responsibilities effectively.

In simple terms: do we keep our word, and are we equipped to do so?

Every resolution we adopt is a promise made in the name of the people we collectively serve. They do not measure us by meetings, resolutions or pages of documents. They measure us by whether our decisions improve their lives.

Every mandate left unimplemented weakens trust in this Organization. Restoring that trust cannot wait.

Revitalization must therefore remain central to our efforts to strengthen the General Assembly and enable it to fulfil its responsibilities effectively.

It must be a continuous process-building on progress achieved in previous sessions while responding urgently to today’s challenges.

That is why I have decided to act early in this session. By beginning the revitalization process at the outset of the eighty-first session, we can give Member States the time and space to engage meaningfully, identify convergence and translate established commitments into practical measures. Our objective must be to move beyond familiar positions and deliver concrete results by the end of this session.

Excellencies,

I am pleased to announce that I have appointed Her Excellency Ms. Victoria Louise Hallum, Permanent Representative of New Zealand to the United Nations, and His Excellency Mr. Enrique Manalo, Permanent Representative of the Philippines to the United Nations, as Co-Chairs of the Working Group on the Strengthening and Revitalization of the Work of the General Assembly during the eighty-first session.

I thank Ambassador Hallum and Ambassador Manalo for accepting this important responsibility, and I trust that they will receive your full support and cooperation throughout the session.

I also commend Ambassador Cornel Feru?? of Romania and Ambassador Mutryce Agatha Williams of Saint Kitts and Nevis for their stewardship of the revitalization process during the previous session. You have done a wonderful job, and you deserve our collective appreciation.

I likewise thank Ambassador Brian Wallace of Jamaica and Ambassador Merete Fjeld Brattested of Norway for their leadership of the Ad Hoc Working Group on Mandate Implementation Review and for their readiness to continue this work.

Together, these processes must help us move from promises to implementation, and from repetition to results.

Allow me to highlight three priorities.

First, we must close the implementation gap.

The adoption of a resolution is not the end of our responsibility; it is just the beginning. Every mandate should have a clear purpose, a credible pathway for implementation, adequate resources and a means of assessing results.

If we create mandates, we must justify and resource them. If resources are constrained, we must prioritize. Ambition without capacity becomes an empty promise—and every empty promise diminishes trust.

We must therefore review, consolidate and, where appropriate, retire mandates that are outdated, duplicative or have fulfilled their purpose. We should redirect resources from repetition to implementation.

Second, we must improve our working methods.

Resolution 79/327 provides a practical framework. It calls on us to strengthen the role and authority of the General Assembly, improve its efficiency and effectiveness, and reinforce the accountability, transparency and institutional memory of the Office of the President of the Assembly.

It also encourages shorter and more focused texts; fewer recurring resolutions containing substantially unchanged language; greater use of biennial and triennial cycles; concrete proposals from the Main Committees to create synergies and avoid duplication; and a more streamlined agenda.

We have already made progress through the one-gavel approach, the use of digital tools such as iGov, and measures to contain the proliferation of commemorative observances and high-level meetings.

Revitalization also requires greater coherence across the work of the Committees. I have met with all Committee Chairs, the Co-Chairs of the mandate review process and the former Co-Chairs of the revitalization process to identify practical ways to reduce duplication, strengthen coordination, and to ensure that the Committees don’t meet in silos. We will meet twice a month to ensure that our efforts are aligned, efficient and results-oriented.

But revitalization must go deeper than rearranging structures. Renaming units, relocating functions or redrawing organigrams is not transformation if the underlying logic remains unchanged.

As I said in the Second Committee yesterday, we cannot make digital-age decisions through an analogue reporting system. Statistical tables, which often occupy a very large part of a report, should increasingly be maintained on secure, multilingual and regularly updated digital platforms, while reports should become shorter, more analytical and more focused on the decisions required from the Member States.

Reform is also a matter of fairness. When reports arrive late, meetings overlap and agendas proliferate, smaller delegations bear the heaviest burden.

Third, revitalization must begin at home, including in the Office of the President of the General Assembly.

The President’s responsibilities have expanded substantially over time. I testify to this, because 40 years ago, I was in the Office of the President of the General Assembly, and I have seen how the work has expanded. The Office is expected to facilitate complex negotiations, convene high-level processes, coordinate across principal organs, preserve institutional memory and respond to emerging challenges. Yet its regular-budget base remains extremely limited, woefully limited, leaving it heavily dependent on voluntary contributions and secondments from Member States.

Expectations and capacity must be aligned.

I therefore call for renewed consideration of the Office’s support structure, including its regular-budget staffing, non-post resources, institutional continuity and timely access to the professional expertise required to fulfil its mandates.

Such support must go hand in hand with accountability. I will continue to strengthen the transparency and effectiveness of the Office, ensure that resources are used responsibly, document lessons from this session and provide my successor with a strong institutional handover.

I will also maintain close coordination with the Presidents of the Security Council and the President of the Economic and Social Council to improve coherence, avoid duplication and reinforce the complementary roles of the principal organs.

Revitalization is not change for its own sake. It is the discipline of preserving what works, reforming what does not, and directing our time and resources towards results.

The world is not asking whether the United Nations exists. It is asking whether it works. Our answer must be found in mandates implemented, resources used responsibly and commitments honoured.

Let the eighty-first session be remembered as the session in which this Assembly strengthened its working methods, equipped its institutions to deliver and kept its word.

I thank you.