UNGA President Says World Not in New Cold War
© AP Photo / Ted Anthony
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UNITED NATIONS (Sputnik) - UNGA will meet on September 19-23 and 26 to engage in annual high-level general debate, with a focus on rebuilding trust and global solidarity on the 2030 agenda and Sustainable Development Goals.
President of the 78th General Assembly Dennis Francis told Sputnik that there is no new Cold War among the international community as a result of dialogue between key nations.
"We're not in a Cold War situation, dialogue continues to exist between the major power brokers in the system," Francis said.
Key nations continue to have dialogue regardless of their differences, Francis added.
According to Francis, there is a sense that the international community requires some level of cooperation and collaboration between all the nations.
However, Francis underscored that major powers have a responsibility to ensure that actions they take do not have a deleterious effect on the rest of the international community, especially vulnerable nations that are always the first to pay the heaviest price.
Dialogue between key nations at various levels is significant to creating conditions to build peace, Francis said.
Following the Path of League of Nations?
The president noted that there is no possibility the United Nations will collapse like the League of Nations, but there is a frustration with the institution's shortcomings in resolving global issues.
"I don't think there's a possibility," Francis said when asked if the United Nations risks suffering the same fate of the League of Nations. "Yes, there is disaffection, we all feel it. There is frustration because we know that the UN is capable, it has demonstrated its capacity in the past to act decisively to solve problems and to make lives better, but for some reason we've not been able to maintain that momentum in the recent past."
The League of Nations was formally disbanded on April 20, 1946, after its authority was undermined by other nations, and it failed to resolve certain global issues, including preventing World War 2.
Francis, in defense of the UN, said multilateralism is not expected to be perfect because in order for a country to achieve a vital interest, it must give something up.
"It's never a winner-take-all, it's not a zero-sum game," Francis said. "Some of the best multilateral deals are the ones where in fact most of the players leave a little bit unhappy that they did not achieve all of their strategic objectives."
It is not realistic to expect from these negotiations that any individual state will prevail and get everything at once, Francis said.
5 September 2023, 18:27
UNGA President Welcomes Russia’s Readiness to Revisit Grain Deal
The UNGA president commented on the possible extension of Russia's participation in the Black Sea grain initiative, saying that he hails this decision by Moscow.
"It is a welcome and hopeful sign that the Russian government is willing to revisit the grain deal," Francis said. "As to whether the President of the General Assembly will become personally involved in that matter, that would have to depend on whether the Russian Federation believes that there is room for that. We will not impose."
The initial Black Sea Grain Initiative – signed by Russia, Ukraine, Turkey and the UN – expired in July after the Kremlin declined to renew the deal, citing a lack of compliance with certain terms of the agreement.
On Tuesday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said there has not been any progress toward a resumption of the grain deal.
UNGA President to Meet Lavrov, Zelensky
In addition, Dennis Francis shared with Sputnik his plans to meet with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov to discuss the conflict in Ukraine and other matters during the upcoming high-level week.
"I believe it is proposed I will meet Mr. Lavrov. I will listen to what he has to tell me and react to that. I can’t predict what it is he would want to raise. It may be that he might want to discuss the situation in Ukraine, but I’m sure that there are other things as well in the international system that would be of interest to the Russian Federation that he might like to discuss," Francis said.
Furthermore, the UNGA president said that he is open to meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky as part of the search for a peaceful resolution to the conflict in Ukraine.
"If President Zelenskyy comes and seeks an encounter with me, of course I will grant it," Francis said. "What I would say to him is that we, the people of the United Nations, understand the difficulty he confronts, but we’re still hopeful that this war can be brought to an end as early as possible."
At the same time, Francis noted that the high-level week of the UN General Assembly would be devoted not only to issues related to the conflict in Ukraine.
