President Kiska Talked at UN about Need to Co-operate and Adhere to Rules
New York/Chicago, September 27 (TASR-correspondent) – In his address at the 73rd session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York on Wednesday (September 26) Slovak President Andrej Kiska highlighted the need for adherence to rules, mutual co-operation, and media protection.
Kiska warned that while the building of peace has taken decades, selfish decisions can damage it in a few seconds.
“I underlined that it’s of the utmost importance that the UN should be fully operational, which means that all rules and agreements should be respected. If the UN entirely fulfils its function, it should really calm the situation in every single country with conflicts. It’s important that each and every politician deals with the UN and its resolutions correctly to make the UN work effectively,” he said commenting on his speech.
The Slovak president is convinced that the UN will serve its purpose, if the states fulfil their obligations. “Provided we respect rules, principles, and we’ll be willing to defend them,” he said in his speech at the United Nations. He considers unity in achieving development goals, combating climate change and addressing the migration issues to be important.
“We’re frequently controlled by selfishness and short-term interests. Instead of expanding freedom, co-operation and healthy competition, we launch sanctions and trade wars,” said Kiska. It seems to him that compliance with the rules has become old-fashioned and their ignoring a sign of power. But he pointed out that no country is able to face by itself the current global challenges, including migration, terrorism, climate change and economic development.
In his speech the Slovak president also pointed to the need for co-operation. According to him, politicians will be able to serve people only when they understand its true value. “If we really want to change this world and the planet for the better, we must think about others – individuals, nations and countries,” he said, adding that this also needs to be explained to people.
He noted that the problems of individual countries can become world-wide in a few minutes. He therefore emphasised the UN’s indispensable role in overcoming differences. Equally the need to respect sovereignty and territorial integrity for global security. “The occupation of Georgia, Ukraine, and destabilisation in the region are just one of many examples of the fact that compliance with the rules is being replaced by an unscrupulous power policy,” he added. Kiska also condemned the use of chemical weapons in Syria as well as the poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal in Salisbury.
Kiska gave his speech at the United Nations for the fourth time. Since he won’t run for the post of Slovak president any more, this was his last appearance at the UN General Assembly.