President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan attended and delivered a speech at the 78th United Nations General Assembly in New York, USA.

Starting his speech by greeting the audience, President Erdoğan congratulated Csaba Körösi for completing his term as President of the 77th General Assembly and extended his best wishes to Dennis Francis, who assumed the Presidency of the 78th General Assembly.

Expressing hope that this year’s General Assembly, which gathered under the theme of trust and solidarity, would be beneficial for all humanity, President Erdoğan stated, “It is unfortunately not possible to paint a more optimistic picture about the future of our world compared to the assessments we made here last year. The situation we face reveals that we are encountering increasingly complex and dangerous challenges on a global scale. Many conflicts, wars, humanitarian crises, political strife, and social tensions are taking place south, north, east, and west of my own country. These challenges, combined with global economic problems, are growing and becoming harder to address every day.”

“WE SIGNED THE GLOBAL ZERO WASTE GOODWILL DECLARATION”

President Erdoğan called on all nations to show strong commitment to achieving sustainable development goals, stating: “We believe that Turkey, one of the world’s most generous countries in development aid, has the right to make this call. It is becoming increasingly difficult to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius due to climate change. One requirement for this is financial and technological support for the efforts of developing countries. ‘Food security’ is among the areas impacted by climate change. We must develop and implement effective policies and investments for the sustainable use of water and soil resources. We cannot leave our children a world choked by pollution caused by reckless consumption and depleted natural resources. With this understanding and a vision for a more livable and fair world, we launched the Zero Waste Movement under the auspices of my wife, Emine Erdoğan, which has now reached a global dimension with a resolution adopted by 105 countries at the United Nations. Yesterday, we signed the Global Zero Waste Goodwill Declaration at the Turkish House. We believe that our Zero Waste goals will make a significant contribution to combating climate change and sustainable development efforts. I hereby invite all countries, international institutions, and civil society organizations to support the Zero Waste Movement.”