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STORY: UN / GUTERRES 2025 PRIORITIES
TRT: 01:49
SOURCE: UNIFEED
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGES: ENGLISH / FRENCH / NATS
DATELINE: 15 JANUARY 2025, NEW YORK CITY
FILE - NEW YORK CITY
1. Wide shot, UN Headquarters
15 JANUARY 2025, NEW YORK CITY
2. Wide shot, UN Secretary-General walking to podium, General Assembly
3. SOUNDBITE (English) António Guterres, Secretary-General, United Nations:
“It is understandable to get overwhelmed by the turmoil of our world. But as we look to the year ahead, we must never lose sight of progress and potential. And there are signs of hope.”
4. Wide shot, General Assembly
5. SOUNDBITE (English) António Guterres, Secretary-General, United Nations:
“Negotiators are in the final stages of a ceasefire and hostage release deal in Gaza. Meanwhile, the ceasefire in Lebanon is largely holding – and the country was finally able to elect a President after over two years of stalemate. On the climate front, the world now invests almost twice as much in clean energy as it does in fossil fuels. And almost everywhere, solar and wind are now the cheapest sources of new electricity -- and the fastest growing in history.”
6. Wide shot, General Assembly
7. SOUNDBITE (English) António Guterres, Secretary-General, United Nations:
“But let’s have no illusions: this is very much a world in turmoil and grave uncertainty. Our actions -- or inactions -- have unleashed a modern-day Pandora’s box of ills. Four of those ills stand out because they represent, at best, threats that could disrupt every aspect of our agenda and, at worst, upend our very existence: Runaway conflicts. Rampant inequalities. The raging climate crisis. And out-of-control technology.”
8. Wide shot, General Assembly
9. SOUNDBITE (English) António Guterres, Secretary-General, United Nations:
“The good news is that we have the plans to tackle these challenges. We don’t need to reinvent the wheel. We need to get the wheel moving. Through acceleration and transformation – oriented around the Pact for the Future, the implementation of which will be a central priority in 2025.”
10. Wide shot, General Assembly
11. SOUNDBITE (French) António Guterres, Secretary-General, United Nations:
“Inequalities can be beaten — if we commit to policies that promote equity rather than clinging to the same failed approaches.”
12. Wide shot, General Assembly
13. SOUNDBITE (French) António Guterres, Secretary-General, United Nations:
“We must also fight inequalities by reforming and modernizing the institutions of global finance to represent today’s economy — not that of 1945.”
14. Wide shot, General Assembly
UN chief highlighted “hope through action” for 2025, amid continuing turmoil.
Addressing the General Assembly today (15 Jan) UN Secretary-General António Guterres said that the world continues to grapple with unprecedented challenges but there are reasons for cautious optimism in 2025 - on a long-awaited Gaza ceasefire, climate action, tackling inequality and harnessing AI for the public good.
In his traditional new year address to the General Assembly setting out his key priorities for the global organization, the UN chief acknowledged the “turmoil of our world” and conceded that “it is understandable to get overwhelmed.”
Nonetheless, Guterres urged delegates to “never lose sight of progress and potential”, highlighting the ceasefire in Lebanon which is “largely holding” and the country’s recent election of a President, after a two-year stalemate.
Away from the world’s battlefields, the UN chief underscored positive developments on climate action that reflect the commitment of the United Nations to combating global warming, as “the world now invests almost twice as much in clean energy as it does in fossil fuels…almost everywhere, solar and wind are now the cheapest sources of new electricity - and the fastest growing in history,” he said.
But there can be no illusions that action or inaction has “unleashed a modern-day Pandora’s Box of ills,” he continued, highlighting protracted wars, inequality, the climate crisis and “out of control technology.”
Conflicts are multiplying with the full spectrum of human rights under increasing attack.
Guterres called for negotiators who are reportedly close to a deal on a Gaza ceasefire to finalize the deal.
Throughout the whole Middle East “we must deny extremists a veto over a peaceful future,” he said.
He announced he would be travelling to Lebanon later in the day, emboldened by the positive developments there in recent weeks that could see Israelis and Lebanese forge a new and lasting era of peace and security.
He highlighted conflicts in Ukraine, Sudan, the Sahel and Haiti.
“Inequalities can be beaten,” he said, starting with accelerating progress on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through multilateral reform on all fronts.
In closing, he noted that the Pandora myth includes one often overlooked detail. After the box was opened unleashing its horrors, there was one thing left inside – hope.
“We will never lose sight of hope,” Guterres said.
“And we will work to lift the lid on that hope through action. To make it real, to help it spread – sticking to principles, speaking the truth, never giving up.”
