SALMAN BIN HAMAD AL KHALIFA, Prime Minister of Bahrain, said the number of world leaders participating in this year’s General Assembly testify to the enduring spirit of global civic responsibility.  He noted how the pressing issues he addressed 19 general debates ago — poverty, famine, deadly infectious diseases, civil wars and weapons of mass destruction — not only endure today but have intensified.  “We find ourselves in a far more dangerous and unpredictable time due to major tectonic shifts in the global geopolitical order”, he regretted.  Revolutionary technologies and environmental and health challenges which defy national boundaries have multiplied and grown in complexity, fundamentally altering the world as is.  They therefore require concerted efforts, void of individual differences.  Pointing out that the “very systems designed to uphold the international order are under strain” in the face of current threats and challenges, he implored that the United Nations, “this important institution, which our global community relies on to safeguard the international rules-based order, must evolve as well.”

Bahrain therefore supports calls for a holistic, consensus-driven and all-encompassing reform of the Organization to reflect current geopolitical realities to enable it to endure in fulfilling its mandate for several decades.  Observing that the peace following the cold war’s end is now distant, he announced that the global community is now “on the precipice of a new era, with new challenges, and we must recommit to peace as the bedrock on which we build collective prosperity and enduring hope for all”.  He therefore called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza with the release of all hostages and adoption of “an irrevocable path” to an independent Palestinian State, which “must happen now”.  This, he argued, will prevent the escalation of the conflict in the region.  Recalling the conflict in Ukraine and rising tensions in the South China Sea, he worried that, beyond a wider military escalation, these events further erode the integrity of the international rules-based order, “undermine growth, stifle opportunity and endanger the hopes we hold for our children”.

His country calls on the international community to convene an international peace conference on the Middle East and urges all nations to join this initiative.  He explained that, because today’s global challenges go beyond geopolitical conflict, the world is in many ways more fragile than it was following the end of the Second World War.  These challenges must not be treated in isolation as “they are interconnected, and they represent a systemic threat to humanity”.  Therefore, countries with similar ideologies must come together to revitalize, adapt and renew global institutions to effectively address the day’s challenges and deliver on the commitments of the SDGs and the recently adopted Pact for the Future.

“The international rules-based order is not sustained by hopes or dreams”, he continued, “it is the product of robust international institutions and security constructs that are fit for purpose”.  Bahrain remains committed to multilateralism and believes in partnerships, particularly across regions, in diverse areas, including emerging technologies.  These wide-ranging partnerships are “crucial to advancing the cause of multilateralism and ensuring that cooperation becomes the cornerstone of our collective security frameworks”, he stressed.