SOCIAL DISTANCING WILL NOT HELP COMBAT COVID-19, SAYS UNGA PREZ

United 16:

Nations, Sept. Social distancing at the global level will not help as no country could combat Covid-19 alone, President of the UN General Assembly’s 75th session Volkan Bozkir has said, asserting that multilateralism is the “panacea” to all the problems in the world.

Bozkir, addressing the UN ambassadors and delegates, said that since the beginning of the crisis earlier this year, critics of multilateralism have become more vocal and the pandemic has been used to justify unilateral steps and weaken the rulesbased international system. “In the past six months, our plans for the 75th year of the United Nations have changed. Today, we have other urgent priorities. Our masks remind us of the very serious threat we face… They remind us we are in this together,” Bozkir said as the 75th session of the General Assembly commenced on Tuesday.

Wearing masks, UN diplomats and envoys sat socially distanced in the iconic General Assembly Hall as the high-level annual session begins in a largely virtual format this year due to the Covid19 pandemic.

“International organisations have been reproached and the need for international cooperation has been questioned. These criticisms are not baseless but their conclusions are misguided,” the veteran Turkish diplomat said.

Giving a clarion call for strengthening multilateralism to combat the pandemic, Bozkir said, “Make no mistake: No state can combat this pandemic alone. Social distancing will not help at the international level.