United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres pleaded for a world built on interdependence as he made his final address today to the General Assembly gathering of world leaders. The UN leader has long implored leaders not to give up on cooperation and shared decision-making in the face of accelerating global challenges and increasing great-powers competition. He urged world leaders to regulate artificial intelligence, end wars, focus on climate change and overhaul UN institutions which are struggling to confront mounting global challenges. Today’s message took on additional urgency because Guterres leaves office at the end of this year. His speech opened the main portion of the world’s biggest diplomatic meeting of the year. Leaders from the UN’s 193 member countries address each other and the international community and air their hopes, plans and grievances. The annual high-level gathering at the UN General Assembly will be consumed with wars in Iran, Gaza, Ukraine, Sudan, Congo and Myanmar and a persisting question: Can the leaders do anything to end them?
