I wish to convey my heartfelt congratulations to the President of the General Assembly at its seventy-eighth session. Mr. Dennis Francis, and to wish him every success in the work of the session. I am confident that, under his able leadership, the seventy-eighth session of the General Assembly will facilitate comprehensive discussions on a range of critical issues facing the world and will present constructive solutions for peace, prosperity and sustainability. Not only can we enjoy peace and harmony, but we can also entrust a peaceful and prosperous world to future generations by sincerely yearning for peace, security and sustainable development, as well as by devoting efforts and financial resources to consolidating the political, economic, environmental and sociocultural foundations that sustain the world. Despite the world’s collective accomplishment in overcoming the threat of the global pandemic, we still face a range of challenges stemming from geostrategic and geopolitical tensions, socioeconomic crises, climate change and rapid technological advances. The United Nations. the Charter of the United Nations and the international legal system continue to play an important role in strengthening global peace and security and fostering international cooperation. To collectively overcome the current challenges, conflicts, confrontations and mistrust, the countries of the world should strive for greater unity, trust and friendship and should endeavour to further strengthen the role and position of the United Nations as a global community of human solidarity. Mongolia commends and supports the initiatives outlined in the report of the Secretary-General Our Common Agenda (A/75/982). including the recent New Agenda for Peace, which offers proactive solutions for global challenges in international relations by strengthening preventive diplomacy and reinvigorating multilateral cooperation and dialogue. The rapid advancement of digital technology is unlocking new prospects for global development. Yet on the other hand, it is also reshaping the landscape of threats that jeopardize world peace and security, such as terrorist attacks and their financing, money laundering and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. Therefore, in order to combat them effectively, it is vital for countries across the globe and the international community to collaborate in all areas, exchange information and refine the international legal framework. In that context. Mongolia fully supports the initiatives and activities of the United Nations and the United Nations system and has actively contributed to the establishment of a comprehensive international convention on countering the use of information and communications technologies for criminal purposes. Today’s tense and complex geopolitical dynamics undermine both global and regional security and provoke misunderstandings among nations. Consequently, the most effective means to address those complex issues is through peaceful dialogue. It has been more than three decades since Mongolia declared its territory to be free of nuclear weapons, and we have fully supported the international community’s efforts to achieve disarmament and the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons. In order to contribute to peace and security in our region. Mongolia successfully hosted the eighth Ulaanbaatar Dialogue on Northeast Asian Security in June. The Under-Secretary-General and High Representative for Disarmament Affairs. Mrs. Izumi Nakamitsu. participated in the Conference and highlighted that the Ulaanbaatar Dialogue mechanism is becoming a significant platform for establishing peace and security and strengthening confidence-building measures in north-east Asia.  I am pleased to note that Mongolia’s efforts in the pursuit of regional peace and security in the framework of its peace-loving, open and multi-pillar foreign policy are expanding, and the number of participating countries is growing year by year. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres praised Mongolia as a symbol of peace in a troubled world when he visited Mongolia last year. I am also delighted to note that, during his recent visit to Mongolia. Pope Francis stated that. “a profound spiritual sensitivity belongs to the very fibre of your cultural identity, and it is proper that Mongolia should be a symbol of religious freedom”. Furthermore, the Pope issued the following call to the international community: “may ... on this Earth devastated by countless conflicts, there be a renewal, respectful of international laws, of the conditions of what was once the pax mongolica. namely, the absence of conflicts”. United Nations peacekeeping stands as one of the essential instruments for maintaining international peace and security. It continues to play a pivotal role in halting and preventing armed conflicts, alleviating humanitarian crises and fostering an environment that is conducive to the progress of social development. For that reason, we consider United Nations peacekeeping operations to be a vital part of the United Nations and multilateral cooperation efforts for peace. Over the past 20 years, through its deployment of more than 20.000 peacekeepers to hotspots around the world. Mongolia has honourably fulfilled its obligations to the international community in terms of maintaining global peace and security. Mongolia emphasizes the meaningful participation of women in United Nations peacekeeping operations and believes that strengthening the role of women at all levels will have significant impacts on the maintenance of international peace and security as well as on the peaceful resolution of conflicts. To contribute to the implementation of Security Council resolution 1325 (2000). we successfully organized an international conference on strengthening the role of women in peacekeeping in June 2022. at which participants shared and exchanged their experiences and ideas on best practices and lessons learned, as well as the challenges and obstacles encountered in the field. We also intend to implement national policies and activities on ensuring gender equality in line with the women and peace and security agenda. As nations, it is our collective aspiration to coexist harmoniously and equitably in this world, regardless of our ethnicity, race. age. gender, religion or cultural distinctions. However, the principle of leaving no one behind in development, which we formulated, has not been fully realized to date. Disparities still persist both in the levels of development among various countries and in the living conditions experienced by different groups of people. The recent global challenges, such as the pandemic, climate change, geopolitical conflicts, financial and debt crises, poverty and hunger, have significantly hindered development, particularly in developing countries, in which progress towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is lagging. Even though we have already passed the halfway point to the deadline for the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which is the road map for fostering trust, unity and development. The Sustainable Development Goals Report 2023 reveals that only 12 per cent of the SDG targets are on track, while progress on 50 per cent of the targets is weak and insufficient and progress on 30 per cent of them has stalled or even reversed. If we are unable to achieve our goals, it is evident that the path forward for development and progress for humankind will be bleak. It is a critical time to be responsible and. as Secretary-General Guterres warned, not to turn the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development into a mirage of what might have been. Prior to the pandemic, the annual SDG funding gap stood at $2.5 trillion, but according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, that gap has now surged to at least $4.2 trillion, while 52 least developed countries are at risk of a serious debt crisis. Therefore, there is an urgent need to develop a global plan for financing the SDGs. Mongolia presented its second national voluntary review report at the High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development held in New York last July. According to the report. Mongolia has made notable progress towards achieving 15 of the SDGs. while the implementation of one SDG has been assessed as regressive. It has been estimated that Mongolia needs to spend an additional 18 per cent of its gross domestic product annually on average until 2030 to achieve the SDG targets. Climate change is sending a distress call and a warning alarm of the impending threat that looms over human life and the existence of humankind on Earth. If we do not follow a resolute path to preserving our Mother Earth right now. she will inevitably find her own way to survive, even if it means doing so without us. The 2023 report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change warns that, if global temperature increases by half a degree, it will lead to increased poverty, heatwaves, sea level rise, coral reef decline, habitat loss and severe drought. Every increment of global warming will be immeasurably costly. Therefore. Governments should take urgent measures to implement the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, heed the guidance of scientists, raise public awareness, regulate resource utilization, preserve and restore biological diversity, foster ecologically friendly and economically efficient technologies, such as the use of renewable energy, and substantially bolster climate financing. To that end. Mongolia became one of the first countries in 2023 to adopt the SDG Finance Taxonomy by introducing major legislative reforms aimed at increasing foreign and domestic investment. Mongolia is effectively implementing the One Billion Trees and the Food Supply and Food Security initiatives at the national level, and successfully hosted the World Export Development Forum 2023. which focused on the further development of green, digital and inclusive trade and economic relations. Furthermore, in the Orkhon Valley, which has been inscribed on the World Heritage List, we commenced a major development project to rebuild Karakorum, the ancient capital of Mongols, into an environmentally friendly, smart eco-city for green development. I am also pleased to inform the Assembly that preparations are under way in Mongolia to host the seventeenth Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification, to be held in Ulaanbaatar in 2026. At the United Nations. Mongolia actively endeavours to protect the interests of landlocked developing countries (LLDCs) and to present both the challenges and opportunities of countries with special needs to the international community. Currently. Mongolia is working as Vice-Chair of the Group of Landlocked Developing Countries at the United Nations and is making progress on the initiative to set up a group of LLDCs at the World Trade Organization and the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). At the forty-first session of the ICAO Assembly, held in Montreal. Canada, in September 2022. Mongolia submitted a working paper on improving air connectivity in LLDCs. which received broad support from ICAO member States. Mongolia also attaches particular importance to developing the International Think Tank for Landlocked Developing Countries, an intergovernmental organization established in Ulaanbaatar in 2017. and to strengthening its research capacities. We believe that, based on the practical experiences and lessons learned from the implementation of the Vienna Programme of Action, the third United Nations Conference on Landlocked Developing Countries, to be held in Kigali in 2024. will be a critical opportunity to adopt a renewed development framework for landlocked developing countries for the next decade. It is commendable that the seventy-eighth session of the General Assembly drew global attention to health issues by convening three high-level meetings — on universal health coverage; pandemic preparedness, prevention and response; and the fight against tuberculosis — and adopting their respective political declarations. I am confident that the outcomes of those meetings will make a significant contribution to international efforts in those fields and that they will be reflected as well in the national programme on the theme “Healthy Mongolian”, which is being implemented at my own initiative. Mongolia fully supports, and expresses its commitment to contributing to. the negotiations on the adoption of a World Health Organization (WHO) convention, agreement or other international instrument on pandemic prevention, preparedness and response, as agreed by WHO member States at the second special session of the World Health Assembly. We believe that the establishment of such an international legal document would be of great importance to ensuring timely and equitable access to and the distribution of pandemic-related vaccines, treatments and diagnostics. On behalf of the people of Mongolia. I wish to express my deep gratitude to all health-care workers around the world, who selflessly and tirelessly worked to save people’s lives and preserve their health. My gratitude also goes to WHO. its staff and its Director-General. Mr. Tedros A. Ghebreyesus. who played an important role in overcoming the tough times brought about by the global pandemic while minimizing the damage. We call upon Member States to support and cooperate comprehensively in strengthening WHO’s role and position while broadening its range of activities.  This year marks the seventy-fifth anniversary of the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. As a democratic country. Mongolia fully advocates for human rights, freedom and justice, and the principles of the promotion of gender equality and human rights in the political, social, cultural and economic spheres are enshrined in the Constitution of Mongolia. Building a world free of gender inequality is our shared goal, and it is our collective duty and responsibility to collaborate towards its realization. Just as women’s roles and contributions are essential for both the harmony and prosperity of nations and the well-being of families, women and female leaders play a critical role in the security and development of humankind. Last June. Mongolia successfully organized the Female Foreign Ministers’ Meeting, at which the participants held constructive discussions on presenting solutions to the pressing issues facing humankind and the international community, including global peace and security, climate change and food security. The Ulaanbaatar Declaration was adopted as an outcome of the meeting. To further advance that achievement, we propose to convene the World Women’s Forum in Mongolia in 2024. We call upon countries to cooperate in support of that initiative. In this era of profound transformation in the international order and norms, the role and significance of multilateral cooperation and the international community are growing enormously. Mongolia therefore believes that it is important for States Members of the United Nations to actively participate in the intensification of United Nations reform, particularly in furthering negotiations on Security Council reform. I have confidence that the Summit of the Future, which will be convened in September 2024 under the theme “Multilateral Solutions for a Better Tomorrow”, will be a decisive event in reaffirming the principles enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations, reviving multilateralism, fulfilling the commitments made, seeking solutions to global challenges and rebuilding trust among Member States. Today our leadership is playing a pivotal role in shaping the destiny and well-being of our nations. Humankind is counting on us to devise sagacious and visionary policies and initiatives that are in the best interest of future generations and that prioritize global peace, security and the environment. Let us act together for peace and solidarity in the world and for the well-being of the future generations. May the eternal blue sky bless humankind forever.