Excellency Khalilur Rahman, President of the 81st Session of the United General Assembly; Excellency António Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations; Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen. On behalf of Ethiopia, I wish to congratulate you, Mr. President, on your election as President of the 81st Session of the United Nations General Assembly.

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Austria will be a reliable partner in the Security Council during the next two years. Austria throughout the campaign has made a promise to spare no effort on the Security Council to protect our common rules, to engage in dialogue with everyone, and to rebuild trust in our global order that has been eroded by a dangerous zero sum logic. But for all of us, the road ahead is not easy, because today that order is being tested in conflict after conflict. For more than four years, Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine has violated the UN charter, and it still does. During my last visit to Kyiv, I witnessed the pain it causes firsthand. Austria's position remains clear we will not accept a change of borders by force. We need an urgent cease fire to create a credible path to negotiations between the parties. In the Middle East, the continuous escalation teaches us a similar lesson. After years of bloodshed and suffering, it is obvious no one can bomb their way to peace. We want a prosperous and safe Israel. But the same applies to the Palestinians and to Israel's neighbors. Israelis and Palestinians deserve to live side by side in peace and security, with a credible path to a two state solution. Any unilateral actions that undermine this prospect, including the continued settlement expansions in the West Bank, only perpetuate the conflict and must be firmly rejected by all of us. Palestinians in Gaza desperately need peace and stability, with Hamas disarmed and the IDF withdrawing from the strip. Iran and the United States must come back to the negotiation table to end the suffering, to credibly revive the nuclear talks, and to stop holding global supply chains hostage to political ends, especially when there are bilateral deadlocks and conflicts are impacting the whole world. We believe we must pursue for multilateral solutions. In Lebanon, we need a sustainable arrangement to support the Lebanese armed forces in disarming Hezbollah. The withdrawal of UNIFIL must not create a vacuum that will leave the region worse off than before. The same set of international rules must protect civilians in Sudan, in the DRC, in Yemen, Haiti, Myanmar, Ethiopia or other conflicts that receives far too little international attention.

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It should be recognised as an actor that is capable of innovating, proposing solutions and contributing to the transformation of the global economy. Beyond climate action, the 2030 agenda remains at the heart of our development vision. Djibouti's economy is demonstrating resilience, driven in particular by port and logistics activities, trade telecommunications, energy and investment. Djibouti intends to consolidate its role as a regional hub while accelerating the diversification of our economy. This ambition can be seen just as recently as this week with the launch of construction work on modern petroleum product storage facilities and transport infrastructure, including oil and gas pipelines in Djibouti linking Djibouti and Ethiopia. These projects illustrate our ambition to achieve energy sovereignty and security, regional integration and economic transformation. But above all, growth should translate into jobs, social progress and opportunities, particularly for women and young people. We are continuing to invest in education, health. And to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals and implement the African Union's Agenda 2063 Both require a collective surge of action.

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