UN chief hails nuke free Mongolia ‘symbol of peace in a troubled world’
Anjali Sharma
GG News Bureau
UNITED NATIONS, 10th August. Secretary-General António Guterres on Tuesday underscored the UN’s full solidarity for Mongolia which he described as “a symbol of peace in a troubled world”.
Guterres was speaking to journalists at a press conference in Ulaanbaatar, after he met with the Foreign Minister, Battsetseg Batmunkh.
He stated that in a world with dramatic geopolitical divides, and where conflicts proliferate everywhere, Mongolia as free of nuclear weapons – is an example for other countries to follow.
“We live in a world where for the first time in decades people are thinking that a nuclear war might be possible again,” Guterres said.
“There is only one way to be absolutely sure that a nuclear war is impossible, and that way is if there are no nuclear weapons.”
SG is on official visit to Asia which began in Japan last Friday and Mongolia is second stop.
He said that over the past six decades, Mongolia has become an increasingly important contributor to the UN’s work.
Guterres expressed gratitude to Mongolian peacekeepers serving at UN peace operations, “often in the most challenging settings and with courage in the way they protect civilians where unfortunately, there’s sometimes no peace to keep”.
He met with Mongolia’s President, Khurelsukh Ukhnaa, and other senior officials, earlier on Tuesday, according to the UN spokesman’s office in New York.
They discussed the geopolitical situation in the region, the challenges Mongolia faces as a landlocked country, and national efforts to tackle climate change, spokesman Stepahne Dujarric told reporters in New York.
Guterres also joined young people and peacekeepers at a tree-planting ceremony, part of Mongolia’s One Billion Trees campaign to address climate change and desertification.
“My generation was very stupid. My generation declared war on nature – with climate change with the loss of biodiversity, with pollution,” he said.
He stressed how “nature is striking back” with storms, desertification, floods and disasters, which are making life very difficult for many people around the world and causing many victims.
“Your generation has an important task to make peace with nature,” he said. “And what we are going to do today, must be a gesture of that new attitude to make peace with nature.”
He also visited a nomadic family in Mongolia and learned about their way of life and also met a group of beneficiaries from UN projects, including women entrepreneurs and youth activists, spokesman office added.
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