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Closing 'Historical and Unforgettable' Annual Debate, General Assembly President Says Time to Shift Gears to Crucial Next Step, 'Turn Talk into Real Impact'

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GA/11155

Sixty-sixth General Assembly
Plenary
28th, 29th & 30th Meetings (AM, PM & Night)

World Leaders Came to Express ‘Hopes and Needs of Their Nations’,
Salute Courage of Those Who Fought for Freedom, Dignity, Democracy around Globe

“It has been an historic and unforgettable debate,” said the President of the General Assembly this evening as he closed the annual event, but it was now time to shift attention to the crucial next step, “turning talk into real impact”.

Speaking in the legendary General Assembly Hall, where, since last Wednesday, representatives of 194 Member States and Observers — 100 at the level of Heads of State and Government — had come “to express the hopes and needs of their nations”, the President of the sixty-sixth session, Nassir Abdulaziz al-Nasser of Qatar, said “coming together is the start; working together will get us to the end”.

World leaders, he said, had called on the international community to assist in the fulfilment of their populations’ aspirations for the rule of law, transparency, prosperity, justice and human rights, including responsible freedom of expression. As they came together to consider such timely and complex issues, the role of mediation was “clearly more relevant than ever before”, he said of the theme selected for the current session — “mediation in the peaceful settlement of disputes”.