New York, September 24, 2025 /MONTSAME/. President of Mongolia Khurelsukh Ukhnaa addressed the General Debate of the 80th United Nations General Assembly on September 23, 2025. We present the full text of the address of the President.

“Distinguished Guests and Delegates,

Mr. Secretary-General,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

At the outset, I extend my sincere congratulations to Madam Annalena Baerbock on assuming the vital role of presiding over this session on the historic 80th anniversary of the founding of the United Nations, and wish the session every success.

Eight centuries ago, Chinggis Khaan established the Great Mongol Empire, bringing together the West and the East under the rule of justice and principled statecraft, spanning the vast expanse of Eurasia. The Pax Mongolica era ushered in a period of remarkable progress and flourishing for humankind.

The Pax Mongolica embodied advanced and visionary principles that resonate to this day, reflecting ideals of peace and stability that underpin today’s collective efforts to safeguard international peace and security.

The Pax Mongolica embodied progressive ideals that formed the basis of today's collective efforts to maintain global peace and stability. Then, eight decades ago, when the dust and ashes of World War II had not yet cleared and humanity had not yet healed from fear and anxiety, the United Nations, a great family of nations, rose to prominence as a guarantor of world peace and security, and a sanctuary of hope and trust. Since that day, this Organization has continued to illuminate the path of humanity, serving as a beacon of hope for nations striving to advance together in peace.

In this spirit, we highly value and fully support the theme chosen for the General Debate of this 80th session, namely: “Better Together: 80 Years and More for Peace, Development and Human Rights.”

This theme calls upon us to take stock of the achievements and shortcomings of the past 80 years of the United Nations, to strengthen its work in full conformity with the UN Charter and the principles of international law, and to consolidate our thoughts and actions for more concrete outcomes in the future.

Distinguished Delegates,

Mongolia has consistently upheld the UN Charter and universally accepted norms and principles of international law, including respect for the sovereignty, independence, and territorial integrity of all states, the peaceful settlement of disputes, the primacy of human rights and fundamental freedoms, and the principles of equality and mutually beneficial cooperation.

Since its admission as a full member of the United Nations in 1961, Mongolia has steadfastly supported the UN’s efforts to strengthen international peace and security, including initiatives on disarmament and non-proliferation, and has declared its territory to have a nuclear-weapon-free status.

We have sought to establish a dialogue mechanism for North-East Asia, participated in United Nations peacekeeping operations, and advanced policies and goals on social and economic development, the environment, and climate change through proposals and initiatives, working in partnership at all levels.

During his visit to Mongolia in 2022, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said, “Mongolia is a symbol of peace in a troubled world.” This was a high recognition of Mongolia’s contribution and dedication to the UN and its peace agenda.

For the past 23 years, Mongolia has continuously deployed members of its Armed Forces to UN peacekeeping operations, contributing to global and regional peace and security.

Over this period, more than 23,000 Mongolian peacekeepers have served in 16 UN peacekeeping missions. Among more than 120 troop- and police-contributing countries, Mongolia is regularly ranked within the top twenty.

It is also gratifying to note, on the eve of the 25th anniversary of the UN Security Council’s Women, Peace and Security resolution, that Mongolia has steadily increased the proportion of women in its military contingents serving in UN peacekeeping to 14 percent.

Mongolia will continue to firmly support the United Nations’ efforts to safeguard global peace and security and will remain an active participant in peacekeeping.”

Distinguished Delegates,

With only five years remaining to the close of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, global implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals stands at just 17 percent.

According to the 2025 Sustainable Development report, Mongolia’s implementation rate has reached 66.7 percent, and our country ranked 14th on the UN Multilateral Cooperation Index. These are tangible outcomes of decades of sustained national effort.

The international community and UN Member States are mobilizing every effort to accelerate progress on the SDGs. A few months ago, at the Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development held in Seville, Spain, countries agreed that financing is the lifeblood of the SDGs. We welcome the decisions to increase the participation of developing countries and to advance proposals for reforming the current international financial architecture.

In implementing the “Seville Commitments” adopted at that conference, it is essential that international development cooperation be directed to supporting those most in need and the most vulnerable, and to addressing the challenges they face.

Mongolia has actively championed, within the United Nations, the interests of landlocked developing countries, raising global awareness of their special needs and circumstances, working with them to safeguard shared interests, and ensuring their voices are heard.

In August this year, the Third United Nations Conference on Landlocked Developing Countries convened in Awaza, Turkmenistan, and adopted the Awaza Programme of Action (APoA) for Landlocked Developing Countries (LLDCs) for the Decade 2024–2034. Countries pledged to advance, over the next decade, the development of LLDCs that routinely face trade and economic constraints due to geography, thereby bringing positive change to the lives of more than 600 million people living in those countries.

To translate the “Awaza Programme of Action” into concrete results, LLDCs should align it with national development programmes and, by drawing on all available resources, intensify regional integration and cooperation. We also call upon the international community, international financial institutions, and development partners to provide practical and sustained support to LLDCs.

Distinguished Delegates,

Mother Earth is the only home humankind has. Yet, through a mindset that treats nature as if we were mere visitors, we have pushed our planet to the brink. We now see it as a patient fighting to survive in an intensive care unit.

Unless we choose a bold path right now to protect our world, the Earth will assuredly take its own path without us.

From ancient times, Mongolians have believed that everything under the sky is alive. We respect mountains, waters, plants, and animals, and recognize that harmony in the natural world is inseparable from the actions and consciousness of humankind. Two millennia ago, Modun, the Great Khaan of the Hun Emprie, proclaimed that “The land is the foundation of the state.” UNESCO has inscribed the “Mongolian tradition of ovoo worship” on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in Need of Urgent Safeguarding, acknowledging our people’s long-standing reverence for nature.

We Mongolians have passed down, from childhood, a way of living in respectful balance with nature and of safeguarding it in its pristine state. On the 800th anniversary of the founding of the Great Mongol State, the UN General Assembly, in a resolution adopted in 2005, not only highly appreciated the contributions of the Mongols to human history, but also stressed that the traditional Mongolian ethos of living in harmony with nature is of growing relevance to today’s world.

Today, we aim to share this heritage and traditional knowledge with the wider world, contributing to adaptation and resilience in the face of climate change.

In 2026, as part of the International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists and the 17th session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD COP17) hosted in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, the United Nations proposed a global Ten-Year Alliance on Sustainable Rangelands and Land for the Future Initiative.

Our people say, “Life begins with water; water begins with trees.” Around the world, access to drinking water is declining, and some 3.6 billion people face water scarcity. It is therefore imperative that countries implement integrated land and water resources management coherently, placing special emphasis on preventing water shortages.

I invite you all to participate at a high level and in broad representation in UNCCD COP17, to be held in Ulaanbaatar in 2026, where we will seek comprehensive solutions for climate adaptation, the protection and augmentation of water resources, and the reduction of desertification and land degradation.

Distinguished Delegates,

From the moment of birth, Mongolians have been raised in the saddle. Together with our steeds, we carried our fame across the world and helped write a history that humankind can be proud of. For this reason, we honour the horse on our State Emblem of Mongolia, craft our State Banners from the mane and tail of the swift steed, and move hearts with the music of the morin khuur.

From ancient times, the horse has played a vital role in human life, civilization, and development. To preserve and promote the heritage and traditions of the horse, and to raise awareness of its importance to human society, Mongolia initiated a resolution to designate 11 July as “World Horse Day” each year. The resolution was adopted at the plenary meeting of the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly on June 3, 2025.

On behalf of the horse-loving people of Mongolia, I extend deep gratitude to all UN Member States for supporting the decision to observe “World Horse Day” on the day of the National Naadam Festival of Mongolia, which is inscribed on UNESCO’s Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

Distinguished Delegates,

This year, nations are taking stock of three decades of implementation since the adoption of the Copenhagen Declaration on Social Development and the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action. Mongolia has consistently pursued the social development objectives reflected in these instruments and the 2030 Agenda, including reducing poverty, ensuring equality and inclusion, supporting families, children, and youth, and protecting the rights of older persons and persons with disabilities through comprehensive policies and actions.

Our state policy on gender equality focuses on ensuring equal rights, opportunities, and treatment for women and men, as well as preventing and eliminating gender-based discrimination. As a result of sustained attention in recent years to increasing women’s participation at decision-making levels, women now hold 25 percent of seats in the Parliament of Mongolia.

According to the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report 2025, Mongolia advanced 20 places from last year to rank 65th globally and fifth in the Asia-Pacific region.

In recent years, Mongolia has regularly hosted international events for women: the International Conference of Women Peacekeepers in 2022, the Meeting of Women Foreign Ministers in 2023, and, in partnership with the United Nations, the World Women’s Forum in 2024 in Ulaanbaatar. This August, we hosted the World Women Entrepreneurs Forum under the theme “Inspire, Impact, Invest”.

We are grateful to all countries for their active and constructive participation. Mongolia will remain a steadfast bridge of partnership, co-operation, and solidarity to enhance women’s leadership and participation at all levels.

Distinguished Delegates,

“The Only Constant in Life Is Change,” as the ancient Greek philosopher Heraclitus observed. With the support of successive United Nations leaderships and Member States, we have continually sought to reform and improve this outstanding Organization’s structure and functioning in all respects. In this regard, Mongolia welcomes and supports the Secretary-General António Guterres’s “UN-80” initiative.

Ensuring gender parity in UN leadership will undoubtedly enhance the Organization’s decision-making process, making it more open, balanced, and inclusive. We therefore support the proposals to nominate a woman for the post of Secretary-General and to elect a woman as President of the General Assembly in alternate years.

Mongolia reaffirms its commitment to upholding and implementing the UN Charter and the principles of international law, contributing to the strengthening of the UN-centered multilateral system, and advancing UN reform. In particular, we support adapting the Security Council to present realities and transforming it into a system that is reasonably representative, inclusive, transparent, effective, democratic, and accountable.

At a time when conflict rages across the world, mistrust grows, and misunderstandings deepen, it is ever more vital that international relations not be driven into divisive poles, but rather be developed on a multi-pillared basis that respects the pluralism arising from each nation’s history, civilization, core interests, and development path.

Eighty years ago, the United Nations was founded to free humankind from war and to safeguard global peace and security. We must strengthen the UN as a sturdy, multi-pillared edifice where all nations enjoy equal rights and equal influence under one roof, living together in peace and amity.

We should therefore reflect seriously on whether the Organization’s founding purposes have been fully realized, and, imbued with the spirit of the Pax Mongolica eight centuries ago — when nations coexisted peacefully and the foundations for human progress were laid — let us, all Member States together, build a strong United Nations capable of establishing a Pax Globalica, a Global Peace.

On this historic 80th anniversary of the founding of the United Nations, I wish to emphasize that the UN’s role is more vital than ever in promoting mutual understanding, trust, and respect among nations, and in advancing a peaceful, stable, and prosperous world, free from war.

Mongolia has consistently pursued a peace-loving, multi-pillared foreign policy, making concrete contributions to international peace and sustainable development. We will continue to fulfill this solemn responsibility with honour.

I extend my congratulations on the 80th anniversary of the United Nations.

May the eternal blue sky bless us with peace across the world.

Thank you for your attention!”