UN chief calls on states to carry forward UN80 Initiative

United Nations, Sep 4 (AHN) UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called on member states to deepen reform under the UN80 Initiative in the upcoming General Assembly session.

"As we head into the 81st session, I urge member states not merely to maintain the momentum of UN80, but to deepen it," Guterres said on Thursday in a briefing to the General Assembly on UN80, a system-wide reform effort that he launched in March 2025 as the world body marked its 80th anniversary.

"Eighty years ago, our predecessors built the United Nations because they understood that a difficult world demanded institutions capable of rising to the moment. That responsibility now belongs to us," said Guterres.

"Our task is to hand on a United Nations stronger than we found it: more coherent in how it works, more disciplined in how it uses its resources, and better equipped to fulfil the promises made in its name," Xinhua news agency reported.

The first phase of UN80 was about identifying possibilities. The second was about testing them, building the evidence, and defining pathways. The initiative has now entered the third phase, about decisions and implementation, he said.

Across the three workstreams of UN80 -- efficiency in the UN Secretariat, mandate implementation review, structural and programmatic re-alignments -- the direction of travel is increasingly clear, he said.

"When I launched UN80, I spoke of responsibility. I return to that word today because responsibility is ultimately what will determine whether this initiative succeeds," Guterres said.

The true measure of UN80 will be whether, years from now, this organisation works differently because of the choices member states are making today, and above all, whether the peoples around the world see a United Nations that responds more quickly and efficiently, acts more coherently, and delivers more effectively, he said.