UNITED NATIONS-sss Botswana's UN ambassador, Collen Vixen Kelapile, who became the new president of the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) on Friday, saw a more important role of the council in the challenging times.
"In my view, as we continue our concerted efforts to deal with the challenges we face, ECOSOC's role has become even more critical, and is no less important than the other peer principal organs of the United Nations, including the Security Council and the General Assembly," he said in his capacity as ECOSOC president for the first time.
Kelapile was approved on Friday as president by acclamation at ECOSOC's first plenary meeting of its 2022 session.
"In other words, the difficult circumstances we face demand that ECOSOC must rise to the occasion, and play its rightful role in waging a spirited war against disease, poverty, and inequality, impacts of climate change, as well as effective mobilization of both global action and resources during the decade of action to accelerate implementation of all the SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals)," he said. "Notwithstanding the ravages of the pandemic, I still believe that the ambitious nature of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its 17 goals remain a formidable blueprint for all our nations to work even harder to deliver its promise."
Kelapile stressed the need for global solidarity and multilateralism to tackle the many global challenges.
"One of the most critical lessons we are learning during this ongoing pandemic is that global solidarity, multilateralism and cooperation are, indeed, our greatest assets. When we work together, our ability to overcome hardship is unparalleled. We have seen this in the incredible progress of science over the past year regarding the rapid production of the vaccines themselves," he said.
At the same time, divisiveness stands as one of the biggest threats. The existing North-South divide, which is being deepened by this pandemic, cannot be allowed to widen further, he said.
"We are stronger as a collective and we must immediately address any and all differences among our nations. Failure to do so will only worsen the geopolitical and social, economic tensions and deeply affect our present and future generations," he warned.
As a UN Charter body, ECOSOC has an important mandate to promote development. Its role has become even more critical in guiding and in forming the response to the COVID-19 pandemic, mobilizing international solidarity as the world seeks to recover stronger and forge ahead to implement the 2030 Agenda and its 17 goals, he said.
ECOSOC is the coordinating body for the economic and social work of UN agencies and funds. Its presidency rotates every year between five geographical groups.  (Xinhua)