By Cosmas Chileshe –

WHEN Heads of State and Government, Ministers and high representatives converged at the United Nations Headquarters in New York for the 72nd United Nations (UN) General Assembly (GA), they met amid a backdrop of increased global challenges.
These included the nuclear peril, growing levels of hunger, disease, climate change, and ongoing conflicts in South Sudan, Syria, Yemen, the Democratic Republic of Congo and the latest Rohingya crisis in Myanmar.
This year’s theme,Focusing on People – Striving for Peace and a Decent Life for All on a Sustainable Planet, encompassed a round of high-level events, aimed at addressing these very issues.
On the agenda was UN reform, financing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, climate change, migration and refugees, and the prevention of sexual exploitation and abuse.
Other highlights included discussions on women’s economic empowerment; a ministerial-level Security Council debate on reform of UN peacekeeping operations; as well as a special meeting of the Assembly to commemorate the International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons.
The centre-piece of the gathering was the General Debate, from September 19 to 29, when countries got to present their views to a plenary session, of the UN topics they consider important to their national and foreign policy.
This year’s GA opened with a presentation of the Organisation’s Annual Report by UN Secretary-General AntónioGuterres, his first meeting as head of the global body after taking over from Ban Ki Moon at the beginning of 2017.
In his General Debate address on September 19, President Edgar Lungu underscored the importance of UN addressing challenges in an interlinked and interdependent world.
He said that Zambia was committed to international cooperation to address the challenges facing the planet, and calledon world leaders to come together and act boldly for the sake of the shared future.
“In this globalised and inter-dependent world, no country, however wealthy or powerful, can resolve all these challenges single-handedly. Common solutions are, therefore, required through a strong United Nations,” President Lungu said.
He also echoed sentiment for the reform of the UN Security Council to make the organisation more effective and efficient.
“As Africa constitutes the second largest bloc of the UN Membership, proposals to reform the council should heed Africa’s legitimate call,” said President Lungu.
The President outlined some important developments made by Zambia since the last siting of the UNGA in 2016, among them Government repealing a number of discriminatory and outdated statutes related to children.
He said that the country’s national development plan had incorporated the African Union’s Agenda 2063 and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), adding that the countryhas also made tremendous strides in the campaign to end child marriages.
President Lungu noted that it was good that most African Union member states had institutionalised the fight against child marriage through the development and implementation of the national strategies.
On the margins of the UN General Debate, President Lungu held bilateral meetings with Presidents Yoweri Museveni of Uganda and Peter Mutharika of Malawi and Canadian Deputy Minister of International Development Diane Jacovella and other leaders.
He told British Prime Minister Theresa May, that the Government had put in place measures to end forced labour and child marriages, including enacting a robust human trafficking legislation aimed at eradicating all forms of trafficking by providing prosecution of offenders and rehabilitation of victims.
The spotlight was on US President Donald Trump, his first UN meeting since taking office in January 2017.
He laid bare the US agenda for the international community, emphasising his Administration’s “America First” policy.
President Trump, a constant critic of the UN, which he has referred to as inefficient, reiterated calls for reforms, so that the Organisation becomes less bureaucratic and better shaped to tackle global issues.
Turning to the crisis emanating from the nuclear weapons programme of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), Mr. Trump stated that his country would defend itself and its allies, if they were threatened by North Korea, “We will have no choice but to totally destroy North Korea,” warned President Trump.
Another new key player to global politics is French President Emmanuel Macron, who attended his first UNGA. His clarion call was on the importance of multilateralism.
The new leader redefined France’s foreign policy on Africa.
In reference to the large migrant influx from mostly West and North Africa into France and other parts of Europe, President Macron said that “no barrier can stop the march of despair, the West does not transform routes of necessity into routes of freedom”.
He also announced that France will earmark 0.55 per cent of its gross national income (GNI) to official development assistance (ODA) within the next five years.
This is significant considering the strong eve of influence and support to African countries.  France has had a lot of influence in Francophone African counties some of which have experienced years of conflict, civil strife and an increase in terrorist attacks and movements.
As the global community met, unprecedented natural disasters – a devastating earthquake in Mexico, killed and displaced thousands, while hurricanes Irma and Maria – left a wake of destruction on several islands in the Caribbean and parts of the United States. Miroslav Lajcak, President of the General Assembly stated that the impact of the two weather phenomena and other recent systems “reminds us of the importance of adaptation and resilience to climate change and further strengthening mitigation efforts, through the implementation of the Paris Agreement [on Climate Change], which is a milestone for collective engagements towards the planet’s sustainability”.
But as is the tradition at the UN, it was not just General Assembly debates. The occasion provides for a flurry of events, workshops, panel discussions, cocktail dinners and special functions. Leaders and technocrats also engage in side discussions which often yield substantive results in terms of concrete agreements. Accompanied by his special assistants, senior cabinet ministers and other officials, President Lungu took time off the busy schedule to meet and address Zambians based in the United States.
So, after a week of deliberations, debates, and discussions, there were significant take-away points from the UN 72nd annual gathering:
•More than 128 countries pledged reforms to shape a ‘21st century UN’. The member states agreed to a ten-point plan proposed by President Trump to pledging to overhaul the United Nations bureaucracy to make the world body stronger and more responsive to the people it serves.
•The UN has also prioritized ending sexual exploitation and abuse. At a high-level meeting with a ‘Circle of Leadership’ which included Heads of State and Government committing to ending impunity and strengthening measures to prevent sexual exploitation and abuse in peacekeeping and political mission, among other international deployments.
•As far as US foreign policy on Africa is concerned, President Trump announced increasing US trade and investment in half a dozen industries including Agriculture, Infrastructure and Tourism.The US President held a meeting with eight African Heads of State, where he acknowledged the tremendous potential of the continentparticularly on economic development of the continent. He stated that his policy for Africa was to promote trade and investment.
In reaffirming the US-Africa policy, President Trump saluted the work of the United Nations in seeking to address the problems that cause people to flee from their homes. He urged the United Nations and African Union led peacekeeping missions to have invaluable contributions in stabilising conflicts in Africa.
Zambia equally stands to benefit from the US investment in better health and opportunity through programs like PEPFAR, which funds AIDS relief; the President’s Malaria Initiative and the Global Health Security Agenda among others.From this stand point, Foreign Affairs Minister Harry Kalaba hailed the US as a strategic bilateral partner to Zambia’s development agenda.
Mr Kalaba notes that development projects being spearheaded by the Millennium Challenge Account and USAID will continue to improve the wellbeing of Zambians and as such the USA will remain relevant to the needs of the country. The Foreign Affairs minister notes that the USA will continue to remain as an an all-weather friend country to Zambia.
Mr Kalaba said this spans from the time the US recognised Zambia’s sovereignty and independence since 1964.
(The author is the first Secretary Press and Public Relations, Zambian Embassy, Washington DC)