– calling for the UN to become more effective by responding to the world’s ‘changing realities’
President Dr Mohamed Irfaan Ali has emphasised the leadership credentials of Guyana’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Ambassador Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett, placing them firmly within the global conversation on the future of multilateralism, as he called for a United Nations capable of responding to the realities of a changing world.
Addressing the 81st Session of the United Nations General Assembly on Thursday, President Ali argued that restoring trust in the international system requires leadership prepared to bridge divisions, defend the principles of the UN Charter and transform multilateral commitments into meaningful action.
“The United Nations needs leadership that can bring its different organs, agencies, and programmes into greater unity of purpose. Leadership that can build bridges where division has become habitual,” President Ali told the Assembly.
Against this backdrop, the President formally advanced Guyana’s candidature of Ambassador Rodrigues-Birkett for Secretary-General, presenting her experience, convictions and record of service as aligned with the demands of an organisation navigating profound global challenges.
“We believe that her experience, her convictions, her record of service speak directly to the kind of leadership this moment demands,” he said.
President Ali’s presentation of Rodrigues-Birkett pointed to her emergence from a small Indigenous village and the barriers she overcame as an Indigenous woman.
He described her experience as ‘one shaped by struggle, sacrifice and commitment ‘.
According to the president, her work within the multilateral system and her understanding of both its possibilities and imperfections would be invaluable to the UN.
The head of state called on the Security Council and the wider UN membership to consider her candidature on its merits, noting that the Caribbean Community has endorsed her candidacy.
“Look beyond the small country that nominated her. CARICOM as a body has endorsed her, and let us rise to the challenge of giving this Indigenous woman the chance of helping us craft together the United Nations we want to see succeed,” President Ali said.
His appeal is part of a wider call for institutional renewal, including a Security Council that reflects contemporary geopolitical realities, a strengthened General Assembly and a UN that is more transparent, accountable and responsive.
President Ali maintained that the organisation’s current challenges should not be a reason to retreat from multilateralism, but rather an impetus to renew it.
For Guyana, Rodrigues-Birkett’s candidature is being advanced within a broader vision for a UN that can restore confidence, strengthen international cooperation and remain responsive to the needs of a changing global community.