Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis addressed the 79th UN General Assembly tonight.
The Greek Prime Minister began his speech by saying that our world is becoming more and more insecure every day. But amid the threats, there are also great opportunities for cooperation, he said, stressing the need to reform the UN Security Council.
Greece will do its utmost as a non-permanent member of the Security Council to be an agent of stability, Kyriakos Mitsotakis also stressed and referred to the Israeli war, calling on all parties involved to take a step back and start a dialogue. We support the 21-day ceasefire, the humanitarian disaster in Gaza cannot continue, he said.
On the war in Ukraine, he said it was a violent challenge to international stability and international order.
Regarding the Greek-Turkish relations, he referred to his latest meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday and noted the improvement in bilateral relations. He referred to the Athens Declaration and the window of opportunity to settle the dispute over the delimitation of the continental shelf and EEZ in the Aegean and Eastern Mediterranean.
Unfortunately, we see no progress on the Cyprus issue, Mitsotakis noted and reiterated Greece’s support for the resumption of the talks. “There cannot be or be an acceptable two-state solution,” he stressed, calling on the Turkish Cypriot community to return to the negotiating table.
On the Western Balkans, he reiterated Greece’s support for the European perspective of the countries of the region, stressing that the candidate countries themselves must respect the rule of law and good neighbourly relations.
At that point, he sent a clear message to Skopje to respect the Prespa Agreement, saying that international agreements must be respected and fully implemented in good faith.
Mitsotakis also referred to the challenges posed by the use of AI and social networking platforms, especially on children’s mental health, and stressed the need for a global agreement not only with the participation of countries but also of technology companies.
He also made extensive references to the indiscriminate use of social media by children and noted that tech companies should also operate with rules like industries.
