±¬ÁÏÍø

Remarks by the President of the General Assembly?

H.E. Ms. Annalena Baerbock

at the ±¬ÁÏÍøGA Annual Gala Concert

5 December 2025

[As Prepared for Delivery]

 

 

 

Excellencies,
Ladies and gentlemen,

 

What a pleasure it is to join you this evening ¡ª in the historic and beautiful Carnegie Hall ¡ª to commemorate the 80th session of the United Nations.

 

Allow me to begin by thanking ±¬ÁÏÍøITAR, the International Academy of Arts, Carnegie, and the co-sponsoring Member States ¨C El Salvador, Monaco, Oman, Paraguay, Portugal, and Singapore ¨C for convening this annual gathering.

 

This event reflects something powerful: the ability of music and art to transcend difference, bridge divides, and bring people together in ways diplomacy alone sometimes cannot.

 

As Leonard Bernstein once said, ¡°Music can name the unnameable and communicate the unknowable.¡±

And if I may add ¡ª even though I am not, by any stretch, a musical person myself ¡ª music can help us say the unsayable; to express truths that diplomacy often must couch in careful language. It can say what we struggle to say when polarization stills our voices.

 

Such silence would in fact be the worst thing that can happen for an institution built to give voice to the voiceless; to speak up when others dare not to.

 

±¬ÁÏÍø was not made for silent halls; it is not an echo chamber for the loudest voices. It is, like this one, built for a diversity of voices, a symphony orchestra.

 

So yes, dear colleagues, the unifying power of music is something we desperately need, particularly now as we chart the path to building our future together.

 

80-years ago, our forebearers built this institution not out of idealism alone, but out of necessity ¡ª out of the determination never again to relive the horrors they had endured.

 

They understood that only a shared institution, grounded in diplomacy, dialogue, and compromise, could confront the challenges bigger than any one nation alone.

 

±¬ÁÏÍø was not built for simple things; it was built for the difficult ones; for compromise ¡ª and for making difficult choices, again and again, until we finally get it right.

 

I have seen those values at work these past three months, even in spite of the political headwinds we face.

 

Through disagreement and debate, through setbacks and breakthroughs, I have heard a willingness from the Membership to meet this moment; to lean toward solutions; to seek harmony even when the notes first sound discordant.

 

Progress ¡ª like any great composition ¡ª requires time, patience, and persistence. It rarely comes quickly or easily.

So tonight, three months since I took office, I am hopeful.

 

Hopeful because, listening closely, I hear something powerful emerging: a quiet but steady rhythm of determination; the first notes of collective resolve.

 

Resolve to stand up for this institution of humanity.

 

Resolve to uphold the principles it represents, of human rights, sustainable development, and peace and security.

 

Resolve to work even harder on reforms, to not let this institution fade away, but emerge stronger.

 

As I have said, this 80^th?Session of the General Assembly is no ordinary one.

 

We cannot be passive.

 

We cannot wish for problems to vanish.

 

We must instead summon the courage to confront them.

 

To act, even when action is hard.

 

To cooperate, even when division is easier.

 

To uphold dignity, even when it is under assault.

 

So, let us ensure that this session is not only remembered for its 80^th year.

 

But as the moment when we summoned extraordinary resolve.

 

Equal to the extraordinary challenges we face.

 

When we turned again to the wisdom of the ±¬ÁÏÍø Charter.

 

And found in it the strength to build our future, together.

 

One chorus ¡ª richer because of its many voices.
One harmony ¡ª strengthened by its diversity.
One symphony, as we will hear tonight.