On 9 September 2025, the UN General Assembly (UNGA) closed its 79th session. Addressing the Assembly for the last time as its President, Philemon Yang (Cameroon) reflected on his efforts to foster dialogue and build trust. Annalena Baerbock (Germany), President-elect of the 80th session of the UNGA, subsequently took an oath of office, pledging to work to “keep [the UN] alive, to strengthen it, and to make it fit for the 21st century.” This was followed by the opening of the Assembly’s 80th session.

Among the achievements of the UNGA’s 79th session, Yang highlighted “signature events” that reflected his priorities, including: the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) hearing on scaling up action on the SDGs; an event on the elimination of child labor in all its forms, convened jointly with the International Labour Organization (ILO); and a multistakeholder dialogue on the New Partnership with Africa, with a focus on digitalization. He also called attention to: an informal interactive dialogue on preserving human dignity in armed conflict, organized with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC); and an event focused on small arms and light weapons control for preventing violence and advancing sustainable development, held in partnership with the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC).

Regarding calls made in the Pact for the Future, Yang highlighted his “keen interest” in the reform of the Security Council, and expressed gratitude for the efforts of the Multilingualism Task Force that led to the translation of the Pact into 33 languages.

Offering remarks at the closing of the UNGA’s 79th session, UN Secretary-General António Guterres commended Yang for his efforts to “usher in the Pact for the Future and its implementation through a series of dialogues with Member States.” He looked forward to working together with President-elect Baerbock to continue: seeking global solutions to global problems; rebuilding trust; and “delivering results and peace for all people, everywhere.”

Opening the Assembly’s 80th session, UNGA President Baerbock highlighted the theme, ‘Better Together: Eighty Years and More for Peace, Development, and Human Rights,’ as “the spirit of this milestone session and its High-Level Week.” She called for courage to use the processes already underway to “build the United Nations we need for the next 80 years,” capable of delivering on peace, security, sustainable development, and human rights by building on the Pact for the Future, ensuring its implementation, and advancing the UN80 reform agenda. She stressed the need “to turn promise into action, promise into practice, and commitments into measurable progress.”

Baerbock underscored the selection of the next Secretary-General as one of the key processes for the UNGA’s 80th session and pledged to be “impartial, a bridge builder,” guided solely by the UN Charter. [Handover Report] [UN Meetings Coverage: UNGA 79 Closing] [UN Meetings Coverage: UNGA 80 Opening] [UN News Story]