President Joe Biden summoned the world's nations to forcefully address the festering global issues of the Covid-19 pandemic, climate change and human rights abuses in his first address before the UN General Assembly.
He decried military conflict and insisted the US is not seeking "a new Cold War” with China.
But while stressing to fellow world leaders the urgency of working together, Biden avoided addressing criticism from allies about the chaotic US withdrawal from Afghanistan and a diplomatic tempest with France.
“We're opening a new era of relentless diplomacy, of using the power of our development aid to invest in new ways of lifting people up around the world,” Biden said.
Biden said the US, under his watch, had reached a turning point with the end of military operations in Afghanistan last month, closing out America's longest war. That set the table, he said, for his administration to shift its attention to intensive diplomacy at a moment with no shortage of crises facing the globe.
“Today, many of our greatest concerns cannot be solved or even addressed by the force of arms,” he said. “Bombs and bullets cannot defend against COVID-19 or its future variants." Biden offered a robust endorsement of the UN's relevance and ambition at a difficult time in history, and sought to reassure wary allies of US cooperation.
He pledged to double US financial aid to poorer countries to help them switch to cleaner energy and cope with the “merciless” effects of climate change. That would mean increasing assistance to about USD11.4 billion a year. This after five months ago doubling the amount to USD5.7 billion a year.
As part of the fight against climate change, rich nations for many years have promised to spend USD100 billion a year in climate help, but a new study shows that they're USD20 billion a year short. Biden said his new commitment would help rich nations reach their goal.