UN General Assembly president hopes for progress in settling Syria crisis
MOSCOW. Dec 31 (Interfax) - The United Nations expects that the recent adoption of a Security Council resolution in support of the Vienna process on Syria will help move ahead the settlement of the crisis in the country, says UN General Assembly President Mogens Lykketoft.
"Most recently, a roadmap on resolving the Syria conflict was agreed on in the Security Council; the hope is that finally we can begin to contain this horrible humanitarian disaster," Lykketoft said in an article shared with Interfax.
The outgoing year has been a year of deadly conflicts, horrible terrorist attacks and a worsening global humanitarian crisis, he said.
At the same time, there have been major international achievements in 2015, the latest of which was the conclusion of an agreement on climate in Paris, he said.
In Lykketoft's opinion, "2015 was the year, for instance, when health workers and public officials supported by the international community brought an end to the Ebola Epidemic in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea."
"It was the year when the UN Millennium Development Goals expired, having helped to reduce the number of people living in extreme poverty globally by over 50%. And it was the year when talks not tanks led to improvements in Cuba/U.S. relations, an Iranian nuclear deal, a breakthrough in peace-talks in Colombia, transition in the Central African Republic," Lykketoft said.
"If 2015 was a year of incredible breakthroughs, then 2016 must mark the moment when all of us begin to deliver, when we begin to make the transformation needed to a more sustainable and just world," he said.