Maria Fernanda Espinosa Garces (C), President of the 73rd session of the United Nations General Assembly, gavels to open the 73rd session of the UN General Assembly at the UN headquarters in New York, Sept. 18, 2018. (Xinhua/Li Muzi)
UNITED NATIONS, Sept. 18 (Xinhua) -- President of the 73rd session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA 73) Maria Fernanda Espinosa Garces on Tuesday afternoon opened the UNGA 73, and stated seven priorities ranging from gender equality to environment.
"I have taken the liberty of proposing the following seven priority items for this session: First of all, gender equality and empowering women must continue to be a priority until it is actually achieved," she said.
She explained that she is the fourth woman to occupy this position "in 73 years of the life of the United Nations," so she wishes to "dedicate this presidency to all the women of the world."
The second priority would be "promoting and implementing new global compact on migration and refugees," said Espinosa Garces.
"It is our duty to seek to protect the millions of refugees across the world and gear our efforts towards safe, orderly and regular migration," she noted.
Among other priorities are providing opportunities for decent work for youth, women and persons with disabilities, focusing more on the environment, strengthening political and social commitment to persons with disabilities, revitalizing the United Nations, and giving priority to peace and security.
"Making the United Nations more relevant to all will be the main focus of my work during the session," Espinosa Garces noted.
The UN General Assembly on June 5 picked Espinosa Garces, Ecuador's minister for foreign affairs and human mobility, to be its next president.
The 193-member General Assembly, one of the highest policy-making bodies at the UN, has a woman presiding over it for the fourth time in UN history.
Espinosa Garces beat Mary Elizabeth Flores Flake, permanent representative of Honduras to the UN, by 128-62 votes. She succeeded Slovakia's Miroslav Lajcak and began presiding over the 73rd session on Tuesday. The tenure is one year.
