“Please indulge me here because at heart I am an engineer – but it is as if, having set out on a long journey towards an agreed destination, our vehicle has developed engine trouble that slows our progress and prevents us from making good speed towards our destination.
“We tinker with roadmaps, plans and directions without consensus on what needs fixing and the best means to fix it. And while, we the leaders, as drivers of the vehicle remain parked some distance from our final destination, debating how best to fix the engine, our passengers, who are the citizens of the world, look on powerless and voiceless, many of them dying of hunger and thirst with no access to food or clean water,” he told the many leaders gathered, including U.S. President Barack Obama at the 68th Session of the UN General Assembly in New York.
The theme for this year’s session is ‘The Post-2015 Development Agenda: Setting the Stage,’ and Ashe urged member states to take this opportunity to help shape an inclusive development agenda.
“Let us prove the nay-sayers wrong – let us put our shoulders to the plough and work with each other in a spirit of collaboration,” he added.
Eighty-four heads of State, 41 heads of Government, 11 Deputy Prime Ministers and 65 Foreign Ministers are scheduled to address the Assembly on sustainable development, poverty eradication, climate change, human rights, and a range of peace and security issues.
