“Let us seize this moment as an opportunity to make history,” Sam Kutesa urged heads of State and Government and other high representatives gathered for the 69th Session of the UN General Assembly in New York.

“As we tackle the momentous tasks ahead of us, let us do so as optimists. Let us refrain from being disheartened and discouraged at the enormity of the challenges that lay before us,” he added.

His speech comes with less than 470 days left to achieve the eight anti-poverty targets known as the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Since 2000, the world reached targets on reducing poverty, increasing access to improved drinking water sources, improving the lives of slum dwellers and achieving gender parity in primary school.

Yet the sanitation target lags behind, maternal health is still low, and inequalities within and among countries remain high, and employment levels – particularly among youth – remain high,  Kutesa said.

The international community is also formulating a post-2015 development agenda which should be ambitious, transformative and produce tangible benefits and improved livelihoods.

“The new agenda should promote sustained and inclusive economic growth, safeguard the future of our planet, and lead to the achievement of sustainable development,” articulated  Kutesa, who will lead the effort to finalize the new agenda in September of next year.

If a truly informative agenda is to be implemented, the Assembly President said, “we will need to bring about profound and lasting changed in the way we think, the way we act, and the way we relate to each other.”

 Kutesa also noted the importance of recognizing climate change as a dangerous reality that must be urgently addressed. World leaders, as well as representatives of business and civil society, on Tuesay took part in Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s Climate Summit which drew attention to progress towards a universal and meaningful climate agreement in 2015.

He will convene a high-level event on combatting climate change in June.

The General Assembly will also have a high-level thematic debate on strengthening cooperation between the UN and regional organizations.

Sam Kahamba Kutesa, President of the sixty-ninth session of the General Assembly, addresses the general debate of the session. UN Photo/Mark Garten