Bulgaria's President Rosen Plevneliev addressing the United Nations General Assembly on September 22, 2016. Photo: Bulgarian Presidency
Bulgarian President Rosen Plevneliev has warned that a reform is needed to strengthen the United Nations in the face of challenges such as the refugee crisis, the bloodshed in Syria, and combatting terrorism.
“It is widely recognized that the UN must change and adapt to the new realities. We need an Organization that is properly equipped to meet new challenges and is responsive to ever-growing needs. Strengthening transparency, coherence and cost-efficiency of the UN system is of paramount importance,” Plevneliev has said in his last address to the United Nations General Assembly (elections are due in November, and he is not running for a second term).
Collective effort is needed to manage migration, both ensuring that human rights are safeguarded and that migrants observe the laws of the country they are in, according to the head of state.
Only a Syrian-led political process can lead to peace and reconciliation in the war-town country, he has said.
“We do not want to go back to the time when great powers allocated their spheres of influence,” he has added.