UN envoy underlines challenges, hope in 2024

Siddharth Chatterjee, the United Nations resident coordinator in China, has warned that the world "still grapples with a cascade of challenges — a climate crisis, conflicts, and rising hunger, poverty and inequalities" in the New Year.

"In this distressing context, accelerating global progress on the Sustainable Development Goals must remain a priority of the highest order," he said when addressing the 2024 UN in China Media Appreciation Party on Friday in Beijing.

In his speech, he recognized and appreciated the role of the media not only in supporting the UN in China but, more broadly, in facilitating progress on peace and security, human rights, and development — the Three Pillars of the UN.

He noted that the upcoming Spring Festival has always been a special time for families and friends in China to reunite and spend quality time with one another.

"I am thrilled that the UN General Assembly has selected the Lunar New Year as a holiday. It demonstrates the recognition of this very important event, which is also a time for renewal for the many who celebrate it around the world," he said.

"As the UN family in China, we hope the Year of the Dragon can serve as a symbol of the importance of dynamism and energy in all of our lives, as well as the power in every one of us to embrace solidarity, compassion and advance peace and humanity," he added.