ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The principles of international law and the United Nations Charter should be adhered to in order to prevent war, Portugal’s president told Rudaw on Tuesday.
The high-level week of the 78th annual UN General Assembly commenced on Tuesday and will continue through next week. Hundreds of world leaders and delegates have gathered in New York to attend the event, with around 150 heads of states and governments set to deliver speeches.
“It is a question of principle,” Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa told Rudaw’s Diyar Kurda on the sidelines of the UNGA in New York when asked whether he thinks the war in Ukraine would end soon.
The president praised the efforts made by UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres so far, together with US President Joe Biden as his “right hand,” also commending Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
“We cannot differentiate the struggle of the Ukrainian people from the struggle for the respect of the United Nations Charter,” de Sousa said during his speech at the UNGA.
The war in Ukraine has taken center stage at the UNGA this year, with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky expected to meet in person with Russian officials for the first time since the start of the war in February last year.
The principles in the UN Charter as well as international law “should be respected to prevent war” anywhere on the globe, Portugal’s president said in his interview with Rudaw.
Portugal has supported Ukraine throughout the war and has provided temporary protection to over 58,000 people displaced from the country, according to the European Commission.
The theme of this year’s UNGA is “Rebuilding trust and reigniting global solidarity: Accelerating action on the 2030 Agenda and its Sustainable Development Goals towards peace, prosperity, progress and sustainability for all.”
