The United Nation's first virtual meeting of world leaders got underway on Tuesday with remote, distanced speeches from some of the planet's biggest powers — the United States, China and Russia among them.

This year's theme is "The Future we want, the United Nations we need: reaffirming our collective commitment to multilateralism – confronting COVID-19 through effective multilateral action."

Many leaders called for unity amid the pandemic, with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres pushing for a “global ceasefire” by the end of 2020 so countries can fight the virus. Delegates also discussed the importance of universal access to a COVID-19 vaccine.

The UN marked its 75th anniversary Monday with its chief urging leaders of an increasingly polarized, go-it-alone world to work together and preserve the organization’s most important success since its founding: avoiding a military confrontation between the major global powers.

For the full list of speeches, visit: https://www.un.org/en/ga/info/meetings/75schedule.shtml

For more info, please go to https://globalnews.ca/news/7350031/united-nations-75-anniversary/

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