UN leaders' meeting convenes with secretary-general calling for 'world built on interdependence'

UNITED NATIONS (AP) – United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres pleaded for "a world built on interdependence" as he made his final address on Tuesday to a yearly gathering of world leaders convening to face a formidable menu of challenges – from climate change and war to inequality and artificial intelligence.

The UN leader has long implored leaders not to give up on cooperation and shared decision-making in the face of accelerating global challenges and increasing great-powers competition. Tuesday's message at the 81st session of the United Nations General Assembly at UN’s headquarters in New York took on additional urgency because he leaves office at the end of this year.

"The fault lines in our world are widening," he said, citing raging wars, rising temperatures and artificial intelligence, among other matters. Instead of letting the future continue to veer toward fragmentation, transactionalism and mistrust, he called for "a world built on interdependence – and sustained by a dense web of economic, political, social and technological connections."