Biden challenges UN to act together on pandemic, climate change
ABC News
President Joe Biden's speech to the U.N. General Assembly Tuesday will preview "a chapter of intensive diplomacy" to address COVID-19 and climate change, officials said.
President Joe Biden on Tuesday delivered his first speech as president to the United Nations General Assembly, telling diplomats that they were meeting at a moment "intermingled with great pain and extraordinary possibility."
He pitched his vision for America's return to the world stage -- in sharp contrast with years of bellicosity from his predecessor, President Donald Trump -- in which Biden said the U.S. would helm the response to the coronavirus pandemic and the climate crisis, and put behind decades of conflict in favor of diplomacy and partnership.
The world, he said, stood "at an inflection point in history," saying that, "to fight this pandemic, we need a collective act of science and political will."
"Today, many of our greatest concerns cannot be solved or even addressed through the force of arms," Biden said. "Bombs and bullets cannot defend against COVID-19, or its future variants."
