Biden talks about pandemic, climate, world hunger and terrorism in his UN address

President Biden delivered his first speech to the United Nations General Assembly since taking office, where he's expected to present his long-term vision for the global community, defend the withdrawal from Afghanistan and emphasise the importance of reestablishing alliances.

President Biden began his address to the UN General Assembly by acknowledging the huge losses around the world from the Covid-19 pandemic.

"We meet this year in a moment of intermingled with great pain and extraordinary possibility. We have lost so much to this devastating pandemic that continues to claim lives around the world and impact so much on our existence. We're mourning more than 4.5 million people, people of every nation, from every background. Each death is an individual heartbreak," he said.

He went on to say that this is "a decisive decade for our world" which will "quite literally determine our futures." 

On the pandemic, Biden asked: "Will we work together to save lives, defeat Covid-19 everywhere, and take the necessary stem to prepare ourselves for the next pandemic, because there will be another one. Or will we fail to harness the tools at our disposal as more virulent and dangerous variants take hold?"

Biden campaigned on the theme "America is back" and he reaffirmed the message in New York City on Tuesday. President Biden reasserted that the United States is taking back its leadership role on international issues, such as climate change, global health and pandemic mitigation.

"We are back at the table in international forums, especially the United Nations, to focus attention and to spur global action on shared challenges," he told the UN General Assembly.

He emphasised the alliances he has engaged this year with the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, the European Union, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and the "Quad" partnership with India, Australia and Japan to address the challenges and threats of "today and tomorrow."

"We are reengaged at the World Health Organisation, and working in close partnership with Covax to deliver life-saving vaccines around the world. We rejoined the Paris climate agreement, and we're running to retake a seat in the Human Rights Council next year at the UN."

"I believe we must work together like never before," said the US president.

Biden said the United States will look forward instead of "continuing to fight the wars of the past."

Biden said the world is at "an inflection point in history."

"Instead of continuing to fight the wars of the past, we are fixing our eyes on devoting our resources into the challenges that hold the keys to our collective future. Ending this pandemic, addressing the climate crisis, managing the shifts in global power dynamics, shaping the rules of the world on vital issues like trade, cyber and emerging technologies, and facing the threat of terrorism as it stands today," Biden said to global leaders.  

"We have ended 20 years of conflict in Afghanistan, and as we close this period of relentless war, we're opening a new era of relentless diplomacy, of using the power of our development aid to invest in new ways of lifting people up around the world, of renewing and defending democracy, of proving that no matter how challenging or how complex the problems we're going to face, government by and for the people is still the best way to deliver for all of our people," Biden said.

The President said the focus will turn to the Indo-Pacific region, and he pledged to work with allies and the UN.

"And as the United States turns our focus to the priorities and the regions of the world like the Indo-Pacific that are most consequential today and tomorrow, we will do so with our allies and partners through cooperation and multilateral institutions like the United Nations to amplify our collective strength and speed, our progress for dealing with these global challenges," he said.

Biden called on world leaders to unite in fighting climate change, telling those at the UN General Assembly that the crisis is "borderless" and announced effort to mobilise $100 billion to support climate action in developing nations.

Joe Biden announced during his speech at the United Nations General Assembly that the US will make a $10 billion commitment to the effort to "end hunger and invest in food systems at home and abroad."

"At a time when nearly 1 in 3 people globally do not have access to adequate food, just last year, the United States has committed to rallying our partners to address immediate malnutrition and ensure we can sustainably feed the world for the decades to come."

President Biden said the US must remain vigilant against global and domestic terrorism.

"We must also remain vigilant to the threat of terror, that terrorism poses, to all our nations, whether emanating from distant regions of the world or in our own backyard," Biden said in front of world leaders.

Biden's appearance at the assembly in New York comes as he continues to deal with a number of foreign policy crises, including blowback from the French over a recent deal to give Australia nuclear-powered submarines, the chaotic US withdrawal from Afghanistan and a bungled US drone strike in Kabul that killed Afghan civilians.