Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari says the UN General Assembly must play the central role in reinforcing multilateralism and enhancing equity and justice in international relations.

Addressing in the Security Council's open debate on Maintenance of International Peace and Security in New York today (Wednesday), he said world's attention must also turn away from pursuing narrow national ambitions to addressing the several global threats and challenges we confront: climate change; the nuclear threat; terrorism; refugees and migration; famine and hunger; the misuse of the metaverse.

The Foreign Minister called for confronting the rise of the ideologies of hate, xenophobia, populist extremism and racial and religious intolerance, including Islamophobia, which imposes discrimination and violence, and even threats of genocide, against vulnerable minorities in certain countries.

Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said multilateralism must be based on universal and consistent adherence to the fundamental principles of the UN Charter - self-determination of peoples, non-use or threat of force, non-acquisition of territory by the use of force, respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of States and non-interference in their internal affairs.