United Nations, Sep 20 (IANS): Ahead of the high-level meetings of the UN scheduled for Monday, the international community expects world leaders to make collective efforts to address global challenges.

This year marks the 75th anniversary of the UN which finds itself standing at another juncture in human history given rising unilateralism and protectionism, reports Xinhua news agency.

"As we mark the 75th Anniversary of the United Nations, it is clear that the world has high expectations of us, as the main platform for multilateralism and cooperation on a rules-based international system," Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said at the opening of the first plenary meeting of the 75th session of the UN General Assembly (UNGA) on Saturdy.

"In this 75th anniversary year, we face our own 1945 moment," Guterres said, stressing that "we must show unity like never before to overcome today's emergency, get the world moving and working and prospering again, and uphold the vision of the Charter".

On Monday, UN member states are expected to adopt a declaration, reaffirming their commitments to a reinvigorated multilateralism.

In his opening remarks at the UNGA meeting, Volkan Bozkir, president of the 75th session of the UNGA, said "the context in which we are working serves to remind us of the necessity of the multilateral system and inspires us all to make use of the UN Charter to address our collective challenges", in reference to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The disease that has been ravaging across the world has infected more than 30 million people and killed almost 1 million.

At this critical time, "this is the unprecedented opportunity to build back better and fairer".