WASHINGTON, MAR 19 – US President Joe Biden met virtually with permanent representatives of the UN Security Council, calling for its action on regional crises, the White House said Thursday.

During the meeting, Biden reaffirmed the US commitment to values-based global leadership and re-engagement with international institutions, in particular the UN, the White House said in a statement.

“The president also noted the need for UNSC action on a range of regional crises, including those in Burma, Ethiopia, Libya, Syria and Yemen,” said the statement.

Biden and the UN diplomats also discussed the COVID-19 pandemic and global health security.

“The President reiterated the importance of working with global partners and through multilateral institutions to end the pandemic, improve global health security, and ensure that our nations drive an equitable and sustainable economic recovery,” it said.

Biden told the permanent representatives of the U.N. Security Council that the United States will join the international body’s Group of Friends on Climate and Society.

The group was launched in 2018 with a focus on the impact that national security policy has on climate change.

Biden has vowed that the U.S. will consider climate issues in nearly all policy-making and has committed to the U.S. cooperating on multilateral efforts on addressing climate change. That’s a marked departure from his predecessor, Donald Trump, who largely ignored scientific consensus about the need for nations to take action to curb rising temperatures.