“We need greater global solidarity today and for future generations, better management of important issues of global concern and a renewed United Nations that can meet the challenges of a new era,” he said at the Summit of the Future Global Call Eventemphasizes that current institutions cannot keep up with changing times.
At this landmark summit, member states are expected to conclude negotiations ahead of the adoption of Treaty for the futureaims to chart the path towards achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and respond to emerging challenges and opportunities. It will include a Global Digital Compact and a Declaration on Future Generations.
The Sustainable Development Goals are a set of globally agreed targets to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure that by 2030, all people enjoy peace and prosperity.
Mr. Guterres said that although the summit is just days away, scheduled for September 22 and 23, it has taken years of effort to achieve this result.
‘Stuck in a Time Tunnel’
The UN chief warned that today’s challenges are unfolding at such a rapid pace that current tools cannot address them due to outdated institutions “designed for a different era and a different world”.
“The Security Council “We are stuck in a time tunnel, the international financial architecture is outdated and inefficient and we simply do not have the capacity to address many emerging issues,” he said.
Mr. Guterres stressed that the world’s ongoing violent conflicts, deepening geopolitical divisions, the rise of populism and extremism, and the level of poverty crisis are among the most pressing issues at a time when the Sustainable Development Goals continue to slip out of reach.
“The challenges of the 21st century require 21st century problem-solving institutions,” he stressed, adding that the summit also offers an opportunity to reform the Security Council and the international financial architecture.
Call for ‘vision, courage, unity’
To achieve the summit’s goals, the UN chief called on member states to “act with speed, vision, courage, unity and a spirit of compromise” to bring the three draft agreements “to the finish line”.
He praised the United Nations as a unique platform to convene key stakeholders, especially at a time of global turmoil.
The need to address the changing nature of war, manage the risks of new technologies and recognise the ongoing climate crisis as “a multiplier threat of instability” also came to the fore.
“I urge all governments to ensure they are as ambitious as possible to restore the hope and confidence we need to tackle the great challenges of our time with a new global consensus,” he urged.
‘Global call’
In live eventMr. Guterres joined Namibian President Nangolo Mbumba and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz as co-coordinators of the preparations.
Both President Mbumba and Chancellor Scholz helped promote the event as an opportunity to hear from member states at the highest political level about their aspirations for the Future Pact and the summit, and to reiterate their hopes for the generations to come.
“The summit will be a forum for bold ideas and concrete commitments to reinvent the United Nations and multilateralism for the 21st century,” said President Mbumba.
“We are at a crossroads between disruption and breakthrough. I am sure we will make the right choice,” President Scholz said, adding that it was time to show the world that “there is more that unites us than divides us.”
