Excellencies,
Ladies and gentlemen,
Good morning. On behalf of the United Nations, it is my great pleasure to speak to you at this annual conference. I sincerely thank the organizers of the Boao Forum for this opportunity.
COVID-19 has brought irreversible change to our world. The global health, economic and social crisis that came with it has given us a deeper insight to the fragility of our existence.
However, it is in such difficult times, that humankind has responded with resilience and the determination to chart optimistic pathways to the future.
According to the World Health Organization, nearly 3 million people worldwide have died from COVID-19. And, more than 135 million confirmed cases have been recorded.
The International Labour Organization estimates that the crisis also has resulted in an unprecedented loss of 8.8 per cent of global working hours in 2020. This is equivalent to 255 million full-time jobs. Women, youth and workers in the informal economy have been hit particularly hard.
Indeed, the pandemic has exposed the shortcomings of our societies. More than ever, we know that early investment in sustainable development – which encompasses the interlinked issues of health, eradication of poverty, employment and education – leads to better outcomes.
The need for robust multilateralism, and forward progress on the 2030 Agenda and Sustainable Development Goals, has never been more clear.
2020 marked the 75th anniversary of the United Nations. The organization has worked tirelessly to ensure global and regional peace since the end of the Second World War. Thus, this anniversary is another reminder that multilateralism is essential. As the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres noted, 2021 is a make-or-break year. We need to work together for a better future of our planet and all human beings.
As part of this effort, and as mandated by the General Assembly, the Secretary-General will put forward his recommendations to advance Our Common Agenda, this September. His report will be a stepping-stone towards a multilateralism system that better addresses current and future challenges. Three priority areas demand immediate global attention.
First, we need a rapid and equitable distribution of vaccines – both for people’s health and their economic security.
The UN projects that the global economy will rebound in 2021, growing by 4.7 per cent. But this can be realized only if infection rates start declining from the first quarter of this year.
That means we need growing shares of the population to receive vaccinations. A global immunity gap puts everyone at risk.
The new variants of the virus are spreading quickly. If many more people become infected in major developing and developed economies during the first half of 2021, governments will be required to reintroduce lockdown measures This will have the effect of lowering the growth rate of the global economy to only 2.8 per cent.
We need a global vaccination campaign to deal with a global pandemic. This should include greater investment in COVAX and the ACT-Accelerator, technology sharing, and making vaccine licenses more widely available.
Second, we need urgent financial support for individuals and for all countries that need it in order to deliver an inclusive economic recovery.
In the wake of the pandemic, countries across the world have taken up recovery measures, amounting to about 10 per cent of world gross product.
But the relief has not gone far enough. High unemployment and loss of income have pushed millions into destitution during the pandemic. The total number of people living in extreme poverty is estimated to have increased by 131 million in 2020 alone. This is putting the Sustainable Development Goal of eradicating poverty in danger of being missed by a large margin.
A bright spot is the economy of East and South Asia, which has experienced a less severe economic contraction than other regions, reducing only 0.5 per cent in 2020. The region performed remarkably well in controlling the spread of the pandemic and showed great economic resilience.
In this connection, I wish to congratulate the people and Government of China, on the occasion the successful eradication of extreme poverty in the country. This extraordinary result is an inspiration to the entire global community, and a critical contribution to the first Sustainable Development Goal of the 2030 Agenda. It demonstrates the critical importance of political commitment of all levels of governments and the tireless efforts of the people in China.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
The third area where action is needed is the global climate crisis.
The recovery from the pandemic must embrace renewable energy and green infrastructure. This is in line with the United Nations objective to build a global coalition for carbon neutrality by 2050.
China, in particular, has a big role to play. The country will have the opportunity this year to be a world leader on climate action and environmental issues, as it hosts two global conferences about sustainable transportation and biodiversity. The second UN Sustainable Transport Conference, to be held in Beijing, will help us rethink the ways people and goods move around the world. And, how the industry will help the global economic recovery and reduce carbon emissions, thus moving us closer to achieving the SDGs.
The UN Biodiversity Conference, to be held in Kunming, will result in a post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework. This will focus on ensuring that global work to preserve biodiversity contributes to nutrition, food security, and livelihoods for all, particularly the most vulnerable.
Other upcoming international meetings on sustainable energy, the ocean and climate change will seek to raise ambition across the board.
All in all, the COVID-19 crisis is a stark reminder that global challenges can only be addressed through global partnerships and strong multilateral frameworks.
The global community must deliver vaccines and restore confidence in multilateral trading systems, and in limiting protectionist and nationalist measures.
It is often difficult to reach consensus in multilateral processes when confronted with high degrees of uncertainty, and divergent national interests and priorities. Countries in Asia should lead multilateral efforts to reboot and revitalize the multilateral trading system to accelerate a sustainable economic recovery, and strengthen resilience for people and planet.
We can do it, and we must do it.
Thank you very much for your attention.