– As delivered –

Statement by H.E. Volkan Bozkir, President of the 75th Session of the United Nations General Assembly

12 November 2020

His Excellency Dr. Mohamed Irfaan Ali, President of the Cooperative Republic of Guyana, on behalf of the Chair country of the Group of 77 and China,

His Excellency Mr. Hugh Hilton, Minister for Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, the Cooperative Republic of Guyana,

His Excellency Mr. António Guterres, Secretary General of the United Nations,

Excellencies,

Thank you for the opportunity to address the Group of 77 + China at this Ministerial Meeting.

I would like to commend the Cooperative Republic of Guyana for its leadership of the Group during this past year. It is testament to the power of this group, and the capability of its leadership, that you have upheld the voice of developing countries in critical, multilateral deliberations, even under such trying circumstances.

I would also like take this opportunity to assure the incoming chair of my support. I look forward to working closely with the Group throughout the 75^th Session.

Excellencies, allow me to be direct, the G77 + China has both the need for, and power to ensure, a truly transformational recovery from COVID-19.

I do not need to reiterate the deep impacts of this pandemic. Suffice to say, they are severe. In addition to the tragic loss of life and economic devastation, our global development trajectory has seemingly been hijacked, the Decade of Action set back before it has truly begun.

However, this does not have to be the case. Quite the opposite in fact. With trillions of dollars expected to be spent on the largest socio-economic recovery since the Second World War, recovery from COVID-19 has the potential to jumpstart the Sustainable

Development Goals (SDGs). Our recovery could accelerate action on resilient infrastructure, improve access to education and healthcare, and better protect the natural world around us, by tackling climate change and protecting biodiversity.

So how do we make this happen?

Three elements are key to ensuring our recovery efforts spur on the SDGs.

First: mobilize sufficient resources for countries to combat the impacts of COVID-19 while pursuing sustainable development. This pandemic has hit all of us, but not equally. Global extreme poverty is expected to rise in 2020 for the first time in over 20 years. Up to 115 million people are at risk of being pushed into extreme poverty. 

If we want to buffer the world against massive development losses then we absolutely must work together to protect the most vulnerable and those furthest behind within and among our countries. This includes Least Developed Counties (LDCs), Landlocked Developing Countries (LLDCs), and Small Island Developing States (SIDS), who together constitute the 91 most vulnerable Member States. 

Without sufficient support, the UN estimates that it could take vulnerable countries up to five years to recover from the economic losses of COVID-19. Half of the Decade of Action will have been spent simply getting back to where we were at the beginning of this year. This is not progress.

To avoid such a delay, vulnerable countries must be able to access both the financial and capacity resources required to implement a recover better approach to COVID-19, one that is built on the principles of resilience and sustainability as outlined in both the SDGs and the Sendai Framework on Disaster Risk Reduction.

I am pleased to note that the UN System, led by the UN Development Programme (UNDP), continues to support countries to mainstream the SDGs into their recovery plans. I encourage International Financial Institutions and partner countries to do what they can to ease debt burdens, facilitate investment, and leverage development assistance during this crucial period.

In order to facilitate discussion and accelerate progress on these fronts, my Office has established a Board of Advisors on LDCs, LLDCs and SIDS. Their task is to advise me on the challenges these countries face in implementing the 2030 Agenda, including

access to financial resources, and to help mainstream these concerns into the work of the 75th Session.

Secondly, we must lean into multilateral initiatives and take advantage of the opportunities provided by South-South and triangular cooperation.

As COVID-19 has highlighted, our world is more connected than ever before. It took mere months in our globalized world for this virus to reach every corner of our planet, affecting every country, every sector.

Just as we have all been affected, we must also work together to shoulder the burden of recovery. And we know what we must do: we must ensure fair and equitable access to vaccines, improve and strengthen global supply chains, and we must improve knowledge and capacity sharing to ensure that we are better prepared for such disasters in future scenarios.

I am pleased to say that on many of these fronts the international community has pulled together. The COVAX Facility, now signed on to by over 180 Member States, is such an example, and I am pleased to note that as President of the General Assembly, I will be advocating for ‘Vaccines for All’ during my tenure.

Excellencies, I trust I have your support in this critical endeavor.

My third and final point relates to the need for a UN that is fit for purpose.

Through the UN75 dialogues, the people of the world underscored the desire to address the pandemic and its related impacts as one global community.

The United Nations in particular must lead on this. No other institution is as far-reaching, as mandated, or as capable. To effectively do so, however, we must endeavor to overcome the challenges that hinder our ability to deliver and to push forward on reforms across the entirety of the UN System, including within the General Assembly.

In the midst of a crisis, the 75^th anniversary of the UN is an opportune moment to shake up how things are done, to be bold, and to restore confidence and trust in the UN through collective action and solidarity. Let us work together to ensure that we can deliver as needed for the people we serve.

On that note, I would emphasize that there will be several key moments throughout this session which require the General Assembly to build bridges and narrow the disparities among countries. These include:

• the Special Session on COVID-19;
• High-Level meetings on Middle-Income Countries; water; culture and sustainable development; desertification, land degradation and drought;
• the thematic event on Least Developed Countries;
• and the second UN Conference on SDG14.

Excellencies,

In the 75 years of the organization’s existence, never has there been more at stake than right now. We can ensure this upcoming decade ushers in an era of peace, prosperity, sustainability and solidarity.  

I wish you all the best in your deliberations and I look forward to working with you.

Thank you for having me in this very important meeting.