Remarks by H.E. Mr. Abdulla Shahid, President of the 76th session of the United Nations General Assembly
1 April, 2022
Excellencies, distinguished colleagues,
I would like to thank His Excellency, Ambassador Dian Triansyah Djani, for joining us today, and for briefing the General Assembly on Indonesia’s priorities during its presidency of the G20.
As the world’s twenty leading economies, the G20 has a responsibility to help guide the international community out of these challenging times. In particular, action by the G20 is needed to support the 3 pillars of recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic: global vaccination; financing global socio-economic resilience; and reinvigorating multilateralism.
Excellencies,
Our hopes for a quick rebound of the global economy are fading. Progress on universal vaccination to COVID-19 is proving far too slow. Global financial conditions are tightening, debt levels are rising, and borrowing costs borne by developing countries are increasing.
Added to this, the conflict in Ukraine is yet another crisis that has emerged; one that threatens to shake the foundations of our increasingly fragile multilateral system.
Meanwhile the spillover consequences are reverberating throughout the world. These consequences – including shocks to global supply chains, rising trade costs, and severe inflation – are being felt most acutely by countries in special situations, such as LDCs, LLDCs and SIDs, whose fiscal spaces were already constrained by the pandemic.
To resolve this, I encourage Member States to help secure the support of financial and technical partners, and to provide more resources to countries in special situations. The Dialogue on World Commodity Trends and Prospects I convened yesterday in the Trusteeship Council highlighted concrete solutions that G20 members can accelerate taking forward to keep a global recovery within reach. Supporting economic diversification globally, particularly of the digital and green economies through upscaled private-public partnerships, will be key to inclusive, sustainable COVID recovieres that can keep 1.5 alive and leave no one behind.
I look forward to hearing from Ambassador Djani as to the G20’s plans to support global stability during this difficult time.
Excellencies,
The COVID-19 pandemic continues to consume our attention and divert our resources from other pressing concerns. As was repeated throughout the High-Level Meeting on Vaccines, which I convened in February, the only solution remains universal vaccination.
Going forward, we need to scale up global rollout efforts, in coordination with recipient countries, while building up their absorption capacities, addressing workforce and capacity gaps, and tackling vaccine hesitancy and disinformation.
We must commend progress achieved. This includes the establishment of the COVID mRNA vaccine technology transfer hub in South Africa, and the development of new hubs in Latin America, as well as the expansion of production in six countries on the African continent.
I look forward to hearing about the G20 Presidency’s plans to build on these achievements.
Excellencies,
In light of the difficulties confronting the global economy, providing adequate emergency concessional financing to developing countries is critical.
Yes, significant steps have been taken by the G-20, World Bank, IMF and others, including the Debt Service Suspension Initiative (DSSI), the Common Framework, and the allocation of Special Drawing Rights (SDRs).
However, much more needs to be done. Financially vulnerable countries can no longer afford to divert scarce funds away from investments in their socio-economic resilience in order to meet unsustainable debt-obligations.
In this regard, on May 31st, I will jointly host, together with the President of ECOSOC, a high-level dialogue on the issue of debt-sustainability. This event will look at debt sustainability in the context of a global, SDG-aligned, COVID-19 recovery.
I look forward to the active participation of all UN Member States at the highest level, and I thank Indonesia for its support.
Excellencies,
As crises threaten to tear us apart, we need to make a concerted effort to come together, in the best traditions of multilateralism. In that spirit, regular briefings from the G20 to the UN are an important mechanism to strengthen global cooperation.
The Secretary General’s report, Our Common Agenda, proposed convening biennial summits, bringing together United Nations Member States, the G20, and international financial institutions under the UN umbrella, to accelerate and enhance financing for the SDGs, while improving overall global economic governance.
As President of the General Assembly, the UN membership have mandated me to lead the follow-up process on Member State’s deliberations on ‘Our Common Agenda, particularly on its proposals, options and means of implementation.
While member states have broadly expressed support for these proposed Summits, they have requested more details on their scope and modalities, including on how to secure the inclusion of all Member States and relevant stakeholders, and how to practically build upon existing mechanisms – such as the Financing for Development Forum, which will be held later this month.
My recommendations on the way forward on this, and all other proposals, will be shared with the membership in the coming days.
Excellencies,
We can achieve a sustainable recovery from COVID-19, and ensure we are once again on the path to achieve the 2030 Agenda and the SDGs, if we work together – developing and developed, governments and stakeholders. I am confident that together, we can, and together we will achieve!
I thank you once more Ambassador Djani, and look forward to hearing your briefing.
