Remarks by H.E. Mr. Abdulla Shahid, President of the 76th session of the United Nations General Assembly
17 June 2022
Ladies and Gentlemen
I congratulate TV9 network for organizing this Global Summit.
Today we face a world in crisis. A pandemic, climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution, a war and inflating food and commodity prices.
These multiple overlapping crises have led to a collapse in hope, and fed into growing mistrust in the ability of our international institutions to predict crises, prevent harm, and propose solutions.
And the ongoing war in Ukraine has only brought further despair, with many once again questioning the ability of the international order and the international organizations to maintain peace and security.
So, the question we ask ourselves now is, do we need a new international order? Is there common consensus, that the international order has failed?
My response is this: the international order, as it stands, remains the best option – the most viable option – to address global risks and challenges.
In fact, it is more vital now than ever that we strengthen current international systems, that we fight for all that we have built.
Dear friends,
The biggest criticism of the international order is that it is not able to prevent conflict.
After all, the United Nations – which is synonymous with the multilateral order– was itself borne of the ashes of WW2 and was created to prevent war.
The idea was that if countries are working together, by keeping each other in check, by following the same principles, and by being guided by the same values, we could prevent war.
These principle and core values remain valid to this day.
My friends, the United Nations is the best and most universal platform for bringing countries together, under the same values and principles. It allows for dialogue, a cornerstone of peace and of understanding.
Remember, it is easy to mark the conflicts that take place, it is far more difficult to measure those which have been prevented, quietly, through decades of diplomacy.
For every conflict that emerges, scores more may have been prevented through the annals of multilateralism.
Beyond conflict, the UN and the current order stands as our primary means to collaborate on the other challenges we face.
Climate change, of course, is the frontrunner.
There is no threat that is as broad in scale or as existential in consequences as clime change. And there is no better platform than that of the UN to address this.
The UN, helps bring together best practices and policies, helping countries identify practical solutions and how to access them.
For sure, the private sector may have more resources to channel – but the international order, embodied by the UN, has more leeway in monitoring and evaluating, in reviewing the impact, and in correcting the global course of actions.
The fact is that the current multilateral world order remains the biggest equalizer. Multilateralism is where every country has a voice, a vote, and a seat, regardless of its size and might.
Of course, ensuring equality is something we need to continuously work on. We need to ensure our system better caters to the special and specific challenges of LDCs, LLDCs, and SIDS.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
The international order as it stands is certainly not perfect. That, I believe, we can all agree on. There are flaws. But I strongly believe it is the best hope we have.
Allow me to make a few contributions on how this can be improved:
First, the international order system needs to be more equal. The current world order is vastly different from that of 1945. Our international power structures need to reflect these changes.
Second, we need to make the international order system more efficient. International bureaucracy is often cumbersome and slow. We need to devise flexible and effective systems to address our common challenges as they arise.
And lastly, the International Order system must be forward-looking. The system needs to be able to predict and forecast issues and at the same implement strategies to counter such forecasts. For this, we must embrace emerging technologies and be willing to be innovative.
My friends, the recent COVID-19 pandemic highlighted how interconnected and interlinked our world is. We all suffered together; lost together; struggled together.
Our world is too tightly wound for any approach that is not joined up and multilateral.
Just as we worked together to develop multiple viable vaccines against COVID-19, we can work together to tackle climate change, to protect biodiversity, to address inequality, and, of course, to ensure peace and security.
I thank you for this opportunity and I wish this Summit every success.
