Pandemic Demonstrated Current Systems, Frameworks ‘Not Fit for Purpose’, Secretary-General Tells Think-20 Summit, Urging Future-Focused Upgrading

Following is the text of UN Secretary‑General António Guterres’ video message to the Think‑20 (T20) Summit, in Milan, Italy today:

I send my warmest wishes to all participants in the T20 [Think‑20] Summit.  The COVID‑19 pandemic has demonstrated beyond doubt that our current systems and frameworks are not fit for purpose.  They urgently need upgrading.

My report on Our Common Agenda, presented to the General Assembly last month, sets out more than 90 recommendations to strengthen and reinvigorate multilateralism and to make it more inclusive, networked and effective.

A central theme of my report is that we must expand our field of vision.  By using new technologies to model the impact of today’s policies, we can improve global decision‑making and strengthen coordination.

My report proposes a global Summit of the Future to consider action to protect our most precious global assets for future generations and deliver on our aspirations for peace, global health and a liveable planet.  The Summit would consider a New Agenda for Peace, to reduce future risks from nuclear arms, cyberwarfare and lethal autonomous weapons.  It could also explore ways to strengthen global governance of digital technology and outer space.

As part of our efforts on behalf of succeeding generations, I intend to appoint the first‑ever Special Envoy for Future Generations and to create a new United Nations Youth Office.

My report also recommends stronger coordination between the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations, G20 [the Group of 20] and international financial institutions.  This would align the global financial system more closely with global priorities including sustainable development and climate action.

I propose strong action at the national and global scale, based firmly on human rights, to tackle inequality and rebuild trust.  We need a renewed social contract, including universal health coverage and income protection, quality education, decent jobs and an end to discrimination and violence against women and girls.

I welcome the T20 Summit’s focus on vaccines, climate, debt, digitalization, inequality, fair trade and investments.  These are precisely the areas in which we urgently need coordinated multilateral action.

And your participants – Governments, civil society, private sector and experts and thinkers on global issues – are those who must take up these ideas and find concrete ways to move them forward.  I urge you to take a future‑focused approach and consider long‑term questions of global governance that are becoming ever more pressing.  Thank you, and I wish you a successful T20 Summit.