New York
UN
Deputy Secretary-General's Video Message to the Global Solutions Summit
Statements | Amina J. Mohammed, Deputy Secretary-General
Statements | Amina J. Mohammed, Deputy Secretary-General
Ladies and gentlemen, distinguished guests,
It is an honor to speak before you at the Global Solutions Summit.
The United Nations is a Global Town Hall for our Global Village.
This village, our village, is in the midst of several storms. Climate change, debt distress, rising hunger levels, and a growing geopolitical divide – these storms have battered our walls, setting back the human development index for two years in a row and putting our sustainable development goals on life-support.
But even though we all share the same village, it is becoming increasingly clear that some nations have better shelter from the storm than others. Developing countries, faced with years of rising debt burdens, unrelenting climate disasters, and interrupted growth rates, have an ever-shrinking fiscal space to address these ever-mounting challenges.
Recent financial events are a case in point. These last two months, we have witnessed how swift and decisive action in the form of liquidity provisions has saved a handful of failing banks in high-income countries. But the question we must ask ourselves is: How we can so quickly find the liquidity for these banks but not for the billions of people in need in developing countries? Why do we act as if systemic development failure is an acceptable option? As if Sustainable Development Goals are not also ‘too big to fail’?
Similar dynamics play out in the climate emergency, where the resources and the technologies needed are all on one side of the table. And also in debt, where the solutions are there, but the political will to act is hard to find in a period of shrinking geopolitical trust The key point is that at the end of the day, all of these crises, no matter how complex or how technical, how varied or how segmented, how large or how small, are all political, they are all human-made... Usually, man-made. But by being human-made, they are also human-solvable. It is within our reach to find solutions with more women in leadership and decision-making roles.
At the United Nations, it is always our duty to be part of the solution, no matter how difficult the problem. The Secretary-General launched the Black Sea Grain Initiative which enabled the shipment of almost 30 million metric tons of grain out of Ukrainian ports. By negotiating with parties at war and bringing ships through mined water. Solutions are always there.
What is needed is the will, the vision, the commitment and the leadership to act with a sense of urgency to deliver the promise of the SDGs. In September, the world will gather to take stock of the SDGs, and we will need to find the solutions to put them back on track.
I hope this Global Solutions Summit can provide some of these ingredients. Nothing less than lives and livelihoods are at stake. I wish you all the best for a fruitful engagement.
Thank you.
It is an honor to speak before you at the Global Solutions Summit.
The United Nations is a Global Town Hall for our Global Village.
This village, our village, is in the midst of several storms. Climate change, debt distress, rising hunger levels, and a growing geopolitical divide – these storms have battered our walls, setting back the human development index for two years in a row and putting our sustainable development goals on life-support.
But even though we all share the same village, it is becoming increasingly clear that some nations have better shelter from the storm than others. Developing countries, faced with years of rising debt burdens, unrelenting climate disasters, and interrupted growth rates, have an ever-shrinking fiscal space to address these ever-mounting challenges.
Recent financial events are a case in point. These last two months, we have witnessed how swift and decisive action in the form of liquidity provisions has saved a handful of failing banks in high-income countries. But the question we must ask ourselves is: How we can so quickly find the liquidity for these banks but not for the billions of people in need in developing countries? Why do we act as if systemic development failure is an acceptable option? As if Sustainable Development Goals are not also ‘too big to fail’?
Similar dynamics play out in the climate emergency, where the resources and the technologies needed are all on one side of the table. And also in debt, where the solutions are there, but the political will to act is hard to find in a period of shrinking geopolitical trust The key point is that at the end of the day, all of these crises, no matter how complex or how technical, how varied or how segmented, how large or how small, are all political, they are all human-made... Usually, man-made. But by being human-made, they are also human-solvable. It is within our reach to find solutions with more women in leadership and decision-making roles.
At the United Nations, it is always our duty to be part of the solution, no matter how difficult the problem. The Secretary-General launched the Black Sea Grain Initiative which enabled the shipment of almost 30 million metric tons of grain out of Ukrainian ports. By negotiating with parties at war and bringing ships through mined water. Solutions are always there.
What is needed is the will, the vision, the commitment and the leadership to act with a sense of urgency to deliver the promise of the SDGs. In September, the world will gather to take stock of the SDGs, and we will need to find the solutions to put them back on track.
I hope this Global Solutions Summit can provide some of these ingredients. Nothing less than lives and livelihoods are at stake. I wish you all the best for a fruitful engagement.
Thank you.