UN chief urges divided nations to approve blueprint to address global challenges from climate to AI
UNITED NATIONS — The United Nations leader urged the divided nations of the world Wednesday to reach a compromise and adopt a blueprint to address the global challenges of conflict and climate change artificial intelligence and reforming the UN and global financial institutions.
Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told reporters that discussions on the “Pact of the Future” were in their final stages and that it “would be tragic” if the necessary consensus were not reached among all 193 UN member states.
A year ago, Guterres sounded the alarm about the survival of humanity and the planet, calling on world leaders to convene a Summit of the Future at their global gathering this year to unite and take action to reform the UN and other institutions created after World War II and address new global threats. It will take place on Sunday and Monday, just ahead of the start of the annual high-level meeting on Tuesday at the UN General Assembly.
The 30-page pact, now in its fourth revision, has been under negotiation for months. In recent interviews and at Wednesday’s press conference, the secretary-general was asked about the lack of vision and how it differs from UN documents adopted in recent years that have yet to be implemented.
“It’s very simple,” the UN chief replied.
All previous “extraordinary, important statements” have been about what is needed to meet the challenges of the 21st century, he said. The Summit of the Future is about implementing those challenges, which requires reform of global institutions established after World War II, including the United Nations.
Guterres stressed that in every area – from climate to AI — “there is a serious problem of governance,” and that is what the Summit of the Future is about.
The draft Pact for the Future states that world leaders are coming together “at a time of profound global transformation” and warns of “increasing catastrophic and existential risks” that could plunge people everywhere “into a future of protracted crisis and collapse.”
But the draft says leaders come to the UN “to protect the needs and interests of present and future generations through actions in the Pact for the Future.”
It includes 51 actions on issues such as eradicating poverty, combating climate change, achieving gender equality, promoting peace and protecting civilians, and revitalizing the multilateral system to ‘seize the opportunities of today and tomorrow’.
Guterres pointed to “potential breakthroughs” in the pact, including “the strongest language on Reform of the Security Council in a generation,” and the most concrete steps to expand the powerful 15-member body since 1963.
He also cited first measures to regulate new technologies, including artificial intelligence, a “major advance” in reforming international financial institutions and a commitment to multiply resources for developing countries to meet the UN development goals by 2030.
Guterres urged member states to get the Pact for the Future “over the finish line”: “We cannot create a future fit for our grandchildren with systems built for our grandparents.”
U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield told reporters Tuesday that a priority for the Biden administration at this year’s Summit of the Future is “creating a more inclusive and effective international system.”
She said the Group of 77, which now represents 134 developing countries at the UN, the 27 member states of the European Union and the United States have all agreed to the fourth revision of the Pact for the Future.
But the U.S. ambassador said Russia objected to about 15 different issues, that Saudi Arabia had problems with the climate language and that other countries objected to the language on reforming international financial institutions, including the World Bank And International Monetary Fund.
“I think the Summit of the Future will make a difference,” Thomas-Greenfield said. “There are still some big differences. … But I’m still hopeful that we’ll get there.”