UN chief demands protecting world from recession
UN Secretary-General António Guterres has urged the international community to do something immediately to safeguard the world from global recession.
“Unless we do something now, we’ll face a worldwide recession that could get rid of decades of development and put the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development completely out of reach,” he cautioned, reports the UN news.
The UN chief developed the decision while speaking at a high-level event on financing for development in the era of Covid-19 and beyond.
António Guterres said while countries reacted swiftly to the global crisis, mobilising a fiscal response greater than $11.5 trillion globally, only a fraction was accounted for by developing and emerging economies.
Economies “which have the best need, least resources and weakest capacities for addressing the crisis,” he highlighted.
The UN chief welcomed the G20’s Debt Service Suspension Initiative, which includes created fiscal space in the world’s poorest countries, but added that the response did not address the magnitude of the crisis.
Convened by the UN Secretary-General, alongside the Prime Ministers of Canada and Jamaica the high-level meeting provided a platform for world leaders to think about the work over the last five months, following meeting on financing for development, in May 2020.
Work since May
Because the May meeting, discussions continued among finance ministers, UN and other international organizations and world’s top economists, leading to key policy options, concentrating on common principles, like the need to take into account national circumstances and vulnerabilities; ensuring digital tools are deployed to bridge divides; and recognise the value of promoting women’s leadership, contributions and equal participation.
“The policy options before us today address the existing emergency, recovery from the crisis, and the path to a more sustainable, resilient and inclusive future,” said the Secretary-General.
He focused on three core areas -- mobilising resources for diagnostics, treatments and vaccines - the simplest way of ending the pandemic; relieving debt distress on countries; and meeting existing commitments beneath the Addis Ababa Action Agenda.
“We urgently need solutions for each region that will allow investments in response and recovery, and in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development,” he said.
A generational opportunity
Overall his remarks, the Secretary-General urged everyone to seize on the “generational opportunity” to condition “our future” for the better and reiterated the necessity to integrate the principles of sustainable development, and social and financial inclusion into financial decision-making.
“The Covid-19 pandemic has recently brought new suggestions to the forefront and shown that ambitious action and transformative change are possible,” he said, adding: “It really is forcing us to answer difficult questions, confront uncomfortable facts; and change course.”
Co-conveners demand unity
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada, and Prime Minister Andrew Holness of Jamaica, both co-conveners of Tuesday's high-level meeting, also underlined the necessity for international cooperation.
“We’ve come together, the most significant gathering of world leaders in the context of Covid-19, to inspire a global response to the pandemic and keep maintaining momentum towards the 2030 Agenda,” said Prime Minister Trudeau, urging leaders to reaffirm their common knowledge of a more sustainable and inclusive recovery and re-establish momentum toward obtaining the SDGs.
Furthermore, Prime Minister Holness urged global cooperation in rebuilding efforts that help the world rebound better from the far-reaching impacts of the global Covid-19 pandemic. “We’re at a crucial point where now, as part of your, global cooperation and collaboration are essential to recovery. Our approach must therefore be purposeful and strategic.”
