Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Thursday joined 48 world leaders virtually, to outline their expectations for this month\u2019s Summit of the Future in New York, underscoring \u201ceffective\u201d international cooperation to address global challenges, including the developing nation\u2019s rising debt burdens.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Summit of the Future represents a great opportunity. We must not lose it!,\u201d the Pakistani leader told the virtual live event as part of a global call to action to support the once-in-a-generation UN summit , which begins on 22 September at UN Headquarters.<\/p>\n
Over 130 Heads of State and Government are expected to attend the landmark event, which will be held just ahead of the annual high-level debate in the UN General Assembly, which opens on Sept 24.<\/p>\n
The Summit brings together countries from around the world, marking a critical opportunity for far-reaching agreements on international collaboration for a safer, more sustainable and more equitable world.<\/p>\n
At Thursday\u2019s live event, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was joined by the President of Namibia, Nangolo Mbumba, and the Chancellor of Germany, Olaf Scholz, as co-facilitators of the preparatory process.<\/p>\n
During the two-day Summit, member states are expected to conclude negotiations ahead of adopting the Pact for the Future, which aims to chart a path toward achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and respond to emerging challenges and opportunities. It will include a Global Digital Compact and a Declaration on Future Generations.<\/p>\n
The SDGs are an internationally agreed set of targets to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure that by 2030 all people enjoy peace and prosperity.<\/p>\n
In a video call from Islamabad, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, called for collective efforts to deal with acute world problems, saying, \u201cToday, in times of unprecedented global challenges and escalating conflicts, we are at risk of permanently damaging the notion of \u2018we\u2019.<\/p>\n
The prime minister added, \u201cA collective \u2018we\u2019 requires a degree of equality and justice. The plight of the people of Gaza is a mockery of this \u2018we.\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cThis \u2018we\u2019 becomes marred amidst rising debt burdens for the poor, increasing poverty, growing inequality, intolerance, terrorist violence, illegal foreign occupation, and a skewed approach to climate adaptation.\u201d<\/p>\n
In this regard, prime minister stressed the need for significant reform of international financial institutions to achieve SDGs, saying it required enhanced concessional financing, increased Official Development Assistance (ODA), and greater lending from Multilateral Development Banks.<\/p>\n
\u201cAbove all,\u201d , he added, \u201cwe need innovative financial solutions to address debt challenges, including climate debt swaps and equitable debt relief mechanisms.\u201d<\/p>\n
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif emphasized that technological advancements should be accessible to all, particularly the citizens in the Global South, adding that \u201cOpen access to innovations can empower our people.
\n\u201cAt the same time, new technologies require new and effective safeguards to prevent the world from their possible misuse.\u201d
\nInjustices and inequalities, he said, create avenues for malign actors, particularly in nations grappling with climate vulnerability and high debt, which also face terrorism and disinformation.
\n\u201cTo counter these harms, effective international cooperation is more urgent today than ever before,\u201d the prime minister added.<\/p>\n
At the outset, Guterres, the UN chief, said, \u201cWe need greater global solidarity today and with future generations, better management of critical issues of global concern and an upgraded United Nations that can meet the challenges of a new era\u201d.<\/p>\n
While the summit is just days away, it has taken years of effort to get to this point, he said.
\nToday\u2019s challenges are moving at speeds far too fast for the current tools to solve them due to outdated institutions that are designed for another era and another world, the UN chief warned.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Security Council is stuck in a time warp, international financial architecture is outdated and ineffective and we are simply not equipped to take on a wide range of emerging issues,\u201d he stated.<\/p>\n
Guterres underscored the world\u2019s ongoing ferocious conflicts, deepened geopolitical divides, the rise of populism and extremism and the crisis levels of poverty among the most pressing issues at a time when the SDGs continue to slip out of reach.<\/p>\n
\u201cTwenty-first-century challenges require twenty-first-century problem-solving institutions,\u201d he emphasized, adding that the summit also provides an opportunity to reform the Security Council and international financial architecture.
\nTo achieve the summit\u2019s goals, the UN chief is calling on member states to act swiftly, with vision, courage, solidarity and a spirit of compromise to get the three draft agreements \u201cover the finish line\u201d.<\/p>\n
He praised the UN as a unique platform to convene key stakeholders, especially in times of global upheaval.
\nThe need to address the changing nature of warfare, manage the risks of new technologies and recognize the ongoing climate crisis as a \u2018threat multiplier of insecurity\u2019 was also brought to the forefront.<\/p>\n
\u201cI appeal to all governments to make sure they are as ambitious as possible to restore the hope and trust we need to address the dramatic challenges of our time with a new global consensus\u201d.
\nBoth Namibia\u2019s President Mbumba and Germany\u2019s Chancellor Scholz helped promote the event as an opportunity to hear member states voices on the highest political level about their aspirations for the Pact for the Future and the summit while also reiterating their hopes for the next generations.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe summit should be a platform for bold ideas and concrete commitments that will reinvigorate the UN and multilateralism for the 21st century,\u201d President Mbumba said.
\n\u201cWe stand at the crossroads between breakdown and breakthrough. I\u2019m sure that we will make the right choice\u201d, said President Scholz, adding that it is time to show the world that there is much more that unites us than divides us.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Thursday joined 48 world leaders virtually, to outline their expectations for this month\u2019s Summit of the Future in New York, underscoring \u201ceffective\u201d international cooperation to address global challenges, including the developing nation\u2019s rising debt burdens. \u201cThe Summit of the Future represents a great opportunity. We must not lose it!,\u201d the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":430951,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-430942","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n