SG/SM/21580
November 11, 2022

Under is the opening remarks of UN Secretary-Common António Guterres on the twelfth Affiliation of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)-UN Summit held at this time in Phnom Penh.

Thanks very a lot on your heat hospitality and the fantastic group of this summit. It is an honor to satisfy you after three years.

Due to Cambodia, the chair nation of ASEAN [Association of Southeast Asian Nations] For its necessary work at a time once we face severe international challenges. Deepening divisions threaten the peace and safety of the world. Harmful rhetoric is fueling nuclear tensions.

Many international locations within the international South hit by the COVID-19 pandemic and local weather change disaster have severely restricted entry to meals, vitality and finance, exacerbated by battle and debt crunch in Ukraine. . Geopolitical divisions are fueling international unrest, sparking new conflicts and making it more durable to finish outdated conflicts.

There’s a rising danger that the worldwide financial system, led by the 2 largest economies, the US and China, will break up into two halves. A fragmented international financial system with two totally different units of guidelines, two dominant currencies, two internets and two conflicting methods for synthetic intelligence will restrict the world’s potential to satisfy the dramatic challenges we face. would weaken the

This decoupling must be prevented in any respect prices. And ASEAN member states are notably properly positioned to assist construct that bridge. We have to discover multilateral options, climate the geopolitical storm, and step up our collective efforts to attain the SDGs. [Sustainable Development Goals] get again on monitor. Regional organizations, together with ASEAN, have an necessary function to play.

The political, safety, human rights and humanitarian scenario in Myanmar is changing into increasingly more catastrophic. I condemn the escalation of violence, the unjustified use of drive and the appalling human rights scenario in Myanmar. Indiscriminate assaults on civilians might represent battle crimes below worldwide legislation.

I reiterate my name on the Myanmar authorities to launch all political prisoners and instantly provoke a complete course of to return to a democratic transition. That is the one technique to lasting peace and safety.

I welcome ASEAN’s principles-based strategy by the five-point consensus and urge all international locations, together with ASEAN member states, to discover a unified technique for Myanmar, centered on the wants and aspirations of the folks of Myanmar. improve. I’d additionally wish to thank her ASEAN Member States for his or her robust help of my Myanmar Particular Envoy’s work.

I name on ASEAN international locations to take care of open borders and supply safety and help to refugees from Myanmar. No refugee must be pressured to endure and be in peril. And I reiterate the pressing want for motion by the Myanmar authorities to create circumstances for the voluntary return of the roughly a million Rohingya refugees.

The humanitarian scenario in Myanmar stays determined and we’re dedicated to working carefully with AHA facilities in ASEAN. [Coordinating Centre for Humanitarian Assistance on Disaster Management] and different humanitarian companions.

I am from COP27 [twenty-seventh Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change], so I urged the leaders of excessive emitting international locations to reply to this emergency. Developed international locations should lead by decreasing emissions by 45% by 2030 to succeed in carbon neutrality by mid-century.

We should additionally mobilize the $100 billion pledged every year to assist growing international locations address the impacts of local weather change and construct resilience and flexibility. And we have to attain settlement on compensation for these international locations that did nothing to create this disaster. This consists of institutional mechanisms to take care of loss and harm, additionally financially.

Now could be the time for a historic settlement between developed and rising nations: a local weather solidarity pact. Developed and rising nations should agree on a joint technique that mixes capabilities and sources for the good thing about humanity. Rich international locations, multilateral growth banks and expertise corporations might want to present monetary and technical help on a big scale to assist rising economies transition to renewable vitality.

I commend ASEAN international locations which have already risen to the problem and joined multi-stakeholder partnerships to attain a simply transition to renewable vitality. Beginning with the OECD eliminating all new coal funding and phasing out coal-fired energy technology by 2030, ASEAN must take higher motion on local weather change. [Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development] 2040, all different international locations.

The disaster in entry to meals, vitality and finance is my high precedence as I attend the G20 [Group of 20] Bali chief subsequent week. I urge G20 leaders to undertake SDG stimulus packages that may present governments within the international South with the funding and liquidity they want and speed up debt aid and restructuring.

We’re additionally working with all stakeholders to develop the Black Sea Grains Initiative to extend provides of fertilizers that value as much as thrice greater than earlier than the pandemic. And rice is the crop most vulnerable to lack of fertilizer. Eradicating all remaining obstacles to Russian fertilizer exports is a vital step in the direction of international meals safety.

The United Nations appreciates ASEAN’s robust partnership and unwavering dedication to multilateralism and regional cooperation. ASEAN performs an important function in selling human rights, basic freedoms and inclusive political participation as constructing blocks for a really steady and peaceable society. And ASEAN performs an necessary function in growing a robust international financial system around the globe. The United Nations will stay your steadfast accomplice by the challenges forward. Thanks very a lot.

For info media. Not an official file.