Seventy-five years after the founding of the United Nations, the rules-based international order is under an unprecedented pressure. Nationalism, populism and protectionism came back stronger than ever to the international agenda. This happens exactly when many serious global challenges, including climate change, the protection of biodiversity, keeping trade routes open and preserving world health, would badly need effective multilateral cooperation.
The coronavirus pandemic has made abundantly clear just how crucial multilateralism is for humanity. The fight against this terrible global pandemic, that has been taking so many lives and has been challenging so much our societies, is a stark reminder that the world needs more, not less multilateral cooperation and global solidarity.
As the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said recently: “A new, networked, inclusive, effective multilateralism, based on the enduring values of the United Nations Charter, could snap us out of our sleepwalking state and stop the slide toward ever greater danger.”
That is why I am very grateful to the organizers of the Special Session on “Multilateralism and International Security”! We need to talk about this more than ever! And this is the right way to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the UN! Hvala!