Remarks by H.E. Mr. Abdulla Shahid, President of the 76th session of the United Nations General Assembly
Paris,
11 November 2021
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Thank you for the opportunity to contribute to the Paris Peace Forum.
Allow me to be direct: the COVID-19 pandemic is a direct test of the global multilateral system.
Our ability to address this challenge will directly influence the perceptions of billions of people.
Our citizens, our constituents, know that this is a global challenge; they expect their leaders to work together to overcome it.
Yet, what they see is a multilateral order that has not changed since 1945.
They see a multilateral order that does not take the concerns of small and less powerful communities into account.
They see a multilateral order that is not inclusive of young voices; one that is not gender balanced and fails to empower women and girls.
They see a multilateralism which is high on decibel and low on action.
My friends, people are not losing faith in the need for global cooperation, rather they question if today¡¯s multilateral order can deliver.
COVID-19 in any other decade or century may not have been as severe, but in our tightly interconnected planet it has amounted to a global pandemic.
Isolationism is a luxury that the virus can afford not us.
Just as failure to deliver would be a blow to multilateralism, overcoming the pandemic as one world and one humanity would rebuild hope and trust, and would demonstrate the sheer necessity of multilateralism.
What we have the power to achieve is this: we can demonstrate that today¡¯s multilateralism can indeed cater to the needs of all member states and all peoples.
In the immediate future, nothing is more important than ensuring vaccine-equity.
Vaccines are the most powerful tools at our disposal to beat back the virus.
The development of the vaccines in such a short time span is testimony to the human ingenuity.
And yet it is at the finish line that we stagger, as stark disparities in access to vaccines has prolonged the pandemic and delayed much-needed global economic recovery.
This undermines faith in the multilateral system¡¯s ability to meet global needs, as entire communities and regions get left behind to fend for themselves.
To those communities – that are still enduring lockdowns, overcrowded hospitals, and devastated economies¨C advocacy on behalf of global multilateralism will ring hollow unless matched by concrete action.
We must move quickly to address this gap; we went into this pandemic together, let us emerge stronger together.
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Ladies and gentlemen,
For all of these reasons, I will use my convening power as President of the General Assembly to hold a High-Level Meeting on Vaccine Equity in January 2022.
I will bring together all partners to generate political momentum and action to deliver for vaccines.??
By taking action to ensure that all countries and communities have access to vaccines, we can revitalize faith in the multilateral system and speed up global recovery.
And using that momentum, we can approach the remaining challenges of the 21st century ¨C such as climate change ¨C with fresh energy and optimism.
I trust you will join me in this effort.
I thank you.
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Throughout our disarmament efforts, it is my conviction that women and youth can make a meaningful contribution. Let us take special pains to ensure that women and youth, as well as civil society, are more actively engaged in this work going forward.