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WASHINGTON – Warning that protectionism and unilateral action will ultimately backfire, Singaporean Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan told the 75th UN General Assembly (UNGA) that no nation, large or small, will be safe. Unless everyone is safe together
“What we need now is the multilateralism of vaccines,” he stressed. “We need greater international cooperation to ensure equitable and universal access to Covid-19 vaccines.”
Speaking early on Sunday morning (September 27) via a video link to the UNGA, which for the first time has had to go almost completely virtual due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Dr. Balakrishnan acknowledged that organisms like the World Health Organization (WHO), the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the UN needed reforms.
But he warned that the multilateral system “faces nationalism, xenophobia, the rejection of free trade and global economic integration, and the bifurcation of technology and supply chains.”
And while these were pre-existing trends, the pandemic has accelerated and intensified them, he said.
“We need to defeat Covid-19 together,” he emphasized. “What we need now is more global cooperation, not less.”
“We have to ensure that medical supplies and scientific collaboration can continue to flow across borders, and we must intensify our exchange of information and infection protocols, if we hope to resume something close to ‘normal’ life, including the resumption of the international travel, and do all this safely. “
“We should also consider ways to address the inequalities that Covid-19 has exposed and in some cases exacerbated,” he added. “We need to build more equitable societies.”
Ensuring an open trading system is key to rebuilding efforts, urged Dr. Balakrishnan. “No country can be completely self-sufficient. It is in the interest of all countries that we maintain and strengthen supply chain connectivity. Indeed, seeking more markets and diversifying our sources of supply will build resilience.”
“The open and rules-based multilateral trading system is a foundation for sustainable global recovery,” he said. “The system has allowed countries to trade goods and services in mutually beneficial ways.”
“It has lifted hundreds of millions of people out of poverty. In the wake of Covid-19, we must look for ways to support and strengthen this system so that it works better in the future. We also need to rebuild safe and reliable transportation networks to facilitate resumption. of the mobility of people “.
“Our path to the ‘new normal’ after Covid-19 will not be linear,” the minister acknowledged. “At every stage of the way, all countries must balance public health concerns with economic and social concerns, and make concessions based on their unique national circumstances.”
But, he said, continued international cooperation is key to overcoming the devastating impact of the pandemic and to rebuilding. “We need to build more trust and we must learn from each other,” he said.
Furthermore, as the world rebuilds, it must also continue to improve resilience to meet the challenges posed by the digital revolution, cybersecurity threats, climate change and cross-border pollution, he said.
“It is … critical to collectively develop a trustworthy, open and inclusive cyberspace supported by international law and norms of responsible state behavior,” said Dr. Balakrishnan.
On climate change, the Paris Agreement had established a very important global consensus for action, and the coronavirus had shown how inextricably linked human well-being is to the health of the planet.
“It is irrefutable that respect for biodiversity and wildlife is essential to humanity’s own health and our existence,” he said. “Therefore, countries must align recovery efforts with long-term climate goals.”
While countries cannot hope to return to the way they were before the pandemic, and neither can the multilateral system, “we must adapt and we must strengthen our international institutions so that they remain open, inclusive, transparent and fit for purpose,” said the Dr. Balakrishnan.
The role of the UN, in particular, is “indispensable as a universal platform for cooperation, based on the principles of equality, mutual respect, mutual benefit and international law.”
“But the UN itself must adapt and reform itself to respond effectively to contemporary and future challenges if it is to remain relevant for the next 75 years,” he said.
“Small countries represent more than half of the UN membership. It is essential to have a system where small sovereign states have an equal voice and disputes can be resolved peacefully, in accordance with international law and agreed rules.”
“We must seize the opportunity of the 75th anniversary of the UN and that presented by the current Covid-19 pandemic to revitalize the multilateral rules-based system,” he urged.
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