Secretary-General's opening remarks at press conference at ASEAN
United Nations Secretary-General
07 September 2023
Ladies and gentlemen of the media,
I am pleased to be back in Indonesia and to participate in the 13th ASEAN-UN Summit meeting.
We will focus on a wide spectrum of issues, from our cooperation with ASEAN to regional concerns and global challenges.
I deeply appreciate Indonesia and ASEAN determined advocacy on the climate crisis, sustainable development, and Non Proliferation and disarmament.
And that immensely grateful to the over 5000 peacekeepers from Indonesia and other ASEAN member states serving around the globe.
Our world is stretched to the breaking point by a cascade of crisis: from the worsening climate emergency and escalating wars and conflicts to growing poverty, widening inequalities and rising geopolitical tensions.
There is real risk of fragmentation of a great fracture in world economic and financial systems; with diverging strategies on technology and artificial intelligence, and conflicting security frameworks.
I commend ASEAN and ASEAN member states for their vital role in building bridges of understanding.
ASEAN has been an important factor for unity in a divided worlds. And we need this more than ever, in a world that is increasingly multipolar and that requires strong multilateral institutions to go with it based on equity, solidarity, and universality.
"Bhinneka Tunggal Ika", unity in diversity, is not only Indonesia's national motto.
It is the key to forging a better future for all.
We need cooperation on all fronts.
On the peace fronts I commend ASEAN's constructive role in working to defuse tension from the South China Sea to the Korean peninsula by prioritizing dialogue and promoting respect for international law.
I remain deeply concerned about the worsening political, humanitarian, and human rights situation in Myanmar, including Rakhine State and the plight of the massive number of refugees living in desperate conditions.
I welcome ASEAN's principled approach to the Five-Point Consensus, and I urge all countries to continue to seek a unified strategy towards Myanmar.
I also appreciate the determined efforts of Indonesia as chair of the ASEAN to engage all sides to the conflict in political dialogue.
And I reiterate my urgent call on the military authorities of Myanmar, to listen to the aspirations of its people, release all political prisoners, and open the doors to the return to democratic rule.
Ladies and gentlemen of the media,
Greater cooperation is also desperately needed on the climate fronts.
We have just learned that this past June, July, and August, were officially the hottest three-months period on records.
The so-called dog days of summer are not just barking, they are biting.
Our planet has endured the summer of simmering, the hottest summer on records.
Leaders must step up the heat now for climate solutions.
We can still avoid the worst of climate chaos, but time is running out, and we do not have a moment to lose.
I have called for a climate solidarity pact in which all big emitters, and they are the G20 countries that I will be meeting from tomorrow onwards.
I have called all big emitters to make extra efforts to cut emissions with wealthier countries mobilizing financial and technical resources to support the emerging economies and I've presented the plan to super-charge our efforts: the so called acceleration agenda, which calls on developed countries to reach net-zero as close as possible to 2040 and the emerging economies as close as possible to 2050.
I commend ASEAN member states, like Indonesia and Vietnam that are pioneering just energy transition partnerships, a crucial tool to unlock emission cuts, boost renewables, and grow the green economy.
Greater ambition is needed across the board, along with much greater support and resources.
At the same time, to deal with growing inequalities and to deal with climate action, we need to reform the global financial architecture, making it truly representative of today's economic and political realities, and more responsive to the needs of developing countries.
We need a new Bretton Woods moment as the system we have was created after the Second World War corresponding to the power relations and the economic situation of the world in 1945, very different from the present situation that we are facing now.
So we need to establish also an effective debt workout mechanism to support payment suspensions, longer lending terms, and lower rates, to the so many developing countries that are strangled with that.
And we need to increase the liquidity by channelling an additional $100 billion in Special Drawing Rights through multilateral development banks, using the model proposed by the African Development Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank.
These will allow to multiply resources by at least five-folds.
And we need an SDG - Sustainable Development Goals - stimulus of at least $500 billion a year to help rescue the Sustainable Development Goals in which unfortunately we are in so many areas backtracking.
On all these efforts and more, ASEAN can set an example to the world, as a global green economic powerhouse and trailblazer of an energy transition, that is sustainable, just, inclusive, and equitable.
United Nations is proud to be ASEAN's partner in translating this vision into a reality for all people across Southeast Asia.
And once again, terima kasih, thank you for this warm welcome.
And it's a pleasure for me to be with all of you today.
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