Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov's address at the Preparatory Ministerial Meeting for the Summit of the Future, New York, September 21, 2023
21 September 2023 21:08
1836-21-09-2023
Esteemed Mr President,
Ladies and gentlemen,
I would like to support the key points made by Foreign Minister of Venezuela Yvan Gil on behalf of the Group of Friends in Defence of the UN Charter. We would also like to note the constructive contributions to the preparatory process by the Republic of Cuba as the chair of the Group of 77 and Pakistan as the coordinator of the Like Minded Group.
The talks focusing on the scope of the summit and its final documents have revealed deep differences in a number of key areas. The reason for this lies in the West's relentless pursuit of hegemony and its attempts to counteract the development of a fairer international order and to impose the infamous rules-based order which undermines international law and runs counter to the interests of the Global Majority countries that are home to over 80 percent of the people of our planet.
Such self-centred politics has already triggered a profound crisis in European security and is now creating extremely dangerous tensions in the Asia-Pacific region, where bloc-based approaches are being aggressively promoted.
The goals of the Summit of the Future include reaffirming the commitment of all UN member states to the principles of the UN Charter in their entirety and interdependence, giving a boost to the implementation of the 2030 Agenda, and reforming the global monetary system to reflect the actual weight and legitimate interests of the Global South.
This demands an end to the vicious practice of advancing geopolitical interests through the use of illegal coercive measures that undermine the achievement of the sustainable development goals.
We join in calling on the Secretary-General to draft a report about the repercussions of unilateral sanctions. We support the inclusion of issues related to science, technology, and innovation on the summit's agenda with the aim of overcoming digital inequality, democratising internet governance, and regulating AI technology with strict respect for the sovereignty of all countries.
The summit should not duplicate other negotiating formats. It is counterproductive to encroach upon the disarmament sphere and push through non-consensual decisions in this area bypassing the relevant UN platforms.
We must not forget about previous UN decisions that were approved to make our common future fairer but have remained on paper, as was noted at the recently held Sustainable Development Goals Summit. To achieve them, the West must fulfill its earlier undertaken commitments in the area of assisting development and climate financing and refrain from attempts to use the green agenda as an additional tool for neocolonial oppression of the Global South.
Russia will continue to increase its contribution to achieving the sustainable development goals, seeking balanced and acceptable solutions during the preparations for the Summit of the Future. The success of the summit is firmly grounded in the UN Charter principles, above all, the respect for sovereign equality of states and the preservation and strengthening of the intergovernmental nature of our organisation.
We caution against turning the Summit of the Future into an arena for pitting "democracies" against "autocracies." We are concerned about signs of the UN Secretariat's susceptibility to this confrontational concept.
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