The nations of the world agree on a Pact for the Future

Dear Fellow South African, 

We have just returned from representing South Africa at the annual United Nations General Assembly in New York. 

The General Assembly was preceded by the Summit of the Future convened by the UN Secretary-General to forge a new international consensus on the most pressing issues facing our world today. There was a reflection on the current geopolitical situation that gives rise to the challenges that many countries are facing, including national security, peace, economic development and the high cost of living.

The Summit aimed to mobilise greater support for the achievement by 2030 of the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Many countries, particularly those with developing economies, are falling behind in meeting their targets, mainly due to a lack of funds. 

The situation was made worse when scarce resources had to be re-directed to fight the COVID pandemic. This has meant that targets on poverty eradication, quality healthcare and actions against climate change are far from being met.

The UN estimates that the world needs about $4 trillion to achieve these goals. Just as importantly, the leaders of the world need the political will to dedicate the necessary resources to where they are most needed.

The Summit culminated in the adoption of a Pact for the Future, which reaffirms that extreme poverty is the greatest global challenge. It In South Africa's address to the UN General Assembly last week, I reiterated South Africa’s position that sustainable development can only be achieved when it is being driven by inclusive, responsive and agile multilateral institutions.

This means that bodies like the United Nations and financial institutions like the International Monetary Fund need to be fundamentally reformed.

We saw, for example, how the COVID-19 pandemic exposed the serious shortcomings of the international financial architecture. 

Low income countries struggled to get financial and other forms of assistance from multilateral institutions to support their pandemic response. Onerous lending requirements and overly bureaucratic systems meant that many poorer countries were unable to get help when they needed it most. 

Similarly, developing economy countries also struggle to get the funds they need, at sufficient scale, to respond to climate change and its impact. This is largely because the northern hemisphere countries that are largely responsible for the damage to the climate have not met the commitments they made at the UN Climate Change Conference in Paris in 2015.

For many countries in Africa and the Global South, the cost of servicing their debt is diverting much-needed funds for development. 

The Pact for the Future presents the world with an opportunity not only to bridge the development divide, but also to reinvigorate the multilateral system. It is an opportunity to move forward on the long overdue reform of the global governance architecture, including the UN Security Council.

At a time when the threats to international peace and security are many and complex, we can no longer place the world’s security in the hands of a few major powers when all countries are affected. The current approach to world peace is unjust, unfair and unsustainable. The UN Security Council must therefore be more representative of the current membership of the United Nations.

The Pact for the Future commits member states to strengthen multilateral action towards a New Agenda for Peace. South Africa’s message was that there should be a reinforced focus on mediation and the political settlement of disputes. We must pursue the attainment of just and sustainable peace based on international law.

When South Africa assumes the Presidency of the G20 later this year, we will prioritise the needs and aspirations of our continent and the Global South. As a signatory to the Pact for the Future, we want people-driven, sustainable development to become a reality.

All the nations of the world have a right to development, and better resourced countries have a responsibility to support countries with developing economies to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. 

As a society, we need to work together to ensure that development, poverty eradication and job creation remain at the centre of our national agenda. 

Alongside the other nations of the world, we need to speed up the pace of progress so that we can realise the aspirations of the Pact for the Future and achieve the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030.

This is vital if we are to succeed in building a better life for all our people.

---