People´s Global Summit (Closing Remarks)
02 July 2022
Dear colleagues,
Ladies and gentlemen,
Dear friends
It is my honour to close this People’s Global Summit. I want to congratulate the organizers for a very successful meeting, and to thank all of those who participated, from all walks of life, from all over the world.
At the opening of this summit, Secretary General Guterres highlighted the many challenges we face today. Horrendous war. Pandemics. Food insecurity and hunger. Rising energy poverty. Political instability. Climate change. Droughts and debt distress.
In the last five days, you the people have addressed these challenges, facing them with clear ideas, new perspectives, and an unrelenting commitment to the future.
We have heard from artists. We have heard from students. We have heard from indigenous women. We have heard from social workers. We have heard from public health officers. From social security administrators. From those who work in the green economy.
In summary, we have heard from those at the frontlines. At the frontlines of the impact, and at the frontlines of the solution. We have traveled to the fields where the battle for better future is being waged. And we have seen that despite the difficult circumstances, people – the People – are not giving up.
The theme of this Global Summit – co-building a new eco-social world, leaving no one behind – could not be more pertinent. The United Nations is committed to being part of that building process. Our biggest contribution is a common road map. The 2030 Agenda of Sustainable Development.
In the last two years, meeting the goals of the 2030 agenda has become more difficult. But we must not waver. We have not gotten this far to only get this far. The road has winded. But the destination remains the same.
Indeed, it is now clearer than ever why we need a more sustainable and inclusive world – a more eco-social world. Because the alternative simply does not work.
When fifteen, twenty years of progress are wiped out in the span of six months – as we saw in 2020 with the pandemic in so many key social metrics– what this shows is that we were calling development something that simply wasn’t. Only when we develop inclusively and sustainably, can progress really be called progress. Everything else is just a mirage. A vision of the present at the expense of the future.
Dear friends:
The world is going through very testing times, but we must all feel empowered by the recognition that there is much each of us can do to help. We have seen that here, in this amazing Summit. Let’s join forces and continue. The future is a common responsibility.
Thank you.
