Multilateralism in a Changing World

Your Excellency Ambassador Badawi,

Your Excellency Ambassador Haggag,

Your Excellency Ambassador Berger,

Dear colleagues, ladies and gentlemen,

It is a pleasure to be here with you today, thank you for this kind invitation. And thank you to the Institute for Diplomatic Studies and the EU Delegation for organizing this important, timely event.

I would like to begin by congratulating all new diplomats enrolled at the Institute for Diplomatic Studies.

Firstly, for joining the call to public service.  That is something that unites us all here.

And secondly, for joining a topnotch foreign service, that remains at the forefront of multilateral diplomacy.

As a founding member of the UN, Egypt has a distinguished track record over the past 77 years, as a responsible, substantive and committed multilateral partner.

Today Egypt is the sixth largest contributor to UN peacekeeping. The historic leadership role of Egypt stretches back to the founding of the Non-Aligned Movement and is visible to date in the voice of authority that Egypt brings to the G77.

It was personified by eminent personalities such as Dr. Mostafa Kamal Tolba, Dr. Boutros Boutros Ghali and today by USG Ghada Waly.

Dear ladies and gentlemen, Egypt has been one of the early adopters of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its Sustainable Development Goals.

This is reflected in the national Sustainable Development Strategy and reaffirmed by Egypt’s submission of three National Voluntary Reviews to the UN High Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development which received international acclaim.

Egypt is a generous host to 38 United Nations offices, with more than 2300 staff. And Cairo can be considered as one of the organization’s major hubs.

Further on, the continued commitment of Egypt is exemplified in its hosting of the global climate conference, COP27 in Sharm al-Sheikh.

And the very location where we meet here today illustrates Egypt’s multilateral credentials.

Across the road lies the League of Arab States, a key regional multilateral institution.

And next door is the Cairo International Center for Conflict resolution, Peacekeeping and Peacebuilding, CCCPA, an important African center of excellence and the driving force behind the annual Aswan Forum for Sustainable Peace and Development.

I would be remiss not to acknowledge our European partner for this event. The European Union itself is proof of how multilateralism can bring about peace and prosperity.

I will now proceed to share my reflections on multilateralism by addressing three questions.

First: Why do we need multilateralism today?

Second: What should our multilateral efforts focus on? What is the UN agenda?

And third: How do we contribute to this agenda as the UN globally and in Egypt?

Let me pause briefly here, to recall what we mean by multilateralism.

Multilateralism is an approach to foreign policy, whereby states cooperate with each other to promote common objectives, and balance and regulate competing interests.

More precisely, it is a commitment to a rules-based international order and international cooperation in accordance with the purposes and principles of the UN Charter and international law.

So, why do we need multilateralism today? Because the challenges ahead of us, as mankind, as a global community, are so large and complex, they cannot be tackled by countries alone.

In the words of the Secretary General, Antonio Guterres, “In our biggest shared test since Second World War, humanity faces a stark and urgent choice: a breakdown or a breakthrough.”

He says “From the climate crisis to the multiplication of conflicts […]; the governance of weapons of mass destruction; health emergencies such as COVID; and the global refugee protection regime” the challenges are grave.

No nation is immune. And that is precisely why we need to work together, that is why we need multilateralism. Because no state can solve the challenges ahead of us alone.

I come to my second point. What should our multilateral efforts focus on? What is the UN agenda?

The big agreements from 2015, the Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development with the 17 SDGs as well as the Paris Agreement on Climate Change together provide our guidebook.

As universal agendas they provide us with a global to do-list for all countries. The SDGs and the Paris Agreement were founded on the recognition that we cannot separate poverty eradication from climate action and sustainability.

The insight, which the global community codified into these agreements is that for all people to attain a decent and prosperous life we need to think of our planet and the environment.

That is why we need a renewed effort to reach all seventeen SDGs everywhere and speeding up the implementation of the Paris Agreement.

That is why we also welcome the framing by Egypt of COP27 as an implementation COP. We urgently need delivery of the commitments made.

As the UN, our action perspective also comes from our Secretary General, Antonio Guterres, in the vision presented in his report Our Common Agenda, released a year ago.

This is a report the Secretary General produced at the request of the Member States in the Declaration to mark the 75th Anniversary of the UN.

Our Common Agenda, is an agenda of action that is designed to accelerate the implementation of existing agreements including the SDGs. The Secretary General highlighted six key focus areas:

1. He highlights global solidarity to find new ways to work for the common good, including urgent and bold steps to address the triple crisis of: climate disruption, biodiversity loss and pollution destroying our planet.
2. He calls for a renewed social contract between Governments and their people to rebuild trust and embrace a comprehensive vision of human rights. This includes equal participation of women and girls, updated governance arrangements, and an invitation to all countries to conduct national listening consultations about their countries’ futures.
3. The Secretary General points to the infodemic plaguing our world, and calls for a common, empirically backed consensus around facts, science and knowledge.
4. The Secretary General reveals a blind spot in how we measure economic prosperity and progress. He points out that Gross Domestic Product (GDP) fails to capture human and environmental destruction and calls for new measures to complement GDP.
5. The Secretary General makes a plea to think long term, deliver more for young people and succeeding generations, announcing a Summit of the Future and a Declaration for Future Generations.
6. Lastly the Secretary General calls for a stronger, more networked and inclusive multilateral system anchored within the United Nations, proposing a new agenda for peace, a Global Digital Compact and a Biennial Summit between the members of the G20, the ECOSOC, the Secretary-General and the heads of international financial institutions.

These are some very concrete suggestions that also provide food for thought for our conversation today.

When launching Our Common Agenda, the SG put it straight forward, I quote: “We don’t need new multilateral bureaucracies. But we must make those we have, including the United Nations, more effective. And we need multilateralism with teeth.”   

I come to my final point. How does UN contribute to this agenda both globally and also as the UN in Egypt?

The UN is, by far, the largest supplier of humanitarian aid in the world. UN agencies are everywhere where there is conflict, where there are natural disasters, independently of the dangers. 

The UN has been very active in relation to climate change. I believe that probably the strongest voice in relation to climate change has been the voice of the UN. 

The UN has been very active, pushing for reforms of the international financial system and pushing for the need to effectively support developing countries in relation to the dramatic situation that they face at the present moment.   

The UN has been very active in several conflict situations, mediating.

The UN has been very active in trying to find concrete solutions to concrete problems in which mediation is possible, recognizing that to solve the problem in its entirety is not possible at the present moment. 

So, if there is a moment in which the UN is more needed than ever, it is this moment, a moment in which you see the UN present everywhere. 

As UN in Egypt:

The UN presence in Egypt is one of the most extensive in the region with 38 offices, including 18 UN regional offices.

Tracing its partnership with Egypt to 1952, as of early 2022 the UN employs over 2,300 staff in Egypt.

Our longstanding and extensive presence demonstrates our strong engagement with Egypt. In the development landscape of Egypt, the UN distinguishes itself through three comparative advantages.

Firstly, the UN provides integrated policy advice and programmatic support to deliver on the implementation of the SDGs.

Building on the expertise and know-how of the entire UN Development System, we introduce innovative approaches to provide proof-of-concept that can be scaled up by the Government and other development partners.

An excellent example in the field of climate adaptation is the development of a dike system in the Nile Delta facing the Mediterranean, using nature-based solutions and the involvement of the local community.

Secondly, the UN in Egypt has unique convening power as a trusted and reliable partner of the GoE, the international community and different stakeholders, such as civil society and the private sector.

We leverage this capacity to bring together different actors to coordinate development cooperation efforts, create innovative partnerships, and provide thought leadership on emerging strategic issues.

An excellent illustration is the Joint Platform for Migrants and Refugees in Egypt, an initiative by the UN in Egypt and the Government that brings together different actors to better assist vulnerable migrants and refugees and enhance the resilience of their host communities.

Thirdly, the UN provides targeted direct support to specific people in Egypt that are at risk of being left behind. This includes service delivery in areas such as health, education and food and nutrition, to migrants and refugees and others that are in vulnerable situations.

In this way we seek to respond to the promise of the SDGs to Leave No One Behind.

I would like to end my reflections with one last quote of the United Nations Secretary General that captures the essence of multilateralism: “no other global organization gives hope to so many people for a better world and [the UN] is only as strong as its members’ commitment to its ideals and each other.”

Thank you for your kind attention and look forward to our dialogue.