Ministry Statements & Speeches:
E ngā mana, e ngā reo
Tēnā koutou katoa
Excellencies, distinguished delegates, ladies and gentlemen
I thank Minister Maas and Minister Le Drian for convening this important event.
Today’s world is more interlinked than ever. We are facing global challenges that require collective action.
The ongoing COVID19 pandemic has highlighted this interconnectedness: no community, nation, or region acting alone can address COVID-19.
If there is any lesson we can draw from the events of the past 18 months, it is the need for more, and better, multilateralism.
We must do more, both in responding to the present pandemic but also to ensure we are prepared to face future global health risks.
We see a need to work to develop a pandemic treaty, convention or other international instrument; to improve global surveillance, validation and early response; and to strengthen the World Health Organisation.
At the same time, we cannot lose sight of the climate crisis.
Climate change touches all of our lives, but countries in the Pacific are some of the most affected, despite having contributed least to the problem.
We must work to bring an end to fossil fuel and other environmentally harmful subsidies, to pool our resources and knowledge through the Global Research Alliance so that we can grow more food without growing emissions and to negotiate an agreement on climate change, trade and sustainability.
These global crises have exacerbated structural inequalities that impact our most vulnerable communities, as well as women and girls.
To ensure no one is left behind we must recommit to collective global action on human rights and to the achievement of the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals.
Against this background, New Zealand strongly supports the Secretary-General’s recently released Our Common Agenda report; its calls for tackling the pandemic, climate change and growing inequalities; and the attention it brings to the urgent need for us to all work together multilaterally to address pressing global challenges.
No reira, tena koutou, tena koutou, tena koutou katoa.