Activities of Secretary-General in South Africa, 22-25 August
On Tuesday evening, 22 August, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres departed New York for Johannesburg, South Africa, where he landed late on Wednesday, 23 August.
He was in South Africa at the invitation of the BRICS nations — Brazil, the Russian Federation, India, China and South Africa — to participate in the BRICS-Africa Outreach and BRICS Plus Dialogue sessions.
Shortly after his arrival, the Secretary-General attended a dinner hosted by South Africa President Cyril Ramaphosa.
On Thursday morning, the Secretary-General, at the invitation of BRICS, participated in the BRICS-Africa Outreach and BRICS Plus Dialogue sessions.
In his remarks he delivered a simple message — in a fracturing world overwhelmed by crises, there is simply no alternative to cooperation.
Noting the current global climate and increasing move towards a multipolar world, he warned that we must have strong and effective multilateral institutions. This means strengthened and reformed institutions based on the Charter of the United Nations and international law. This is especially true given that the current structures are based on yesterday’s world. This is especially true, Mr. Guterres said, of the UN Security Council and the Bretton Woods institutions, when so many peoples around the world were still under the yolk of colonialism and not at the table where the decisions were made.
In the absence of such reforms, the Secretary-General warned, fragmentation is inevitable, and the world cannot afford to have a divided global economy with diverging strategies on critical issues such as artificial intelligence and conflicting security frameworks. (See Press Release SG/SM/21911.)
In a press briefing in the early afternoon, he reiterated this message and said that he remains concerned about the risk of a fracturing of the global world order. He said that we must urgently restore trust and reinvigorate multilateralism.
The Secretary-General also had a number of informal bilateral interactions with other leaders in attendance.
He also had formal bilateral meetings with the President Evariste Ndayishimiye of Burundi, during which they discussed the situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the recent developments in Niger.
Prior to leaving the conference, the Secretary-General met with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey V. Lavrov. During their discussion they touched upon a number of issues related to the Black Sea Grain Initiative and the memorandum of understanding on the facilitation of export of Russian food and fertilizer.
After meeting with the UN country team and UN staff at UN House, the Secretary-General departed Johannesburg for New York early on Thursday evening. He arrived in New York on Friday morning.