Group of 77 Must Be ‘an Engine’ to Make Sure Achievements of Summit of the Future Become Realities for Developing Countries, Secretary-General Tells Annual Meeting

Following are UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ remarks at the Annual Meeting of Group of 77 and China (G77), in New York today:

Let me begin by congratulating Uganda on its leadership of the G77 plus China this year.  And I want to salute your entire membership.  For 60 years — year in and year out — the G77 plus China has been on the front lines for fairness, equality, justice and solidarity.

You have been the engine driving progress to eradicate poverty, to fight inequalities, to root out injustices in our post-colonial world. And you have been shining a spotlight on the need for fundamental reforms of the multilateral system.

Reforms of the international financial architecture and the Security Council to make them more legitimate and more effective.  Reforms to make sure our institutions reflect the realities of today’s world and respond to today’s challenges instead of the world and the challenges of 1945.

We have taken some steps forward with the adoption of the Pact for the Future, the Declaration on Future Generations, and the Global Digital Compact.  Of course, not everything we may have hoped for was in the final package.

But, none of the achievements would have been possible without your insistence and persistence.  If you allow me an image, if you compare the documents that we approved on Sunday with the continued documents of the G7 and the G77, we have to recognize that they are much closer to the documents of the G77.  One “7” makes a lot of difference.

I commend the G77 plus China for always pushing for maximum ambition and look forward to working with you as we continue pursuing the justice your countries deserve — and our world needs.

We still have a long way to go.  Our world is on a knife’s edge.  Climate chaos is worsening.  Conflicts are raging.  Human rights are floundering.  Inequality and injustice are eroding trust and undermining the social contract of societies.   The rights of women and girls are being snuffed out.  Entire economies are drowning in debt.  The digital divide is fast becoming a gaping chasm.  And the Sustainable Development Goals are hanging by a thread.

We need action on a number of fronts in line with what was approved in the Summit of the Future.  First, financial justice.  Finance is the fuel to drive progress on sustainable development.  Yet, so many countries remain locked out from accessing capital for essential investments.  This situation is unsustainable — and a recipe for social unrest.

That is why we have been pushing for fundamental reforms to the outdated, ineffective and unfair international financial system, and an SDG Stimulus to provide developing countries with the resources they need while seeking medium- and long-term solutions.

We must keep working to make multilateral development banks bigger, bolder and better, enabling them to massively scale up affordable financing for sustainable development, namely in developing countries.

We must expand contingency financing through the recycling of special drawing rights that until now have essentially benefitted rich countries and not those that have needed it the most.  We must promote effective long-term debt restructuring that puts people and planet at the centre.

And we must keep on working for a more inclusive and effective international tax system.  I applaud the Ad Hoc Committee for drafting ambitious and practical Terms of Reference for a UN Framework Convention on International Tax Cooperation.

Second, climate justice.  We urgently need supercharged action to reduce emissions and avoid the worst of climate chaos.  This must be in line with the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities, in light of different national circumstances. Every country must create new national climate action plans — or NDCs — well ahead of COP30 [thirtieth Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change], that align with 1.5°C and put the world on track to phase out fossil fuels – fast and fairly.

G20 countries — which together produce 80 per cent of global emissions — have a responsibility to lead.  I am working closely with President Lula of Brazil to drive action in the G20.

And I urge every developing country to make sure new national climate plans double as investment plans and boost sustainable development — harnessing renewables to power prosperity and pull people out of poverty. The United Nations is mobilizing our entire system to support these efforts through the Climate Promise initiative.

We also need a strong finance outcome — including on innovative finance — from COP29.  This also means significant contributions to the new Loss and Damage Fund.

I will continue to press developed countries to honour their promises; doubling adaptation funding to at least $40 billion a year by 2025; showing concretely how the enormous adaptation finance gap will be closed; and everyone on earth must be protected by an effective early warning system by 2027.

We must address the injustices of the energy transition. Developing countries are being locked out of the renewables revolution.  Investments in developing countries outside of China and India are stuck in a time warp reflecting 2015 levels.  Africa attracted just 1 per cent of renewable installations last year.  It is clear that we must support developing countries to have the resources and the capacity to attract the investments that are necessary for the renewables revolution.

The UN Panel on Critical Energy Transition Minerals has identified ways to ground the renewables revolution in justice and equity, spur sustainable development, and power prosperity in resource rich developing countries.  We must ensure that the race to net zero does not lead to developing countries being trampled underfoot.

Third, technological justice.  Technology must benefit all of humanity.  The Global Digital Compact is a blueprint for how governments, together with tech companies, academia and civil society, can work together to make sure new technologies benefit everybody and to manage the risks they pose — including artificial intelligence (AI).

AI has the potential to be an excellent servant, but also a dangerous master.  I am pleased that the Compact includes proposals building on the resolution led by China on capacity-building for artificial intelligence.

The High-Level Advisory Body on AI released its recommendations last week, which include bridging the AI divide through a Global Fund on AI for the SDGs, and an AI Capacity Development Network to boost AI expertise in developing countries.  We must keep working to ensure AI serves everyone, leaving no one behind and it will not be another factor to increase inequalities in the world.

Across a very full agenda, the G77 and China are crucial to building a more just, inclusive and prosperous world.  The G77 was vital in the adoption of the conclusions of the Summit of the Future but its implementation will not be easy.  There will be a lot of resistance.  The G77 must be an engine to make sure that what we have achieved in the Summit will be translated in effective realities to the benefit of developing countries.

You can count on me in that essential cause.  Thank you.