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2023 UN General Assembly's top objective, according to António Guterres
Every year, world leaders and top diplomats descend on New York City for the annual UN General Assembly, or "UNGA," as it's known. And this year's UNGA promises to be a blockbuster week, given the array of urgent global challenges facing the United Nations. From an unending war in Ukraine, lurching into its third year, to a climate-battered planet that UN Secretary-General has described as "Global Boiling," to growing hunger and poverty worldwide, there's plenty to discuss.
But what's the one thing to watch out for? That's what Ian Bremmer asks UN Secretary-General António Guterres in an exclusive and wide-ranging interview for GZERO World, days ahead of UNGA week. "There will be of course a lot of discussions on Ukraine," Guterres tells Bremmer, "But our most important objective in this week is in relation to the Sustainable Development Goals Summit. And the possibility not only to improve a declaration that is far-reaching, but to have a number of strong commitments by member states and by other entities in relation to the sustainable rules in general and climate in particular."
It remains to be seen if the Ukraine war will suck all the oxygen out of the room, or if member nations can agree on which urgent global challenges to tackle first.
Watch the full GZERO World interview: UN Chief on mounting global crises: "Hope never dies"
Watch GZERO World with Ian Bremmer every week at gzeromedia.com/gzeroworld and on US public television. Check local listings.
Follow GZERO Media for exclusive, on-the-ground reporting at the 78th Annual UN General Assembly
Keep a close eye on GZERO Media all week for on-the-ground coverage inside the 78th Annual UN General Assembly in New York City.
Watch Ian Bremmer's interview with the UN’s top diplomat, Secretary-General António Guterres, an exclusive and in-depth conversation on Ukraine, AI, climate change, and much more. You can watch that interview on our public television show, GZERO World with Ian Bremmer, airing on US public television starting Friday, September 15, and also available or our YouTube channel and at gzeromedia.com/gzeroworld.
We'll be live from the UN on Wednesday and Thursday, with two livestreams coming to you during high-level week as part of GZERO's Global Stage series. Find out more and check out our interviews with newsmakers throughout the week at gzeromedia.com/globalstage.
Sign up for our free newsletter on global politics, GZERO Daily, and follow GZERO on social media for updates throughout the week.
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UN chief: We must avoid the mistakes that led to World War I
Winston Churchill once said: "Those that fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it." Those words ring as true today as they did in 1948. Churchill, who served in the First World War before he led Britain through the Second, knew all too well the miscalculations that presidents and prime ministers made leading up to the Great War.
A century later, the UN's top diplomat, Secretary-General António Guterres, fears that world leaders today are making the same mistakes that got us into WWI. In an exclusive interview for GZERO World with Ian Bremmer, Guterres explains what makes him so wary of this moment in geopolitics.
"We really need stronger and reformed multilateral institutions to be able to coordinate on what is becoming a multipolar world," Guterres tells Bremmer. "I would remind you that Europe, before the First World War, was multipolar. But because there was no multilateral governance institutions at the European level, the result was the First World War."
Watch the full GZERO World interview: UN Chief on mounting global crises: "Hope never dies"
Watch GZERO World with Ian Bremmer every week at gzeromedia.com/gzeroworld and on US public television. Check local listings.
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Peace in Ukraine is world's priority, says UN chief António Guterres
As the 78th annual UN General Assembly week gets underway in New York—bringing diplomats, ministers, and heads of state together— there is a growing divide in the international community over Ukraine. In the US we’ve heard rumblings from GOP candidates about decreasing or stopping aid, and the once favorable opinion among Americans for continued support has dropped.
Leaders from the Global South, such as President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of Brazil, are calling for a shift in focus away from Europe to getting international development back on track, to talking about debt relief and increasing access to financing. They want to see real progress on the much-vaunted “Sustainable Development Goals” that member nations have vowed to accomplish by 2030. What they don’t want to do is to spend the entire week talking about a distant European war.
But, as UN Secretary-General António Guterres tells Ian Bremmer in an exclusive interview for GZERO World, ending the war in Ukraine is the top priority. “The single most important thing is to have peace in Ukraine," Guterres tells Ian. "The war in Ukraine is a complicating factor of everything else, so the first thing that we need is to stop that war.”
Watch GZERO World with Ian Bremmer every week at gzeromedia.com/gzeroworld or on US public television. Check local listings.
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Podcast: UN Secretary-General António Guterres explains why peace in Ukraine is his top priority
Listen: The challenges facing the world today, from conflict in Ukraine to climate catastrophes across the globe, cannot be solved by one country alone. The need for multilateral solutions between nations, even between warring nations, has never been greater. And yet, as diplomats, ministers, and heads of state converge on the United Nations in New York this week for the 78th annual UN General Assembly, the UN Secretary-General fears that we are entering a time of increased global fragmentation.
"We really need stronger and reformed multilateral institutions to be able to coordinate on what is becoming a multipolar world" Secretary-General António Guterres tells Ian Bremmer in an exclusive interview for the GZERO World podcast. "I would remind you that Europe, before the First World War, was multipolar. But because there was no multilateral governance institutions at the European level, the result was the First World War."
Whether it’s the costly war in Ukraine, lurching towards its third year, or the ongoing climate crisis that, in Guterres’ words is quote “boiling” the planet, the Secretary-General and Ian discuss a wide-array of pressing global issues. And don’t forget our brave new world of artificial intelligence, which will need a new global regulatory framework of its own.
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UN mobilizes to help disaster-stricken Libya and Morocco
First, there was the devastating earthquake in Morocco. And then, cataclysmic flooding in Libya. Recent natural disasters in northern Africa have shocked the world. They've also mobilized United Nations rescue and support teams, says UN Secretary-General António Guterres in an exclusive GZERO World interview.
“We have a central emergency response fund, and we mobilized $10 million to support the operation in Libya," Guterres tells Ian Bremmer. "We are discussing, with Moroccan authorities, our best way to support them...We'll be doing everything to mobilize international community to support these two countries in this very, very tragic situation."
What role can the United Nations play in these devastated zones, and how much is a warming planet contributing to recent climate catastrophes?
For the full interview, tune into GZERO World with Ian Bremmerat gzeromedia.com/gzeroworld or on US public television. Check local listings.
UN Chief: Urgent global problems can't be fixed until Ukraine war ends
One of the biggest questions ahead of this year's annual UN General Assembly (UNGA) week of high-level meetings is how much time will be spent talking about Ukraine. The war dominated last year’s UNGA, but much of the developing world, including many of the African nations that make up the Global South, want to shift the focus to getting international development back on track--to talking about debt relief and increasing access to financing. They want to see real progress on the much-vaunted “Sustainable Development Goals” that member nations have vowed to accomplish by 2030. What they don’t want to do is to spend the entire week talking about a distant European war.
In an exclusive interview with GZERO World, UN Secretary-General António Guterres assures Ian Bremmer that global development will be front and center at this year's summit. And yet, he also says that "the single most important thing is to have peace in Ukraine....The war in Ukraine is a complicating actor in everything else. And so, the first thing that we need is to stop that war."
It remains to be seen if the Ukraine war will suck all the oxygen out of the room, and if member nations can agree on which urgent global challenges to tackle first.
For the full interview, tune into GZERO World with Ian Bremmerat gzeromedia.com/gzeroworld or on US public television. Check local listings.
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Ian Explains: The UN General Assembly meets amidst converging crises
There’s no shortage of global crises facing the United Nations as heads of state and top diplomats converge on New York City next week for the annual UN General Assembly.
But this year, things seem particularly dire. Whether it’s the costly war in Ukraine, lurching towards its third year with no end in sight, or the ongoing climate crisis that UN Secretary-General António Guterres says is “boiling” the planet, it’s clear that the thorniest global issues cannot be solved by one nation alone. Oh, and don’t forget our brave new world of artificial intelligence.
But at a time of increased geopolitical fragmentation, can the Secretary-General get hundreds of member nations to agree on what needs to be done? And what to do first?
On this week’s show, Ian Bremmer sits down with Secretary-General Guterres for an exclusive interview ahead of UNGA 2023.
Watch the upcoming episode of GZERO World with Ian Bremmer on US public television this weekend (check local listings) and at gzeromedia.com/gzeroworld.