Press Conference QnA Session with UN SG Antonio Guterres ASEAN Summit 2023

Ladies and gentlemen of the media,

I am pleased to be back in Indonesia and to participate in the 13th ASEAN-UN Summit meeting.

We will focus on a wide spectrum of issues, from our cooperation with ASEAN to regional concerns and global challenges.

I deeply appreciate Indonesia and ASEAN determined advocacy on the climate crisis, sustainable development, and Non Proliferation and disarmament.

And that immensely grateful to the over 5000 peacekeepers from Indonesia and other ASEAN member states serving around the globe.

Our world is stretched to the breaking point by a cascade of crisis: from the worsening climate emergency and escalating wars and conflicts to growing poverty, widening inequalities and rising geopolitical tensions.

There is real risk of fragmentation of a great fracture in world economic and financial systems; with diverging strategies on technology and artificial intelligence, and conflicting security frameworks.

I commend ASEAN and ASEAN member states for their vital role in building bridges of understanding.

ASEAN has been an important factor for unity in a divided worlds. And we need this more than ever, in a world that is increasingly multipolar and that requires strong multilateral institutions to go with it based on equity, solidarity, and universality.

"Bhinneka Tunggal Ika", unity in diversity, is not only Indonesia's national motto.

It is the key to forging a better future for all.

We need cooperation on all fronts.

On the peace fronts I commend ASEAN's constructive role in working to defuse tension from the South China Sea to the Korean peninsula by prioritizing dialogue and promoting respect for international law.

I remain deeply concerned about the worsening political, humanitarian, and human rights situation in Myanmar, including Rakhine State and the plight of the massive number of refugees living in desperate conditions.

I welcome ASEAN's principled approach to the Five-Point Consensus, and I urge all countries to continue to seek a unified strategy towards Myanmar.

I also appreciate the determined efforts of Indonesia as chair of the ASEAN to engage all sides to the conflict in political dialogue.

And I reiterate my urgent call on the military authorities of Myanmar, to listen to the aspirations of its people, release all political prisoners, and open the doors to the return to democratic rule.

Ladies and gentlemen of the media,

Greater cooperation is also desperately needed on the climate fronts.

We have just learned that this past June, July, and August, were officially the hottest three-months period on records.

The so-called dog days of summer are not just barking, they are biting.

Our planet has endured the summer of simmering, the hottest summer on records.

Leaders must step up the heat now for climate solutions.

We can still avoid the worst of climate chaos, but time is running out, and we do not have a moment to lose.

I have called for a climate solidarity pact in which all big emitters, and they are the G20 countries that I will be meeting from tomorrow onwards.

I have called all big emitters to make extra efforts to cut emissions with wealthier countries mobilizing financial and technical resources to support the emerging economies and I've presented the plan to super-charge our efforts: the so called acceleration agenda, which calls on developed countries to reach net-zero as close as possible to 2040 and the emerging economies as close as possible to 2050.

I commend ASEAN member states, like Indonesia and Vietnam that are pioneering just energy transition partnerships, a crucial tool to unlock emission cuts, boost renewables, and grow the green economy.

Greater ambition is needed across the board, along with much greater support and resources.

At the same time, to deal with growing inequalities and to deal with climate action, we need to reform the global financial architecture, making it truly representative of today's economic and political realities, and more responsive to the needs of developing countries.

We need a new Bretton Woods moment as the system we have was created after the Second World War corresponding to the power relations and the economic situation of the world in 1945, very different from the present situation that we are facing now.

So we need to establish also an effective debt workout mechanism to support payment suspensions, longer lending terms, and lower rates, to the so many developing countries that are strangled with that.

And we need to increase the liquidity by channelling an additional $100 billion in Special Drawing Rights through multilateral development banks, using the model proposed by the African Development Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank.

These will allow to multiply resources by at least five-folds.

And we need an SDG - Sustainable Development Goals - stimulus of at least $500 billion a year to help rescue the Sustainable Development Goals in which unfortunately we are in so many areas backtracking.

On all these efforts and more, ASEAN can set an example to the world, as a global green economic powerhouse and trailblazer of an energy transition, that is sustainable, just, inclusive, and equitable.

United Nations is proud to be ASEAN’s partner in translating this vision into a reality for all people across Southeast Asia.

And once again, terima kasih, thank you for this warm welcome.

And it's a pleasure for me to be with all of you today.

Question: And we know that the people in Myanmar is very in dire condition because of the violence.

What kind of the best concrete solution, United Nations can ask to the maybe, nation states, member states in United Nation and ASEAN to solve this problem in Myanmar? Thank you.

Secretary-General: The United Nations fully supports ASEAN five-point concensus and we fully support the initiative of the Indonesian Presidency of ASEAN.  We are strongly hopeful that after Indonesia, with Lao PDR and also the Troika – Indonesia, Malaysia and LAO PDR – ASEAN will remain totally committed to finding a political solution in Myanmar.

And that political solution will of course need the release of all political prisoners and need to clearly pave the way for the re-establishment of democratic institutions in the country.

 

Question: The UN has recently through Mr. Martin Griffiths and has met the Myanmar army chief and he’s also met NUG side and you're obviously here to meet ASEAN.

How have these recent engagements helped the UN shape its policy in terms of aid distribution, especially to people who are not living in army control areas? Thank you.

Secretary-General: First of all, I would like to make a clarification: for the UN there is a clear distinction between humanitarian efforts and political efforts.  

And the humanitarian principles are very simple: humanitarian actors, like the head of OCHA, like the heads of agencies and I myself was head of UNHCR for 10 years, humanitarian actors need to be able to talk to everybody, everywhere in order to guarantee humanitarian access, even sometimes with terrorist organizations when that is absolutely crucial to protect the people.

So, it's necessary to clearly distinguish what our humanitarian context from political ones.

There is no political meaning in any humanitarian context. Humanitarian contexts aim strictly at addressing the dramatic humanitarian needs of people.

On the other hand, we are doing our best to mobilize our country team and to mobilize the international community in order to find the resources that are necessary to address the dramatic humanitarian needs of the population inside Myanmar because of the conflict and because of mismanagement  and also the dramatic situation of the Rohingya refugees, namely in Bangladesh, where unfortunately, we have had a meaningful decrease in international financial supports.

It's time for international financial support for Myanmar is inside and outside the country to be reestablished at the necessary levels because we are witnessing an enormous tragedy, and we lack the resources needed to respond to it.

Question: You have mentioned about food security several times met polarization increases countries to carry out protectionism. How does the UN see this risk in the future? And what are the UN efforts to overcome this situation?

Secretary-General: Well, first of all, we do not have lack of food in the world. What we have for many populations in the world is the lack of resources to access food.

So, the first question of food security is a question of promoting more equality in the world and supporting developing countries and vulnerable populations to have access to the resources of the necessary, to be able to have access to food.

Second, a lot needs to be done to increase the capacity of developing countries, especially those that are net importers of foods, to be able to respond to the needs of their own people and to be able to produce their own foods with increased productivity and increased quality.

And then we need to do everything possible to solve some of the constraints that now exists at the level of the international trade architecture, and, namely, one of our main objectives is as you know, the establishment of the Black Sea initiative.

Question: My question is regarding the G 20. So on 9th and 10th September, India is going to host the G20 presidency. What are your expectations from India as a host and also India has pitched to bring African Union into G20? What are your thoughts on that?

Secretary-General: First of all, I'm confident that India will do everything possible to make sure that the geopolitical divides that exist are overcome and that the G20 can conclude with possible results.

There are of course, questions that for me would be essential.

One is to have a clear message about the reform of the international financial architecture to make it adapted to the needs of today's world.

Second, to create the conditions in debt relief and in access to concessional funding, long term concessional funding, to allow developing countries to be able to overcome the impacts of COVID-19 and the war in Ukraine, and many other situations that are putting so many developing countries on the verge of debt distress and on situations in which they have not the fiscal space to attend the needs of their own people.

And at the same time, I would be obviously very interested in seeing the emerging economies and the developed countries that are gathering in the G 20 to be able to come to a united approach to an increase ambition, ambition in mitigation to reduce emissions, as we are facing a catastrophic climate situation, and ambition in justice to provide developing countries with the resources they need for climate action in adaptation and in mitigation.

The UN has a very solid partnership with the African Union. Africa has a serious problem of representation in today's international institutions. When they were created, the African continent had few independent countries, most of the countries were still under colonial regimes. And so, Africa was a double victim of colonialism, of colonialism in itself and then of the fact that when the UN was created, the Bretton Woods system was created the African countries were not there.

So that is why I'm strongly supportive of the presence of an African country, at least as a permanent member of the Security Council, that I can see that it's essential to reform the Bretton Woods system for Africa to have a stronger participation and, of course, I would be very happy to see the African Union as a member of the G 20.

Question: Are there any issues other than green economy where ASEAN could do more to respond to immediate environmental crisis like air pollution?

As I mentioned, the two countries of ASEAN have been pioneering in the so-called just energy transition partnerships in Viet Nam and Indonesia.

And we count on ASEAN’s leadership in order to accelerate emissions reduction, and at the same time in order to promote climate justice around the world.

ASEAN is particularly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change and so, ASEAN has the moral authority that, in my opinion, is very important to be put on the table in order to accelerate the response to the catastrophic evolution that we are witnessing.

We are moving towards the 2.8 degree increase in global temperatures by the end of the century if we don't change our policies. It is essential to change our policies and ASEAN must be in the front line of these changes and I count on ASEAN leadership in this regard.

Question: Timor Leste a few years ago tested out UNCLOS in resolving its border issues with Australia. Do you think that could be an example to sort out some of these problems? And another brief question, the cereal supply crisis remains because of the Russia Ukraine war, there are indications that significant percentage of the cereal went to the European Union rather than developing countries, how do you see these being resolved? Do you think that this deal will continue to go ahead?  

Secretary-General: First of all, we are very supportive of ASEAN efforts in relation to the promotion of a dialogue solution for the questions of the South China Sea and we always said that these needs to be seen in the context of international law.

And one of the most important instruments of the international law is the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.

On the other hand, the truth is that the majority of the exports of Ukraine to the Red Sea was going to developing countries.

There was also an important share going to developed countries. But one thing that needs to be recognized is that when you have a large amount of grains that are introduced into world markets that brings the prices down, and when that brings the prices down, everybody benefits.

At the same time when you interrupt this, that brings the prices up, and when the prices go up, everybody, of course, suffers.

So, independently of the fact that there was a meaningful part of what was exported that went to the developed world, even if the majority went to the developing world, the truth is that the impact in global prices was, and this is something you can consult the numbers globally positive, because when prices go down, everybody benefits.

Question: Good morning, Russia RT TV channel. You for the Grain Deal is so important. Why don't you and the United Nations insist on fulfilling their obligation which was done for Russia before?

Secretary-General: We are deeply engaged in, not only returning to the Black Sea initiative, but also in implementing our Memorandum of Understanding with the Russian Federation and, contrary to what was recently said, we remain very actively engaged and namely actively engaged in aspects related to the access of the Russian Federation to both financial markets and to different other aspects in order to facilitate its exports.

And we believe that it's necessary to create a system of mutual guarantee.

Guarantee that the Russian Federation is able, indeed, to overcome difficulties that still exists, even if many have been solved and, at the same time, guarantees that we that we will have the restoration of the Black Sea initiative.

Because, as you can imagine, the difficulties we are facing to get the goodwill of the other partners around the world are dramatically increased when the Russian Federation bombs harbor installations and warehouses of grain because that creates the doubts whether the Russian Federation would be ready to go back to the Black Sea Initiative and that creates some resistance in other countries.

And we are making all efforts to restore an environment in which mutual guarantees can be given for the solution of the problems to be possible.

END