Elizabeth Morgan | UN Summit of the Future: Should there be optimism?

The United Nations (UN) Summit of the Future: Multilateral Solutions for a Better Tomorrow was convened in New York, September 22-23 during the 79th General Assembly and prior to its annual high-level debate. It is reported that at least 133 heads of state and governments from the UN’s 193 member states participated in this summit which was convened with the aim of reinvigorating the multilateral system. There were also participants from international organisations and non-governmental organisations.

The Summit of the Future resulted from the UN Secretary General’s report issued in 2021 called ‘Our Common Agenda’. At the 75th Session of the UN General Assembly in 2020, members acknowledged that the challenges facing the world were “interconnected, across borders and all other divides” and could only be addressed “by an equally interconnected response, through reinvigorated multilateralism and the United Nations at the centre of our efforts”.

The secretary general was requested to report back with recommendations on the common agenda. He responded by submitting his report ‘Our Common Agenda’. The Summit of the Future was a proposal from this report aimed at forging a new global consensus on what the future could be and how to secure it.

The objective of this summit was to reaffirm the UN Charter, reinvigorate multilateralism, boost implementation of commitments, agree solutions for new challenges, and to restore trust. The Pact for the Future is the outcome document from this summit and has 56 actions addressing sustainable development and financing for development; international peace and security; science, technology, innovation and digital cooperation; youth and future generations, and transforming global governance.

Very important commitments were made at this summit, which include a commitment to nuclear disarmament, to improving the measurement of GDP, a greater voice for developing countries in decision-making in international financial institutions, mobilising more financing for multilateral development banks to aid developing countries, and the first global comprehensive framework for digital cooperation and AI governance.

Nevertheless, there is a feeling of deja vu. I am not overly enthusiastic about this Pact for the Future even as I would wish to see a reformed, stronger multilateral system and the commitments implemented. After many years of association with the multilateral system, looking at the global political and economic situation today, and a possible outcome of the US presidential elections, I am pessimistic.

UN SDGS AND TRADE

The Pact for the Future aims to accelerate implementation of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (UNSDGs). It is stated on the UN website that the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development adopted by all UN member states in 2015, provided a shared blueprint for peace and prosperity for people and the planet, now and into the future. At its heart were the 17 SDGs, which were seen as an urgent call for action by all countries – developed and developing – in a global partnership. They had recognised that ending poverty and other deprivations must go hand-in-hand with strategies that improve health and education, reduce inequality, and spur economic growth – all while tackling climate change and working to preserve oceans and forests.

Nine years on and with six years to 2030 the target date, many countries are still a long way off from implementing the UNSDGs. It was shown in the 2024 Sustainable Development Report that only 17 per cent of SDG targets are on track to date.

Even before the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, there was concern about financing the goals. Trade is a key means of financing for development, as set out in goal 17. However, in trade, the Doha round of trade negotiations launched in 2001 in the World Trade Organization (WTO) had made little progress and work in other aspects of trade negotiations were moving at a sluggish pace. Trade liberalisation and globalisation had hit a snag.

The WTO Director General, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, was a guest at the Future Summit and spoke at the dialogue for Transforming Global Governance and Turbocharging the Implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The director general reported that she made the point that the SDGs could not be attained without trade, and that with respect to global governance, she noted that the WTO is one of the few organisations where each member, big or small, developed or developing, has an equal voice and an equal veto.

Nevertheless, the WTO, which is not a UN body, is facing its own set of difficulties as a multilateral organisation.

A report on the future of the WTO was done in about 2005, addressing institutional challenges in the new millennium. With the current situation in trade negotiations, globalisation, protectionism, and dispute settlement, in the context of the Summit of the Future, the WTO would again need to be examining its future. It does appear that recent discussions at that institution have been pointing in this direction.

So, as I look at the global situation today, the governments in office, those that may come into office, the lack of progress on climate change, the wars in progress, and stagnation in growth and development for many countries, the Pact for the Future is a good read, a good idea. Is there genuine commitment to its implementation? I am not at all optimistic about that. Time will tell whether words become deeds.

Elizabeth Morgan is a specialist in international trade policy and international politics. Email feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com