Helsinki, Oct. 28, (dpa/GNA) – The coronavirus pandemic has put the spotlight on the need for enhanced and improved multilateral cooperation, the head of the United Nations and Nordic government leaders concurred on Tuesday.
Antonio Guterres, UN secretary general, heaped praise on the Nordic countries for their support to the UN system, as international donors and on climate action, but also urged them to help push for reforms of the multilateral system.
“We have a [UN] Security Council with five countries with a veto,” he said, noting that “the representation no longer corresponds to what the world is today.”
He added that multilateral organizations like the World Health Organisation (WHO) need “powers they don’t have. They can recommend but they have no capacity to ensure that their recommendations are implemented.”
Several of the prime ministers voiced support for ensuring that a possible vaccine against the coronavirus – which Guterres labelled as “a global public good” – is made widely available.
Guterres had been invited to discuss the pandemic, sustainable development and climate change with Nordic prime ministers and parliamentarians.
“All these many challenges have one thing in common, they can only be solved if we take action together,” said Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen.
“In the Nordic countries we will insist on using the setbacks of this pandemic as a sort of wake-up call to build a better, greener and more fair world,” she added.
The meeting was held online with leaders participating from their respective capitals. It was organized by the Nordic Council, a forum for inter-parliamentary cooperation between Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden, and three autonomous territories including Greenland.
GNA