A United Nations “Fit for Purpose” to Address the Current Geopolitical Environment and Challenges Facing the Community of Nations

Selected essay by the former UN Resident Coordinator in China, from the open-access book Global Development and Cooperation with China: New Ideas, Policies and Initiatives for a Changing World.

Siddharth Chatterjee has been the UN Resident Coordinator in China since 16 January 2021. He has more than 25 years of experience in international cooperation, sustainable development, humanitarian coordination, and peace and security in the United Nations and the Red Cross movement. He has served in many fragile and war-torn countries all over the world.

A three–time TEDx speaker, he is a regular opinion contributor on humanitarian and development issues for a range journals including Newsweek, Los Angeles Times, Reuters, Huffington Post, Forbes, CNN, Al Jazeera and The Guardian as well as of late he has also published in mainstream Chinese journals.

Mr. Chatterjee holds a master’s degree in public policy from Princeton University in the USA.

His essay is selected from the open access book Global Development and Cooperation with China: New Ideas, Policies and Initiatives for a Changing World (free book PDF download) of the “China and Globalization Series”.

This book combines the insights and wisdom of 26 representatives from a wide range of international organizations into a collection of 21 essays, focusing on the latest trends in four major areas—global governance, trade and economics, science and technology, and culture and exchange—providing the reader with information on the latest developments in these areas with a special focus on China and its relevant contributions.

A United Nations “Fit for Purpose” to Address the Current Geopolitical Environment and Challenges Facing the Community of Nations

Siddharth Chatterjee

Abstract: The convergence of multiple crises and conflicts has negated much of the progress the world has made in past decades and is threatening the ability of the global community to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), making multilateralism more important than ever. The United Nations was created with the purpose of bringing nations together to address global challenges and conflicts and we must ensure that the UN is “fit for purpose” so that it can effectively address those we face today. China is playing an increasingly important role in multilateral processes, having chaired COP15 on biodiversity and launched programmes like the Global Development Initiative, with enhanced international and South-South Cooperation in achieving the SDGs. The UN remains committed to the idea that multilateral solutions are needed to resolve our global challenges and will continue to support China and all other member states to address these challenges and to achieve the SDGs.

Key words: United Nations, China, SDGs, South-south cooperation, Multilateralism

The world is currently facing profound, growing, and interconnected challenges: a persisting global pandemic; climate change and an accelerating frequency of extreme weather events; an increase in conflicts; a fragile and uneven recovery; growing inflation; more poverty and hunger; and rising inequality between and within countries.

The latest forecasts from the World Bank Flagship Report, Global Economic Prospects in January 2023, indicate a sharp, long-lasting slowdown, with global growth declining to 1.7% in 2023 from the projection of 3.0% in their last report, just six months ago. The deterioration is broad-based: in virtually all regions of the world, per-capita income growth will be slower than it was during the decade before COVID-19. This setback to global prosperity will likely persist, and by the end of 2024, GDP levels in emerging-market and developing economies will be about 6 percent below the level expected on the eve of the pandemic. Median income levels, moreover, are being eroded significantly by inflation, currency depreciation, and under-investment in people and the private sector.

The ripple effects of these multiple crises and conflicts are exacerbating the already increased insecurity in food and energy amidst a period of global economic and financial stress, all of which threaten the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly in developing countries.

More than three years into the global pandemic, we have witnessed the loss of millions of lives and an unprecedented socio-economic impact. Recovery efforts to date have been uneven, inequitable, and insufficient for sustainable development.

However, not all of the fault for our lack of progress and regression should fall on the impact of the pandemic, as at the end of 2019, the countries of the Asian and the Pacific region were already off-track for achieving any of the 17 SDGs by 2030.

Now, nearly 90 million people in the region are likely to have been pushed int extreme poverty, with the pandemic’s impact on health, education, and income estimated to equal a loss of six years of gains in the Human Development Index. At the same time, a staggering 100 million people have now been forced to flee their homes globally. Last year, the UN Refugee Agency, UNHCR, highlighted worldwide food insecurity, the climate crisis, the war in Ukraine, and other emergencies from Africa to Afghanistan, as leading causes. There are 27 ongoing conflicts across the world. This is tragic and unacceptable.

All of this has occurred against the backdrop of what many have observed as an intensified period of geopolitical competition in the region and globally.

The Necessity of Multilateralism to Address These Challenges

Global challenges, such as those mentioned above, require global solutions, and these solutions can only be found through dialogue and international cooperation. UN Secretary-General António Guterres put it best: “Strong collaboration among countries is the only sustainable path to a peaceful, stable, prosperous world for all. Strengthening multilateralism is not a choice, but a necessity”.

With the regressions in many sustainable development indicators as a result of the pandemic across all three pillars of sustainable development, no single country can undertake the responsibility to revert these trends alone, and global cooperation is imperative if we want to regain the ground lost on the path towards sustainable development.

But we have seen in the last few years several important examples of how a UN that is “Fit for Purpose” can rapidly respond to emerging challenges to mitigate the human impact of the multiple crises we face. For example, the COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access initiative (better known as COVAX) brought together developed and developing countries to deliver over 1 billion COVID-19 vaccine doses to low- and middle-income countries at no or a reduced cost. This is because the global community recognized that “nobody is safe until everyone is safe” and that universal vaccination was the best way to avert additional loss of life. Another important example is the Black Sea Grain Initiative. This initiative, spearheaded by the UN Secretary-General, allowed for the export of grains from Ukrainian ports, which were halted due to the war in Ukraine. These grain exports helped to mitigate the food insecurity, malnutrition, and hunger for many millions of people, principally in Africa, who had been affected by a reduced supply and increased prices of grains due to the conflict.

Finally, we have seen how multilateralism has been able to generate significant breakthroughs in addressing and mitigating climate change via the annual Conference of Parties (COP) meetings.At the most recent COP27, in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, the global community came together to agree on the creation of a Loss and Damage Fund, which will provide financial assistance to nations most vulnerable and impacted by the effects of climate change, most of whom bear little responsibility for the increased global temperatures due to CO2 emissions. The full participation of China and the USA, the world’s largest emitters, in the run-up to and at the meeting in Sharm El-Sheik was critical to the positive outcome of the conference. Against the background of complex geopolitical dynamics, the UN made every effort to support the parties and facilitate open and substantive discussions.

Chaired by China and hosted by Canada, COP15 saw a similar breakthrough to address biodiversity loss and restore ecosystems reached in the adoption of a landmark agreement, which contains proposals to increase finance to developing countries, and will guide global action on nature through to 2030.

These are just some of the examples of how a UN that is “Fit for Purpose” can rapidly respond to emerging challenges to help reduce the human impact of myriad crises. A fit for purpose UN also recognizes that not all initiatives and assistance should be provided from developed to developing countries, and that, in many cases,the countries best placed to provide support are those countries in similar situations. For this reason, South-South and triangular cooperation have gained increased importance within the UN in recent years.

The International Day for South-South Cooperation reminded us that Global South countries, including those in Asia and the Pacific, have the collective means to achieve sustainable development by working together and sharing knowledge and expertise.Regional cooperation and multi-stakeholder partnerships, through frameworks such as South-South and triangular cooperation, can play a critical role in scaling up solutions that ensure an inclusive and resilient recovery.

Platforms such as the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) show us the value of such partnerships, with the mechanism already identifying shared priorities, including climate change, agriculture, and global health, among others, between China and Africa.

The Global Development Initiative (GDI) and Other Similar Mechanisms Hold the Potential to Accelerate the Achievement of the SDGs

President Xi Jinping made it clear when he said, “we need to jointly build international consensus on promoting development”.

China’s responsible leadership at this critical time is significant. The Global Development Initiative (GDI), announced by President Xi in September 2021, is a promising response to the call of UN Secretary-General António Guterres for a Decade of Action to accelerate the achievement of the SDGs globally.

Following that, at the BRICS summit in June 2022, President Xi announced major steps to implement the GDI, including creating a Global Development and South-South Cooperation Fund, increasing input in the UN Peace and Development Fund, and setting up a global development promotion centre. Afterwards, 32 steps were released by the Government of China to kick-start the implementation of the GDI.

Many of the GDI’s priorities are aligned with the SDGs, including in the areas of poverty eradication, food security, health, climate action, the planet, industrialization, innovation, and means of implementation. However, the opportunity remains for the GDI to improve this alignment and address other development challenges faced by vulnerable groups, for example, in the areas of gender or youth, in order to ensure that that development is equally prioritized for the realization of peace and security and universal human rights. One set of rights cannot be enjoyed without the other.

In this regard, the UN in China has offered to support the implementation of the GDI and to provide technical assistance to the Government of China, to ensure the GDI is in alignment with the SDGs and with international norms and standards. The UN in China is keen to support the early development of the GDI to drive greater SDG impact. In addition, the UN in China is committed to leveraging the GDI as an opportunity to advance a series of cross-cutting areas of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, including gender equality and women’s empowerment, youth employment, vulnerable populations, and digital education, with the overarching goal to Leave No One Behind.

China’s Success, the Potential for Cooperation, and the Role of the UN in China

The UN Secretary-General, António Guterres, has recognized China’s role in international cooperation, saying, “China’s achievements provide valuable lessons in poverty alleviation that are being shared with other countries through South-South Cooperation”.

The rapid socio-economic development in China represents the fastest long-term growth and most rapid reduction in poverty rates that any country has experienced. Since the commencement of its reforms in the late 1970s, China has witnessed remarkable economic and social transformations and eventually lifted over 770 million people out of extreme poverty, becoming an upper-middle-income country and the world’s second-largest economy.

Despite these rapid gains, China’s journey towards sustainable development is not complete, and it still faces several challenges on the road to completing its transition to a sustainable and equitable economy that can serve as a model for countries around the world. Nonetheless, its experiences over the past 40-plus years, and its leadership role among countries in the Global South, make it well placed to share its experiences and offer potential learning opportunities to countries that are further behind on the path towards sustainable development.

The UN has been a partner in China’s remarkable socio-economic progress since 1979 and has played and continues to play an important role in connecting China with other countries in the Global South in order to ensure these experiences are disseminated widely, while acknowledging that no one model fits all.

There are growing opportunities for the UN to act as a conduit and independent broker to leverage China’s experience in the interest of other developing countries at earlier stages of development. On this, the UN system in China hopes to engage with China as an international development cooperation partner to promote South-South Cooperation (SSC), and the China-Africa relationship specifically, and to ensure that China-Africa collaboration is demand-driven, serves national priorities, and is fully aligned with agreed international norms and standards.

UN in China’s Work to Support Enhanced South-South Cooperation

The UN in China has supported several multilateral initiatives to increase cooperation among countries in the Global South, in particular African countries. Such an example was seen in our support of the bilateral FOCAC process. Since 2021, the UN in China has worked to increase synergies between FOCAC, the 2030 Agenda, the African Union’s Agenda 2063, and the national development strategies of China and countries in Africa, with a view to creating a transformative China-Africa-UN partnership.

While respecting the bilateral FOCAC process, the UN in China has held a series of high-level policy dialogues, in collaboration with the African Ambassadors’ Group in China, the Host Government, and UN Country Teams in Africa and in Asia and the Pacific, with the aim to forge partnerships with the private sector and turn plans into projects that bring real impact to the people of Africa, focusing, at least in the first stages of this partnership, on agriculture and food security.

At the request of representatives of Horn of Africa (HoA) countries, the UNin China supported the “Dialogue on Agricultural Cooperation and Food Security: Toward a more resilient and sustainable Horn of Africa” in September 2022. The dialogue brought together a diverse range of stakeholders to explore concrete areas for project-based cooperation towards greater food security in HoA countries.

We see these events as the first in a series of targeted activities through which the UN in China provides technical assistance with the aim of achieving a strong and balanced partnership between China and Africa, one that adopts the SDGs as the blueprint for cooperation.

The United Nations Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework for the People’s Republic of China 2021–2025 (UNSDCF), the principal document that details the planned support of our Country Team in China, includes a pillar specifically focused on the development of international development cooperation partnerships. In the first year of UNSDCF implementation, the UN in China has helped to promote South-South Cooperation partnerships, helping to connect the expertise and resources of China to local demands and needs in more than 60 partner countries of the Global South, particularly in the areas of poverty reduction and public health.

From a programmatic standpoint, during 2021, the UN in China supported over70 countries in the Global South in accessing China’s resources, expertise, and experiences to address their needs, including in trilateral cooperation projects, totalling more than USD 40 million. Of this, more than half went to African countries.

We also welcome the pragmatic steps China has recently taken to support SSC,including upgrading the South-South Cooperation Assistance Fund to a Global Development and South-South Cooperation Fund—adding USD 1 billion to the fund on top of the USD 3 billion already committed.

The UN’s Ongoing Commitment

As custodians and guarantors of the 2030 Agenda, the UN will continue to underscore the importance of the SDGs, which are cohesive and integrated, encompassing all three pillars of the UN System: peace and security, human rights, and development.

The UN and its Country Team in China will also equally prioritize the three pillars, recognizing their co-dependence and the understanding that sustainable development requires advancement across all areas, not one area at the expense of another. We also continue to stress the importance of the central promise of the 2030 Agenda, to Leave No One Behind, which should be specifically centred on the individual.

The UN is focused on building partnerships that respond to the current global and regional challenges and allow for information sharing and capacity building, both at the Global Level through the annual ECOSOC Partnership Forum, which brings together UN Member States and stakeholders to discuss innovative efforts that are driving sustainable development, and with the UN in China, through one of the three strategic priorities identified in the UNSDCF. The UN in China is ready to act as abridge to leverage China’s expertise, experiences, and resources to respond to the many global, regional, and national emergencies and development needs, specifically focused on benefitting developing countries.

We are committed to working in partnership with our Chinese partners in support of the next phase of the poverty reduction agenda, to protect the gains of the past and tackle a series of new and complex challenges. We also stand ready to develop more concrete steps to support the implementation of our host country’s South-South Cooperation efforts by providing technical assistance to ensure compliance with recognized international norms and standards.

While the UN’s SDG Fund supports the peer-to-peer exchange of knowledge and experiences in development among programme countries, the UN also promotes effective public, public–private, and civil society partnerships, building on the experience and resourcing strategies of relevant stakeholders.

The UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina J. Mohammed has contended that the SDGs are, “our practical blueprint for the world we want and need—a world of dignity, of solidarity, and opportunity for all on a safe and healthy planet”. Meanwhile, UN Secretary-General António Guterres, stated, “We must rise higher to rescue the Sustainable Development Goals—and stay true to our promise of a world of peace, dignity, and prosperity on a healthy planet”.

With only seven years remaining to achieve the promise of the SDGs, there is an urgent need for more solidarity, more cooperation, more partnerships, more compassion, and, above all, more multilateralism.

Role of the United Nations Resident Coordinator Office in China

The United Nations Resident Coordinator Office supports the work of the Resident Coordinator (RC) and brings together different United Nations (UN) entities to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of operational activities at the country level. As the highest-ranking UN official in the country and the designated representative of the Secretary-General, the RC leads relationships with local authorities and ensures effective advocacy of the core values,standards, principles, and activities of the UN system in China. The RC also leads the UN Country Team in the country and plays a central role in making possible the coordination of UN operational activities for development in support to China’s national priorities, in line with international norms and standards, including through the implementation of the UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework.