The President of the Government of Spain, Pedro Sánchez, today began his trip to New York to take part in the United Nations High-Level Week, coinciding with the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly.
The motto chosen by the United Nations for this year's edition is: 'Leaving no one behind: Acting Together for the Advancement of Peace, Sustainable Development and Human Dignity for Present and Future Generations'. This reflects the major global concerns and ties in with the main themes of the Summit on the Future, the major event organised in parallel to the United Nations General Assembly, in which the President of the Government of Spain took part.
The Summit of the Future has become one of the key milestones in an ambitious process aimed at strengthening international governance, confidence in multilateralism and the capacity of the United Nations.
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During the Summit, world leaders adopted the 'Pact for the Future', which consists of five chapters covering sustainable development and financing for development; international peace and security; science, technology, innovation and digital cooperation; youth and new generations; and the transformation of global governance. Two separately negotiated annexes to the Pact for the Future, the 'Global Digital Pact' and the 'Declaration on Future Generations', were also adopted.
In this sense, the President of the Government of Spain emphasised that the Summit of the Future is a key step towards promoting more effective, inclusive and fairer governance within the multilateral system. He also shared that Spain is working to achieve the necessary reform of the United Nations and its institutions, and reaffirmed the validity of the "extraordinary acquis of this Organisation: respect for International Law, International Humanitarian Law and the United Nations Charter itself".
Secondly, Pedro Sánchez reiterated that "we want a future of greater and better international cooperation, which will allow us to make progress in achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development". He has therefore expressed that, as host of the 4th International Conference on Financing for Development, which will be held in Seville in June 2025, Spain wants to reach a consensus on specific measures to mobilise all resources and policies to promote sustainable development.
To this end, the President of the Government of Spain highlighted the need to strengthen the Multilateral Development Banks and fairer taxation, with more effective and transparent tax policies. He also spoke of measures "such as a global minimum tax on large fortunes", and the full implementation of the two pillars of the OECD and the G20 on the taxation of multinationals.
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Finally, he called for responsible development of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and other new technologies. In this respect, he highlighted the creation by Spain of the world's first AI supervisory agency. "Based on the value of this experience, we advocate that the United Nations should play a key role in defining a global governance system for this technology," he concluded.
Pedro Sánchez also took part in one of the interactive dialogues organised during the Summit of the Future under the motto 'Improving the global system for current and future generations'. This is a space for conversation in which the President of the Government of Spain highlighted the need to address three critical challenges: climate, gender equality and the defence of human rights, "so that generations to come have a fair and sustainable future".
In this regard, and in reference to gender equality, the President of the Government of Spain highlighted Spain's proposal to elect the first woman Secretary General of the Organisation and to implement gender alternation in the Presidency of the United Nations General Assembly.
In reference to the climate emergency, Pedro Sánchez stressed that combatting the climate emergency to leave a habitable planet is "a question of pure intergenerational justice". He also referred to the Baku Climate Summit as an opportunity to adopt a new, strengthened, fair and equitable climate agenda.
Working lunch on 'Global Governance', hosted by the Chancellor of Germany, Olaf Scholz
Together with a small group of leaders, the President of the Government of Spain took part in a working lunch organised by the German Chancellor, Olaf Scholz, on global governance.
The meeting, which enabled an in-depth discussion among leaders, focused on the follow-up to the Summit of the Future, multilateralism, global governance, the institutional architecture of the United Nations and climate change, as well as the governance of Artificial Intelligence and the international financial architecture.
The President of the Government of Spain first acknowledged Germany's leadership as a co-facilitator, together with Namibia, of the Pact for the Future. He also emphasised the urgency of restoring trust in the multilateral system across multiple areas and the need for the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development to remain the roadmap for addressing the global challenges facing our societies.
Pedro Sánchez highlighted the reforms that must be undertaken to increase financing for development and stressed that holding the 4th International Conference on Financing for Development is a good opportunity to achieve this objective.
Bilateral meeting with UN Secretary-General António Guterres
During his day, Pedro Sánchez held a bilateral meeting with the Secretary-General of the United Nations, António Guterres, with whom he discussed the ongoing conflicts in Gaza and Ukraine. The two leaders also shared their concern about the situation in Lebanon and the continuing risk of escalation in the region. In this regard, Guterres thanked Spain for its coherent position on foreign policy, in Gaza and Ukraine, and for its respect for multilateralism and the United Nations Charter.
Bilateral meetings
The President of the Government of Spain has held bilateral meetings with the Prime Minister of Barbados, Mia Mottley, a political pacesetter in the Latin American and Caribbean region, with whom he has also discussed the 4th International Conference on Financing for Development and the opportunity it represents to advance in implementing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, as well as the need to promote the reform of the international financial architecture. He also met with the President of FIFA, Gianni Infantino, with whom he conveyed that the Government of Spain is continuing to work in all areas to ensure that the Bid of Spain, Portugal and Morocco for the 2030 FIFA World Cup is a success.
Non official translation
President's News - La Moncloa