NEW YORK – UN Secretary General António Guterres said boosting co-operation between the UN and the regional organisations is an inevitable condition to promote multilateralism at the international level.
He said the Arab League plays an important role in all the different fields.
This came during the session of the UNSC on co-operation between the council and the regional and non-regional organisations including the AL.
“The League of Arab States is critical across the spectrum of our work. When Covid-19 upended societies and economies and threatened new vectors of instability, Secretary-General Ahmed Abul Gheit and I appealed to this Council to open space for multilateral efforts, humanitarian action, and diplomatic solutions. Scanning the region today, these appeals are even more critical.”
“We remain united in our pursuit of multilateral answers to the cascading challenges facing the Arab world and beyond. These efforts have an added urgency as we face the profound global ramifications of the war in Ukraine. Numerous countries, for example, import at least half of their wheat from Ukraine or Russia — including Egypt, Lebanon, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen.”
“Food, fuel and fertiliser prices are skyrocketing. Supply chains are being disrupted. And the costs and delays of transportation of imported goods — when available — are at record levels. All of this is hitting the poorest the hardest and planting the seeds for political instability and unrest around the globe.”
Both organizations focus on building strong partnerships in the fields of women, peace, security and disarmament, he said.
Guterres welcomed the constructive participation of the AL in Libya to help in maintaining unity and hard-won stability.
“I count on the League and its membership to continue prioritizing agreement on a comprehensive political process and advance the full implementation of Security Council resolution 2570 (2021).”
“In Sudan, the League of Arab States and the United Nations have been working closely together — both bilaterally and in the context of the Friends of Sudan Group — to encourage meaningful dialogue towards an inclusive and peaceful transition.”
“In Syria, our two organisations are firmly united in support of the Syrian people, who feel abandoned by the world as they enter the eleventh year of a war that has subjected them to human rights violations on a massive and systematic scale and left the country in ruins.”
He said he is pinning great hopes on the Arab League to boost UN efforts to defuse tension in Yemen, cease fire, provide humanitarian assistance to the Yemenis and carry out a comprehensive political process.
He reiterated the UN and the Arab League commitment to push forward the Mideast peace process, end occupation and set up two independent state side by side.
Arab League Secretary General Ahmed Abul Gheit expressed appreciation for the UN chief’s efforts to enhance partnership mechanism with the Arab League.
He welcomed the formation of a consultancy council tasked with multilateralism.
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