President Lula's speech at the Summit of the Future opening in New York

I thank Secretary-General António Guterres for taking the initiative to promote this Summit of the Future.

I congratulate Germany and Namibia, through Chancellor Olaf Scholz and President Nangolo Mbumba, for leading the process that brought us to this point.

Almost 20 years ago, then-Secretary-General Kofi Annan invited us to reflect on ways  to reinvigorate multilateralism so as to meet the challenges of the new millennium.

At that time, I emphasized –  from this platform – that reform was necessary for the UN to be able to fulfill its historic role.

That joint reflection bore fruit – such as the Peacebuilding Commission and the Human Rights Council.

Other ideas have not been put into practice.

We have two great responsibilities to those who will succeed us.

The first is to never back down.

We cannot back down in promoting gender equality, nor in the fight against racism and all forms of discrimination.

Nor can we go back to living with nuclear threats.

Regressing to a world that is divided by ideological borders or zones of influence is unacceptable.

It would be shameful to naturalize the hunger of 733 million people.

To go back on our commitments is to call into question everything we have worked so hard to achieve.

The Sustainable Development Goals were the greatest diplomatic undertaking in recent years, and are becoming our greatest collective failure.

At the current pace of implementation, only 17% of the 2030 Agenda targets will be achieved on time.

During its G20 presidency, Brazil will launch a Global Alliance against Hunger and Poverty to accelerate the overcoming of these burdens. 

At the COP28 Climate Change Conference, the world took stock of the implementation of the Paris Agreement goals.

The current levels of greenhouse gas emission reductions and climate finance are insufficient to keep the planet safe.

In partnership with the Secretary-General, and in preparation for COP30, we are going to work towards a global ethical assessment, bringing together different sectors of civil society to reflect about climate action from the perspective of justice, equity, and solidarity.

Our second shared responsibility is to pave the way for new risks and opportunities.

The Pact for the Future shows us the direction to follow.

The document addresses important issues – such as the debt of developing countries and international taxation – in an unprecedented way.

The creation of a forum for dialogue between heads of State and Government and leaders of international financial institutions promises to put the UN back at the center of the global economic debate.

The Global Digital Compact is a starting point for inclusive digital governance that reduces the asymmetries of a data-driven economy, and mitigates the impact of new technologies such as Artificial Intelligence.

All of these advances will be commendable and significant.

We still lack ambition and audacity, however.

The crisis in global governance requires structural transformations. The pandemic, conflicts in Europe and the Middle East, the arms race, and climate change have exposed the limitations of multilateral institutions.

Most of those bodies lack the authority and means of implementation to enforce their decisions.

The General Assembly has lost its vitality, and the Economic and Social Council has been undermined.

The Security Council’s legitimacy diminishes every time it applies double standards or turns a blind eye to atrocities. 

The Bretton Woods institutions disregard the priorities and needs of the developing world.

The Global South is not represented in a way that is consistent with its current political, economic, and demographic significance.

The UN Charter makes no reference to the promotion of sustainable development.

We need courage and political will to change, creating today the tomorrow that we want.

The best legacy we can leave to future generations is a governance that is capable of responding effectively to the challenges that persist and to those that will arise.

Thank you very much.