The COVID-19 outbreak reminds the world that we need ‘to improve solidarity in the multilateral system’ to meet global challenges, the Tanzanian representative said on Tuesday during the closing session of the UN’s annual high-level session.
“This year’s general debate depends on multilateralism, which is very much in line with our greatest preoccupation with ensuring that no one is left behind,” said UN Ambassador Kennedy Gastorn on behalf of Tanzanian President John Pombe Joseph Magufuli.
He stated that the UN was “the right platform to meet global challenges” and called multilateralism “an important tool for cooperation between countries”.
Mr. Gastorn paid tribute to former president Benjamin William Mkapa, who passed away in July, and told delegates that President Magufuli could not run himself due to the country’s election campaign because he was fighting for a second term on October 28. .
COVID complications
While thanking the UN system for its efforts to confront the COVID-19 pandemic, Mr. Gastorn noted that the government’s action to mitigate and prevent its spread had positive results, saying that ‘all socio-economic activities are normal today’.
“The pandemic has drastically claimed many lives and distorted the economies of individual countries and the world at large,” he said, and many previous speakers said.
Noting that developing and developing countries were particularly hard hit, the ambassador thanked development partners, including financial institutions for ‘debt relief, deferral of debt payments and the provision of grants’.
In implementing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, he pointed out that Tanzania has achieved a number of achievements, including the milestone of upgrading from the least developed to lower-middle-income status by the World Bank in July.
Economic blueprint
According to the ambassador, a trading economy in Tanzania went ‘hand-in-hand’ with the construction of a hydroelectric power station in the Rufiji River.
“Our blueprint for industrial economics and human development seeks to address infrastructure and regulatory barriers, thereby creating a smart, functional and equitable investment and business regulatory regime,” he explained.
Tanzania stands with UN
On the international front, he stressed that the UN’s credibility rests on a ‘well-represented and responsive Security Council’ and is closed by Tanzania’s continued support to ensure success in its global agenda.
“Tanzania reiterates its commitment to multilateralism and calls on all Member States to accept it for a just and better world,” Ambassador Gastorn concluded.