WASHINGTON – A worldwide “reset” is a priority for 2021 after a year filled with “tragedy and peril,” United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Thursday.
Guterres presented his priorities for the year to the General Assembly following a 2020 marked by the coronavirus pandemic and economic crisis, but with hope on the horizon due to vaccine campaigns.
“2021 must be the year to change gear and put the world on track,” he said. “We need to move from death to health, from disaster to reconstruction, from despair to hope, from business as usual to transformation.”
“2020 brought us tragedy and peril,” Guterres added.
He called for the re-imagining and reinforcement of “our governance of critical global commons, not just public health but also peace and the natural environment”.
“We can move from an annus horribilis to make this an ‘annus possibilitatis’ – a year of possibility and hope,” he added. “It is possible to build the world we want.”
Guterres, 71, has been secretary general since 2017 and plans to run for a second five-year term. – AFP, January 29. 2021
