UN, multilateral trade uphold world peace, senior diplomat says

The UN-centered international system and the multilateral trade system underpinned by the World Trade Organization played irreplaceable roles in upholding world peace and promoting international communication, a senior diplomat said on Tuesday.

Wang Chao, president of the United Nations Association of China, said promoting green recovery was increasingly becoming a new global consensus when addressing the International Seminar on Green Recovery in Post-Pandemic Era.

Wang said the pandemic dealt a heavy blow to humanity and hit developing countries in particular, adding that it was even harder to tackle with climate change and implement the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

"China is ready to deepen international cooperation with other countries on climate change, facilitate the UN Sustainable Development Goals and build a community with a shared future for mankind," Wang stressed.

Siddharth Chatterjee, the United Nations Resident Coordinator in China, hailed China as an exemplar in fighting COVID-19 and held that China's experience in poverty alleviation was worth learning.

"It is paramount to reshape countries' confidence for multilateralism," said Richard Kozul-Wright, director of the Globalization and Development Strategies Division, adding that to this end, all countries should uphold the UN-centered international system and the international order based on international law.

Zhang Dan, vice president of UNA-China, said countries across the world ought to strengthen solidarity, cooperation and solidarity, stressing that confrontation, containment and rupture lead nowhere.

"Globalization is the trend of time which will never be reversed," said Deng Hongmei, counselor of the Department of International Economic Affairs at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Countries should strengthen coordination in cooperation mechanisms, ideas and policies to foster an open, justified and non-discriminatory development environment, she added.

"It would be a catastrophe for the global community to ignore the voices and desires of developing countries, which have an overwhelming majority population in the world," said Nikhil Seth, UN assistant secretary-general, adding that much assistance should be provided for developing countries and the vulnerable.

The seminar was held through on-site discussions combined with a video link. Participants, including senior diplomats, renowned scholars and social activists, discussed many issues around the themes of global environmental governance and global economic governance in the post-pandemic era.