Guterres from Expo 2025: The future design is a responsibility for all of us

This came in the speech of the Secretary -General on the United Nations Special Day at the Expo 2025, held in Osaka, Japan.

Guterres said: “Expo International Exhibitions are not just an opponent, but are calls to tell our stories, to share our hopes, and to imagine the world that we aspire to build together. It is an opportunity for us to write new chapters about the world that we aspire to build.”.

Japan thanked its generous support, thanks to which the United Nations is in its own wing, to share its story with the world.

He added: “It is a story that I wish I could recount, face to face, for every person on the face of the earth. Although many may not realize it, the United Nations affects our lives every day.”.

He stated that the United Nations preserves a wide global system of agreements and treaties covering everything from landmines to biological diversity, women’s rights to refugees, and from freedom of the press to clean water.

An invitation to move with urgency and ambition

The Secretary -General of the United Nations warned that the United Nations multilateral project is threatened.

He added: “Often, the main headlines focus on the collapses, not on the achievements. Ukraine, Gaza and Sudan tell us what happens when international norms are ignored and human principles are marginalized.”.

Guterres stressed the importance of the Security Council reform, adding: “I feel sorry that millions of people around the world, when they look at the United Nations, look at what is not implemented in the Security Council. But this is only a very small part of the United Nations, the part that undoubtedly needs reform, all other United Nations activities, and all our efforts to unite the world, sometimes forget.”.

He stressed that the multilateral system has to adapt, especially since the world of 2025 is not like the world of 1945.

He called for continuing to seek “Let’s be more flexible, more coordinated, and more willing to face the challenges of our time, from climate chaos to artificial intelligence, and from epidemics to exacerbation of inequality.”.

He cautioned that the increasing authoritarian practices, brutal conflicts today, and the accelerated climate emergency, “You must push us to move with urgency and ambition.”.

Guterres called for continuing to write the story of the United Nations, for a world of dignity, equality and peace.