"The pandemic has thrown under sharp review three interlinked crises facing our world since the beginning of the decade: uncontrolled environmental degradation, widening socio-economic gaps and growing poverty and institution dysfunction in the face of the pandemic as well as ineffective and inconsistent international cooperation", Head of Government, Saad Dine El Otmani, said in a prerecorded address before the 75th session of the United Nations General Assembly.
According to El Otmani, "the dangerous effects of these crises and the need for urgent solutions were not the result of Covid 19. They have dominated our world since the early days of the Millenium."
"This observation has pushed the Kingdom of Morocco, under the leadership of HM King Mohammed VI, to integrate this vision into the design of a new model of integrated development," he said, recalling that the Sovereign had launched at the 2002 Summit on sustainable development a call for a renewed global solidarity by wondering if "the various disruptions and violent crises across the World are enough to convince sceptics that sustainable development is in everyone's interest and a collective responsibility."
"We have nine years left to achieve the SDGs," Morocco’s Head of Government underscored. "The commitment of the international community is all the more important amid a pandemic as it affects most and foremost the most vulnerable, especially in Africa," he went on.
Now more than ever is the time to undertake reforms that would make the United Nations’ system more attuned to global development and more capable of responding swiftly to crises such as Covid-19," according to him.
"The time for statements is over, now is the time for informed and result-oriented actions," El Otmani said, stressing that Morocco’s response to the pandemic has been guided by the far-sighted vision of HM King Mohammed VI, on the basis of anticipation, preventive measures and prioritizing the health of citizens, enabling the mobilization of all institutions and society's segments to counter the health emergency.
"We believe in the urgent need of providing COVID 19 vaccines and treatments in a just and equal manner. This would be the most concrete example of a Unified global health system and a real test for international cooperation," he underlined.
For El Otmani, it is important today to take advantage of the Covid-19 pandemic to rebuild the multilateral system on more effective and efficient bases.
Morocco, which remains committed to the multilateral action framework, is committed to working with countries sharing this conviction in order to achieve a more just, harmonious and open World Order," he pointed out.
This commitment had been put forward by HM the King at the UN Millennium Summit by affirming that the international community had the duty to make a solemn commitment to enter into the new millennium by drawing a new frontier for humanity, made up of performance in justice and compassion in solidarity, El Otmani concluded.