As the world faces a multitude of new challenges, together, our people, and especially our youth, hold the key to a better future for humankind. In this spirit, Global Youth Conference 2022, which was organized by a group of organizations including CCG, was held on May 13, 2022, in Shandong province, centering on the role of youth in leading the green transition in the regional economic development, covered a wide range of topics including innovation and entrepreneurship, ecological preservation, green finance and green technology, and international cooperation for a sustainable future.
In this video message to the conference, Kishore Mahbubani, Former Singapore’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations and Former President of the United Nations Security Council, called to strengthen international cooperation to deal with global challenges using we are on the “boat analogy”.
In this analogy, Kishore stated that there are 7.8 billion inhabitants on this earth living in 193 separate countries. In the past, each country acted as if it was on a separate boat with their own captain navigating where each boat was heading. With recent globalization and trade, the COVID pandemic and climatic challenges, all countries are now living on the same boat – albeit in separate cabins. In this case, what happens in one cabin would ultimately affect the whole boat. That’s why we should foster closer cooperation because we are all facing the same challenges.
After WWII, a new concept was conceived and created by the western countries. Under their leadership, the world got together to create a family of multilateral institutions to live together in harmony under the banner of the United Nations. That is why we have the UN General Assembly, the Security Council and specialized agencies such as the World Health Organization, World Meteorological Organization, etc., each with its mission to enable us to work and live together in harmony. But unfortunately, recently the same western countries (which represent only 12% of the world’s population) have been trying to undermine the United Nations institutions they have created.
Kishore urges the youths of our world to speak up and lead our world to work together in harmony!