George Chapatula Chaponda, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Malawi, highlighted several opportunities for ensuring a UN that delivers, including accelerating sustainable development; strengthening climate action; reforming global governance; strengthening global health security and promoting human rights.
For Malawi, economic transformation “is not merely a political aspiration; it is an urgent survival strategy”, he said, noting Government efforts to modernize agriculture, expand mining and accelerate digitalization.
But “national efforts alone cannot dismantle the structural barriers built into the global economic architecture”, he stressed, as Malawi needs scaled investment in industrialization and regional value chains. “We cannot achieve sustainable development while drowning in debt,” he underscored, calling for immediate, comprehensive debt relief and restructuring.
And, though Malawi contributes negligibly to global greenhouse gas emissions, it “remains on the frontline of the climate crisis”, he said, as devastating cyclones and droughts have destroyed infrastructure and displaced thousands. “This year, we face the added threat of El Niño-related extreme weather,” he noted, calling for the effective operationalization of the Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage.
Major emitters — historic and current — must honour their climate-finance commitments by providing accessible, concessional financing, rather than relying on debt-creating instruments that further burden vulnerable countries.
He also called for urgent reform of the Security Council in line with the Ezulwini Conensus: “Africa deserves permanent representation with full veto privileges.” Further, as States Parties prepare to elect six judges to the International Criminal Court in December, he called for their support for Justice Tujilane Chizumila of Malawi.
On global health, he stressed the need for decentralized pharmaceutical manufacturing capabilities and the finalization of a pandemic treaty that guarantees resource sharing for the Global South. He also called on the UN to continue promoting “an inclusive, ethical and development-oriented global framework for AI governance”.
