Joint Press Statement – Meeting of the Leaders’ Network with United Nations Secretary-General, António Guterres, 9 March 2021

On 9 March, 2021 Swedish Prime Minister, Löfven, and Spanish Prime Minister, Sanchez, hosted a meeting with the Heads of State and Governments of Costa Rica, Ethiopia, New Zealand, South Africa, representative from Bangladesh, Canada, Jordan, South Korea and Tunisia together with United Nations Secretary-General, António Guterres.

At the meeting, this cross-regional network of leaders discussed the unprecedented crisis presented by the pandemic and the importance of supporting the World Health Organisation and the COVAX vaccine facility to save lives. They also discussed the need to safeguard the global economy, to tackle climate change, the rising inequalities and to jointly seizing the opportunities to build back better, greener, more equal and resilient. In this, it was stressed that working in solidarity and cooperation with one another premised on multilateralism will be critical.

The efforts of the Secretary-General and the central role of the United Nations system in working with Member States to fully respond to the challenges of the 21st century, was supported.

The leaders reaffirmed that the UN75 Declaration adopted at the General Assembly in September 2020, together with the Paris Agreement, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the 2030 Agenda, provides a shared mandate and roadmap for collectively moving forward. The network of leaders will lead by example and continue to engage actively – in close cooperation with the United Nations – on its implementation.