I now give the floor to his Excellency Vivien balakrishnan Minister of Foreign Affairs of Singapore Mr President I congratulate his Excellency Dennis Francis on assuming the presidency of the 78th session of the general assembly we are delighted that a fellow member of The Forum of small states has been elected to the highest office in the general assembly I also thank his Excellency sabba kosi for his Adept stewardship of the 77th session during a very challenging year our world is a troubled place coid 19 pandemic was a global test of equity of governance and of preparedness
but quite frankly our world came up short we're still dealing with its equal in health care in education and the long-term impact on our world economy and on global solidarity the recent natural disasters in fact underline our common vulnerability as Nations on the same Planet nature is a force that does not respect borders our hearts go out to the victims of the earthquakes in Morocco and turkey and the floods in Libya there are looming food and water crisis and if we miss our climate change targets we will Heap even more misery Upon Our ourselves and
on future Generations beyond the devastation caused by pandemics and natural disasters we have created purely man-made tragedies as well the Russia Ukraine conflict continues to rage on it is a full frontal assault on the UN Charter and a flagrant violation of international law Global Food security has been aggravated by the war in Ukraine as well as by climate change which will add to inflationary pressures everywhere in asan in my part of the world the violent coup in Myanmar has deprived the people of Myanmar of the peace and development that they so richly need and deserve
our hearts go out for our brothers and sisters in Myanmar this perfect storm is aggravated by political dysfunction almost everywhere fractious hyperpolarized domestic Politics the disillusionment with globalization and multilateralism and the lack of strategic trust between countries and if I may add especially between the superpowers this dysfunction hobbles our ability to deal with the planetary crisis that go beyond the ability of any any single superpower or even blocks of countries to overcome in fact all countries need to work together to build coherent and realistic multilateral Solutions Singapore is a tiny vulnerable open Island City State
and therefore we have to strongly support the United Nations and the indispensable rules-based multilateral system it provides a stable frame framework for us to thrive to exercise our autonomy and to chart our own future for our own people I was glad to see the Urgent focus on these issues during this year's high level week the SG Summit shows that we have fallen behind our targets the climate ambition Summit the three high level meetings on health and the Preparatory meeting for the summit of the future help us to reach recalibrate the multilateral system I wish to
put forward three principles that should guide our Collective efforts to make our multilateral system more resilient and ready for the future first we should reaffirm our commitment to building a multilateral system that reflects our enlightened long-term interests as a global Community unfortunately the world today is marked mared by even sharper geopolitical rivalry free trade is in Retreat and Supply chains are being fragmented this unravels the gains that we have painstakingly made over many decades by competing and contributing to a common global technology stack we must avoid turning competition into a zero sum game whether we
are addressing climate change outer space or technology standards it is important for all countries to balance our national interests with the collective long-term interests of our Global Community this means that member states need to work constructively and in good faith within the multilateral framework keeping our enlightened common interests in mind the need for compromise and mutual understanding is a feature it's not not a bug of the multilateral system and in the face of the planetary challenges that we Face there is no winner who can take it all second UN member states should accept and respect
the diversity of experiences systems Concepts and ideas within the multilateral system and this is born out of our Rich tapestry of cultures religions and social norms we must recognize that there is no one siiz fits all template for how a country should organize itself no one has a monopoly on culture or wisdom and we should resist the Arrogant temptation to remake others in our own image the rich diversity of peoples and Nations everywhere in fact can lead to fertile CrossFit fertilization of ideas and development of even more policy options and to deal with a many
challenges that we Face the UN is an indispensable platform for countries to share our experiences in areas from sustainable development to Human Rights and where we can learn from one another the summit of the future gives us an opportunity to strengthen the multilateral system by taking into account diverse points of view and building a common framework for our future the third point I want to make is that in the midst of the digital Revolution and especially the Advent of artificial intelligence we must prepare for both the risk and also distribute the benefits of these Technologies
more fairly in the past year generative AI chat gbt has captured popular imagination but actually we are already on the verge of the next stage AI agents with the ability to negotiate and transact with each other and with humans and often you won't be able to tell the difference this has profound implications on all our societies on our politics and our economies everywhere and autonomous weapon systems without human fingers on the trigger are already with us witness the wars around us and as Secretary General Antonio guz said at the opening of the general assembly this
week quote generative AI holds much promise but it may also lead us across a Rubicon and into more danger than we can control unquote and this is especially so in the theater of War and Peace AI will fundamentally disrupt our assumptions on Military Doctrine and strategic deterrence for example the speed at which AI enabled weapon systems can be almost instantaneously deployed and triggered will dram dramatically reduce decision times for our leaders and there will be many occasions when humans may not even be in the firing Loop but we will be on the firing line this
would inevitably heighten the risk of unintended conflicts or the escalation of conflicts during the Cold War the sense of mutually assured destruction imposed Mutual restraint although we now know in fact there were several close shaves this Spectre of nuclear escalation has not disappeared and yet the Advent of artificial intelligence in Conflict situations has actually increased the risk exponentially so we must start an inclusive Global dialogue and we must start it at the United Nations we need to urgently consider the oversight of such systems and the necessary precautions to avoid miscalculations and in fact this is
just one facet of many as we focus our minds on how to harness the potential and to manage the risk of AI Singapore welcomes the secretary General's decision to convene a high level advisory body on AI to explore these critical issues Singapore actually is optimistic that the UN and the multilateral system will be up to the task of establishing Norms on these fast emerging critical Technologies the UN open-ended working group on ICT security which happens to be chaired by Singapore has made steady progress and this offers some useful lessons for other areas including AI Singapore
commits to continue to support all efforts to promote International cooperation and to strengthen global rules norms and principles in the digital domain we also look forward to the adoption of the global digital compact at the summit of the future in 2024 the reality is that many nations are not ready for the wave of digital transformation sweeping our world we should not forget that even today more than two billion people still have no internet access and we need to work far harder to bridge that digital divide as a tiny city state Singapore is committed to supporting
other small states by raising awareness sharing experiences and building human capacity everywhere in 2022 Singapore launched the digital force a platform for members of The Forum of small states to learn from and to mutually support each other in the area of digital Technologies there is no doubt that these Technologies are a powerful accelerator for sustainable development in developing countries and all the more so in small states like us but many developing countries and small states will need help to deploy and to harness the benefits of these Technologies Mr President as the most inclusive and Universal
body in the world the United Nations has to be at the center of our Collective efforts to address these Global challenges we can do so as shown in fact by the recent adoption of the legally binding instrument on the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity of areas Beyond national jurisdiction I'm referring to the bbnj agreement Singapore is honored that Ambassador Reena Lee served as the president of the bbnj intergovernmental conference she worked tirelessly and closely with all delegations to bring that ship safely to Harbor and this week I was proud to sign the
bbnj agreement on behalf of Singapore and Singapore intends to ratify this as soon as possible we call on all UN member states to sign and to ratify the bbnj agreement so that it it can enter into Force early and and I'm glad that as of today I believe 81 member states have signed the bbnj agreement we need to bring the same constructive Spirit to the other areas of the global commment AI cyber security digital technology even outer space we do not lack policy ideas on strengthening multilateralism but we need commitment and action the high level
Advisory board on effective mul multilateralism has put forward six transformational shifts which will make the UN and the multilateral system Future Ready for many small states our survival our very success requires a strong United Nations and an effective multilateral system founded on the UN Charter and international law and complied with by all states in the world The Forum of small states shared by Singapore will continue to work with all states large and small to make the UN stronger and ready for the future Mr President the summit of the future next year will be a crucial
Milestone to reposition the United Nations and the multilateral system for our future this Summit is also an opportunity to further accelerate the implementation of the sdgs Singapore will work closely with all UN member states and we will contribute constructively to this process we call on all delegations everywhere to take a pragmatic and action oriented approach towards the summit it is not too late for us to work together to build a better safer and fairer world for all countries and especially for our future Generations thank you very much I thank the minister for foreign affairs of
Singapore
