PM Lee meets United Nations Sec-Gen Antonio Guterres in New York
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Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong meeting UN Secretary-General António Guterres, on April 1, 2022.
PHOTO: MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS AND INFORMATION
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NEW YORK - Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong expressed his support for the United Nations as he met UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Friday (April 1).
The meeting at the UN Headquarters in New York City came at the tail end of PM Lee's working visit to the United States.
"He visited the UN to show his support for the leadership and the work of the UN, particularly at a time when multilateralism is being tested," said PM Lee's press secretary Chang Li Lin in a statement.
"It is at this moment that we need to support the UN, and work together to strengthen the rules-based system so that we can effectively tackle pressing challenges like climate change, oceans, and cyberspace together," she added.
PM Lee and Mr Guterres' discussion, which lasted 40 minutes, was "good and wide-ranging", she said.
PM Lee also expressed support for the Secretary-General's "Our Common Agenda" report as a catalyst to strengthen international cooperation and reinvigorate the UN, said Ms Chang. The report lays out the Secretary-General's vision on the future of global cooperation and was presented to the UN General Assembly last September.
Senior Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam, who was appointed to a high-level UN advisory board on effective multilateralism last month, will contribute to the process through his work on the board.
On his trip, PM Lee had raised deep concerns over how the war in Ukraine is impacting the international order.
Mr Guterres had on Wednesday noted that the war in Ukraine was "a catastrophe shaking the foundations of the international order, spilling across borders and causing skyrocketing food, fuel and fertiliser prices that spell disaster for developing countries".
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong during a meeting with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on April 1, 2022.
PHOTO: MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS AND INFORMATION
PM Lee met top US leaders including President Joe Biden and Vice-President Kamala Harris in Washington this week, before travelling to New York by train with the Singapore delegation.
Also on the visit are Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan, Trade and Industry Minister Gan Kim Yong, and Communications and Information Minister Josephine Teo.
PM Lee leaves for Singapore on Saturday (April 2).
