The global COVID-19 pandemic is plunging the world into a socioeconomic and financial crisis of an unprecedented scale, in addition to the acute health crisis. Many of the gains achieved under the banner of the Sustainable Development Goals, an UN Agenda, are under threat. The crisis has exposed and exacerbated vulnerabilities and inequalities in both developing and developed countries, deepening poverty and exclusion and pushing the most vulnerable even further behind. This is a watershed moment.
On the other hand, the COVID-19 crisis also strengthens the call for a new multilateralism, in which global rules are calibrated towards the overarching goals of social and economic stability, shared prosperity and environmental sustainability and where chronic risks are recognized and addressed, enabling the protection of the most vulnerable countries.