BELGIUM / GUTERRES VISIT

STORY: BELGIUM / GUTERRES VISIT
TRT: 02:54
SOURCE: EUROPEAN COMMISSION / OFFICE OF THE PRIME MINISTER OF BELGIUM
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGES: ENGLISH / FRENCH / NATS

DATELINE: 13 JULY 2023, BRUSSELS, BELGIUM

SHOTLIST:

EUROPEAN COMMISSION - 13 JULY 2023, BRUSSELS, BELGIUM

1. Various shots, European Commission family photo
2. Wide shot, Secretary-General António Guterres and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen walk into the building
3. Wide shot, Guterres and von der Leyen at the podiums
4. SOUNDBITE (English) António Guterres, Secretary-General, United Nations:
“We are meeting at a time when international cooperation is challenged at its core. The Russian invasion of Ukraine has shaken the region and the world. Climate change is crippling countries that contributed least to causing it. Countless people escaping conflict, persecution and poverty are left to die. And an uneven economic recovery from COVID-19 is exacerbating inequalities and feeding mistrust between the global West and the global South – which finds itself blocked from access to crucial development finance.”
5. Wide shot, family photo
6. SOUNDBITE (English) António Guterres, Secretary-General, United Nations:
“We live in an ever more multipolar world. This calls for enhanced forms of cooperation and multilateral governance – anchored in international law. And the European Union must be an essential pillar of this new global order.”
7. Wide shot, Guterres and von der Leyen shake hands

OFFICE OF THE PRIME MINISTER OF BELGIUM - 13 JULY 2023, BRUSSELS, BELGIUM

8. Wide shot, Guterres and Belgium Prime Minister Alexander De Croo
9. SOUNDBITE (French) António Guterres, Secretary-General, United Nations:
“At a time when we need a very strong collective response in the face of the consequences of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, in the face of the climate emergency, in the face of the emergence of new technologies, in the face of which we have not yet appropriate governance instruments. At a time like this, countries like Belgium are absolutely essential.”
10. SOUNDBITE (English) António Guterres, Secretary-General, United Nations:
“We are totally committed for reasons that have to do with the need to guarantee that food security in the world is preserved, especially that developing countries have access to food and fertilizers at reasonable prices. We are totally committed to make sure that we have both the efforts to make the Black Sea Initiative extended and the efforts to guarantee the exports of Russian food and fertilizers being successful. It is in this context that I, as you said, that I’ve sent a letter to President Putin with some concrete proposals that I hope can allow us to find a positive way forward. But in this kind of matters, the less things are discussed in public, the best the chance to have a positive result. (journalist’s question: “Have you got a reply? Did you get a response?”) Secretary-General: “Not yet.”
11. Wide shot, Guterres and De Croo walk away

STORYLINE:

Secretary-General António Guterres today (13 Jul) in Brussels said, “an ever more multipolar world” calls for “enhanced forms of cooperation and multilateral governance – anchored in international law,” and the European Union “must be an essential pillar of this new global order.”

Ahead of the annual United Nations - European Union High-Level Dialogue, Guterres met with the European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, and said, “we are meeting at a time when international cooperation is challenged at its core. The Russian invasion of Ukraine has shaken the region and the world. Climate change is crippling countries that contributed least to causing it. Countless people escaping conflict, persecution and poverty are left to die. And an uneven economic recovery from COVID-19 is exacerbating inequalities and feeding mistrust between the global West and the global South – which finds itself blocked from access to crucial development finance.”

Discussions will continue tomorrow with the EU and will include a broad range of topics, including climate ambition, peace and security, the digital transition as well as the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals and the international financial architecture.

Earlier today, the Secretary-General met with the Prime Minister of Belgium, Alexander de Croo. In remarks to the media, he thanked Belgium for its commitment to multilateralism and its cooperation in several areas, including human rights, sustainable development, climate action, as well as peace and security.

He said, “at a time when we need a very strong collective response in the face of the consequences of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, in the face of the climate emergency, in the face of the emergence of new technologies, in the face of which we have not yet appropriate governance instruments. At a time like this, countries like Belgium are absolutely essential.”

Responding to a reporter’s question, Guterres said, “we are totally committed for reasons that have to do with the need to guarantee that food security in the world is preserved, especially that developing countries have access to food and fertilizers at reasonable prices. We are totally committed to make sure that we have both the efforts to make the Black Sea Initiative extended and the efforts to guarantee the exports of Russian food and fertilizers being successful.”

He acknowledged sending a letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin “with some concrete proposals that I hope can allow us to find a positive way forward.”

Asked if he had received a response, the Secretary-General said, “not yet.”