UN General Assembly
2016

A year ago, world leaders gave the green light to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The document is now our common guide for the next 15 years. In the history of the Organization, there have been similar grand initiatives. Unfortunately, some of them have remained confined to paper, such as the idea 40 years ago of establishing a new world economic order. I very much hope that a similar fate does not befall the current Agenda. Yet such fears do exist. The main problem is that the world lacks systemic stability, which means that there is no confidence in what will come tomorrow, and there is no confidence that the world is evolving in accordance with rational order and common sense. Wars, conflicts and increasing transnational challenges give rise to a feeling of chaos, a chaos that exists side by side with unprecedented interconnectedness and scientific and technological progress. In other words, we are living in conditions of contradictory realities.