Thank you very much. And let me just say how extraordinarily delighted I am to be here in your presence today among extraordinary students and extraordinary faculty members. And I want to start by thanking you, President Kim, for that kind introduction. And again, thanking all of you for welcoming me here to your campus and to your country.
A few months ago in the days leading up to High-Level Week at the United Nations General Assembly, I delivered a long speech about the Sustainable Development Goals. And don’t worry, I’m not going to deliver a lengthy speech today, but I would be remiss not to talk about the blueprint for the future, this universal call to end poverty, protect the planet, and advance human dignity while being here alongside the actual architect of the Sustainable Development Goals, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. So, we really should thank you for giving us this roadmap.
So, adopting the SDGs was truly a herculean achievement, and one that in so many ways belongs to the Secretary-General. But he would be the first to tell you that agreeing on shared goals, as hard as they are, was the easy part – achieving them is the difficult part, which gets us really to your question. In his speech celebrating the adoption of the SDGs back in 2015, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon explained that in order to make them a reality, we can no longer afford to think or work in silos. These goals “compel us to look beyond national boundaries and short-term interests and to act in solidarity for the long-term.”
So today, in this moment of real division and polarization within countries and between them, I know that there are those who see collaboration as idealistic and even impractical. You see it every day as we work in the Council. And that maybe we ought to retreat to our corners, dig in our heels, and advance our own agendas without consulting with others. We’ve seen the furthest extremes of that isolationism right here on this peninsula. Today, I visited the DMZ where I could literally see over the border into North Korea—a country that has sealed itself off from the rest of the world—to disastrous effect.
Now North Korea may be an extreme example but across the globe we also have seen leaders pull back from the multilateral system instead promising to put their country and their people first. It’s a false promise and it’s a dangerous one because if my time in diplomacy has taught me anything it’s: [that] local challenges tend to become global ones; regional conflict always impacts people far beyond the battlefield; climate change and disease don’t know borders; as Dr. Martin Luther King famously said “injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”
On the flip side we’ve seen ways in which cooperation can lay groundwork for change on a massive scale; thinking about global effort developing distributing COVID-19 vaccines; knowledge sharing happening around climate-resilient farming; resolution on artificial intelligence adopted by consensus United Nations General Assembly just last month. So United States proud lead initiative over 120 countries signed co-sponsors understood if want ensure emerging technology used advance sustainable development uphold human rights communities across globe then approach global community.
So proud Biden Administration invested heavily multilateralism United Nations beyond grateful all work United States enduring friend strong partner South Korea over 70 years alliance between countries driven economic technological progress helped address climate change food insecurity advance peace security but if one thing makes hopeful longstanding partnerships like ours next generation leaders like those room working together accomplish goals.
So once again thank you Madam President welcoming Ewha Womans University allowing join important conversation Secretary-General everything done will developing future leaders create better world thank you.