UNITED NATIONS:  UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has urged engagement and partnership from all nations to update the global financial system, which he claimed was designed for a world that "no longer exists."

At the start of the Financing for Development Forum, which runs from April 17 to 20 at the UN headquarters in New York, Guterres made the statements on Monday.

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the 2030 Agenda are becoming "a mirage of what might have been," he said, as communities and governments struggle to meet basic requirements as a result of a multifaceted crisis.

He said, inequality levels in certain nations are returning to those of the early 20th century, before women were given the right to vote and before social protection was widely accepted. The UN has put forth the SDG Stimulus plan to scale up affordable long-term financing for all nations in need, with the goal of encouraging investments that would aid in the achievement of the SDGs, allot debt relief to developing countries, and enhance access to funds.

Guterres said, "In the long run, we won't fix today's problems by depending on the financial system that contributed to them. He said, the global financial architecture was developed for a world that no longer exists and that it "has failed countries at their moment of greatest need" and "cannot address the challenges faced by developing countries today." The necessity for a cohesive, coordinated economic system that reflects the current state of the world's economy, promotes stable economic conditions, and encourages national investments in the SDGs is now widely acknowledged, he added.

In order to update the global financial infrastructure and prepare it to meet the problems of the present and the future, Guterres stated that "we need engagement and support from all corners of the world."

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