Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras addressed the United Nations General Assembly in New York on Sunday afternoon in the context of the UN’s Post-2015 Development Agenda.
In his first United Nations General Assembly appearance, the recently reelected Greek prime minister, questioned why are global economic, social, security and environmental challenges are equally as tough or even worse, if growth and alleviation of poverty have been constantly prioritized for the past 30 years. He also wondered how the world can avoid repeating the mistakes of the past 15 years.
The premier also did not shy away from emphasizing the importance of debt as a phenomena with global implications.
“We cannot talk substantially about aid in developing countries or loans in developed ones, unless we battle the issue of debt as an international challenge, at the centre of our global financial system,” the Greek premier, who has repeatedly asked for a hair-cut on Greece’s sovereign debt, noted and added that the connection between debt reconstruction and economic development must be a topic of discussion in every UN forum.
Tsipras argued, Greece can be used as a poignant example for the types of crises that the world is faced with, as the premier believes the European nation has been in the epicentre of three different crises.
Namely, Greece has been plagued with a financial crisis that has reduced the countries GDP by 25% and has had severe social consequences. Greece is also faced with a security crisis due to the increasing instability in the Middle East, North Africa and the black sea. The country, Tsipras noted, is also in the front line of the refugee crisis that has unfolded in 2015.
The United Nations has estimated that approximately 300,000 refugees and migrants have arrived in Greece in 2015.
“We will consistently promote and support all efforts for such a global and European economic and financial system. A system, that will allow our agenda to flourish in the next 15 years, rather than suffocating it, as it did, in the las 30 years,” the Greek Prime Minister noted on the United Nation’s agenda for development.
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