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G. Novac: Address to Summit 2022, Session I
Written by Hon. Grigore Novac, Member of Parliament, Moldova
Thursday, August 11, 2022
Address to Summit 2022 and Leadership Conference,
Seoul, Korea, August 11-15, 2022
Honorable audience, distinguished ladies and gentlemen, dear colleagues, it is truly my pleasure and honor to take part in this significant event organized by the Universal Peace Federation.
First of all, allow me to thank you for the invitation and the opportunity to speak in front of you today. Nowadays, we’re witnessing an existential challenge to the contemporary global order. Its fate has emerged as a leitmotif. But, in this rapidly changing world, assessing the future development of international political processes is a difficult task.
In the context of an unprecedented growth of geopolitical risks, there is an increasing awareness that the old architecture of the world order is being replaced by a new configuration of international relations. The world has arrived at a new order-building moment. The global balance of power is shifting; the unipolarity of the early post-Cold War era is giving way to a multipolar international system. Despite this, many countries are reconsidering their revisionist views.
Warnings of existential risks facing human civilization are issued against the background of the so-called cold wars between the US and the Russian Federation, the EU and Russia, and the Sino-American cold war. This cold war extends beyond Ukraine and Taiwan. It affects the whole planet and puts it in danger.
Moreover, the world is collectively suffering from a crisis of confidence in the face of a deteriorating economic outlook and rising concerns about the future of peace amid outbreaks of conflict around the world. Only an innovative approach to security can build a trustworthy framework and international cooperation.
Conflicts and security threats of today are becoming more and more intricate and protracted. Conflicts are increasingly internationalized, with the involvement of regional and global powers, and affect even third parties.
Distinguished colleagues, in recent times my country, the Republic of Moldova, is passing through severe economic and social crises, influenced by, among others, the war in the neighboring country, Ukraine.
The war created a major humanitarian crisis, which reached unimaginable proportions and severe consequences. Since the first day of war in Ukraine, Moldova has faced unprecedented flows of refugees. According to the data, about 480,000 Ukrainian citizens entered the territory of Moldova, as well as 44,000 citizens from other countries who fled Ukraine. In total, in the territory of Moldova there are 78,000 citizens, of which 42,000 are minors, who entered the country from Ukraine. Given that the Moldovan population is 2.7 million inhabitants, the number of refugees represents more than 3% of the population.
Peace and security are intertwined concepts. They refer to people and their right to live in safety, dignity and prosperity. This means that people must also be at the heart of our response, as agents of change in resolving conflict, implementing longer-term development, and building sustainable and lasting peace.
Dear friends, ladies and gentlemen, today we continue to pay for the mistakes made in the past. Today’s world is politically, economically and technologically more complex than when the institutional pillars of the current order were founded. The COVID-19 pandemic and the economic debacle it produced have ensured that global health has risen to the top of the international agenda.
Now, COVID-19 has upended this already fragile situation, bringing with it the worst public health crisis since the Spanish flu pandemic of 1918–19 and one of the worst economic recessions of modern times.
COVID-19 is a nontraditional threat—an amorphous, evolving and invisible “adversary” that proliferates without intention, bargaining or goals. This is both a domestic issue and an international issue.
People I have met here have one thing in common: we want to create peace in the world, we want to put an end to chaos and suffering, but most of all we want to put an end to hatred with no reason.
All we are saying is “Give peace a chance!”
The conflicts that occur here and have been occurring for thousands of years, break my heart. We are all human beings. Whether Muslim or Jew, Christian, Buddhist, atheist, black, white, Asian, we are all human beings.
Being a guest in this beautiful land of the Korean people, it is difficult for me to explain to my barely one-year-old daughter why there is still tension here.
Peace it is more than just a security. It is about accord and freedom.
Sustainable development cannot exist without resilience, peace and security.
World, go in peace.
Thank you for your attention!
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