António Guterres, head of the United Nations

"When the United Nations was established nearly eight years ago, it had 51 member states. Today they are 193. The global economy was less than one-twelfth of its current size. As a result, our peace and security tools and institutions and our global financial reflect a bygone era. The United Nations Security Council is outdated and its authority is eroding. And unless its composition and working methods are reformed, it will eventually lose all credibility. The International Financial Architecture was established when many of today's developing countries were under colonial rule. It does not represent the realities of today's global economy and is no longer able to resolve economic challenges, debt, climate action, sustainable development. It does not provide the global safety net that developing countries need. Meanwhile, technology, geopolitics, and globalization have transformed power relations. Our world is going through a time of turbulence and a period of transition. But we cannot wait for perfect conditions. We must take the first decisive steps towards updating and reforming international cooperation and make it more networked, more fair and more inclusive now."