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His Excellency António Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations, delivered an insightful lecture at Hamad Bin Khalifa University on Sunday, December 16, attracting more than 375 guests, including students, faculty and diplomats. What turned out to be an engaging and very open talk was held under the headline of The Importance of Multilateralism in a Time of Unprecedented Challenges.
Talking at Minaretein (College of Islamic Studies building) as part of the Education City Speaker Series, the event was attended by Her Highness Sheikha Moza bint Nasser, Chairperson of Qatar Foundation, and Her Excellency Sheikha Hind bint Hamad Al Thani, Vice-Chairperson and CEO of Qatar Foundation (QF), and Chairperson of the Board of Trustees at HBKU, as well as ministers, ambassadors and visitors from the local community.
The Secretary-General underscored that there is no alternative to countries collaborating to overcome today’s global challenges, such as climate change or threats to cybersecurity. In particular, he elaborated on his three recent trips to the Conference of the Parties (COP24) summit in the Polish city of Katowice, where global warming was central to the agenda.
Guterres revealed that one of the final agreements from COP24 had indeed been achieved in Doha the previous night, although he was not able to go into detail. He emphasized the absolute need for more collaborative efforts to tackle climate change. At the same time, he highlighted the challenge posed to that by an unfortunate lack of belief in scientific facts. He urged for international cooperation to resolve reluctance and ensure global warming to be no higher than 1.5 degrees.
Guterres argued that the UN continues to play a pivotal role in helping to solve conflicts, as an impartial mediator that is neither involved or having innate own interests. He also called upon world leaders to embrace the opinions of the youth, particularly asserting that today’s digital and the older, analogue generations, need to work together to develop new and outside the box innovations.
He said: “Young people have an absolutely crucial role, more than ever, in the evolution of our society, because technology is evolving in such a way that my granddaughters understand it much better than me. The contribution of young people to the drafting of policies and solutions to problems is absolutely essential.”
He also praised Her Highness Sheikha Moza bint Nasser for placing such importance on education: “I’m a great admirer of Qatar Foundation and its fantastic actions in Qatar and across the world,” he said.
He added: “It has been an enormous pleasure to visit. Sheikha Moza has been an important partner of the United Nations -- when I was United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, she was extremely instrumental in providing education to hundreds of thousands of refugees living in extremely dramatic circumstances. I want to pay tribute to all those who work at Qatar Foundation for their contributions for the well-being of so people in different parts of the world.”
The lecture echoed the vision of HBKU, emphasizing the need to cultivate the younger generation in our society, shaping them to become leaders and decision makers of the future. By educating the youth of today, HBKU is playing an integral role in addressing key national and global challenges.
The university strives to provide the local community with opportunities to engage with global experts and opinion leaders, and attracting such a prominent international figure on campus to speak to members of the public aligns perfectly with the HBKU’s aim of facilitating knowledge exchange and enriching dialogue.