Michael Moller, director-general of the UN Office at Geneva, receives an interview with Xinhua in Davos, Switzerland, on Jan. 22, 2019. Michael Moller on Tuesday hailed China's role in supporting multilateralism, saying China can take the lead in this regard to address global challenges ranging from climate change to possible misuse of new technologies. (Xinhua/Xu Jinquan)
DAVOS, Switzerland, Jan. 22 (Xinhua) -- A senior UN official on Tuesday hailed China's role in supporting multilateralism, saying China can take the lead in this regard to address global challenges ranging from climate change to possible misuse of new technologies.
The biggest problem facing the world is climate change, which needs to be addressed but the world is not addressing enough, Michael Moller, director-general of the UN Office at Geneva, told Xinhua in an interview on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum annual meeting.
"China has already done a lot, and it needs to convince other member states to do more. It is absolutely imperative that we deal with this issue very urgently," Moller said, adding "We don't have much time. The urgency has to be met by determination by China and others."
Moller said all of these issues, namely climate change, migration, health, corruption, need collective approach by the world, calling on countries to reinvent international solidarity, reinforce multilateralism, and find ways of working together better, smarter and with a much greater purpose and speed.
Also serving as Secretary-General of the Conference on Disarmament, Moller expressed his concern about possible misuse of new technologies, saying it is an urgent task that needs to be pushed hard.
"New technologies and AI (artificial intelligence) are moving at a very fast speed. Some of these inventions will be turned into weapons. We need to figure out collectively again how we can regulate their use. We are going to make sure there is an ethical use of these technologies," he said.
Moller was impressed with China's development, believing the country can share its best practices with others. Praising China's policies to support multilateralism and free trade, he said there is a "good, continuous and strong" relationship between the UN Office at Geneva and China.
"The world today has never been better. In the whole history of mankind, a big part of the reason for that is multilateralism works," he noted, calling on countries to bring back multilateralism to what it is and should be.
