By RFIPosted 11-11-2019Modified 11-11-2019 at 20:46

The second edition of the Paris Peace Forum will be held Tuesday and Wednesday 13 November, in the north of the French capital, in the presence of some thirty heads of state including a dozen especially from the African continent. Before the official kickoff tomorrow, the Secretary General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres, gave an introductory speech on Monday.

" The world is cracking. Which state can repair these cracks today, isolated from the rest of the world? This is the message addressed by António Guterres to the participants of this Paris Peace Forum, an event whose aim is to defend multilateralism in the world.

This is the second time the UN Secretary General has spoken. He did it last year, for the first edition, on the occasion of the centenary of the armistice of the First World War.

On Monday, António Guterres portrays a world facing five major challenges: an economic, geostrategic divide and the risk of a divided world between China and the United States; a fractured social contract that results in a wave of protests around the world and mistrust of the authorities; a fracture of solidarity marked by withdrawal and whose first victims are minorities or refugees; a crack, too, " between our planet and us and a race against time, to save our civilization, " he said and, finally, the risk of a technological break.

This is a dark vision, that of a fragmented world in which the only solution, for António Guterres, is cooperation between states, between powers, companies and international actors as local. And this is the heart of this Paris Peace Forum, namely the defense of multilateralism.

The defense of multilateralism

The first edition of this meeting was held last year, at the initiative of French President Emmanuel Macron, and on the occasion of the centenary of the armistice of the First World War. Once again this year, politicians, representatives of international organizations and members of civil society have the goal of defending multilateralism and discussing the major issues of global governance.

Peace and security, development, education ... these are some of the topics that will be discussed at this Paris Peace Forum. Like last year , the Forum's goal remains the defense of multilateralism, which is being undermined around the world.

The organizers are expecting some 6,000 participants including some thirty heads of state and government. Among them are a dozen African leaders such as Cameroonian Paul Biya, Chadian Idriss Deby, Malian Ibrahim Boubacar Keita or Congolese Felix Tshisekedi.

Numerous civil society organizations are also present in Paris for workshops and debates. About a hundred project leaders have been pre-selected in areas such as the inclusion of youth in the Sahel crisis or the prevention of radicalization in Kenya.

A dozen of them will benefit from a support for one year, because according to the organizers, the forum must also be used to find solutions to the big problems of our time.

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