Morning Multilateralism
Thursday, July 9 2020
A Russia-sponsored draft Security Council resolution on Syrian humanitarian aid failed in the Security Council, garnering only four votes. The Russian draft was offered immediately after Russia and China vetoed a resolution that would have preserved the current two humanitarian border crossings from Turkey into Syria.
With the window for nominations now closed, Politico surveys the race for leadership of the World Trade Organization, noting that three of the candidates are from Africa.
The African candidates are boosted by a growing consensus in Geneva that it's time for an African trade chief as the continent has never held the post, while other regions such as Europe have held it several times. Africa has also become far more ambitious when it comes to trade, with plans to launch the African Continental Free Trade Area well underway.
On the African Union’s eighteenth birthday, a not-very-congratulatory assessment of its performance:
For many years, African leaders have been meeting at the AU headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to discuss the continent's challenges, commitments and future prospects. But resolutions made by the AU — which is largely dependent on European donors — are seldom implemented because some projects are too expensive to put in place.
A senior International Monetary Fund official sounded a warning about sovereign debt levels as the world responds to the pandemic. Deputy managing director Mitsuhiro Furusawa noted that combined public debt will soon surpass global GDP.
In a phone call, Russia’s Vladimir Putin and China’s Xi Jinping promised closer foreign policy coordination, including through the Security Council, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, and the BRICS grouping.
NATO’s secretary general has a socially distanced meeting with Ukraine’s deputy prime minister.
With tensions at sea high, the Australian, Japanese, and U.S. defense ministers held a virtual trilateral meeting to discuss maritime security in the Indo-Pacific region:
The ministers…called for any Code of Conduct in the South China Sea to be consistent with existing international law, in particular as reflected in UNCLOS; not to prejudice the interests of third parties or the rights of any State under international law; and to reinforce existing inclusive regional architecture.