Global Leaders Challenge Outdated Multilateral System at UNGA Side Event

A high-wattage panel at the Goals Lounge during UN General Assembly High-Level Week laid bare the tensions at the heart of global cooperation: institutions built decades ago by a smaller club of nations are struggling to keep pace with shifted economic power, technological upheaval, and a widening humanitarian funding gap. Moderated by James Harding, Editor-in-Chief, The Observer, the town-hall-style conversation brought together government officials, international organization heads, and civil society leaders to debate what a reformed multilateral order should look like — and who should pay for it.

• WTO chief argues multilateral rules are decades out of date as developing countries now control roughly 45% of world trade
• Somalia's deputy prime minister says his country is "caught between a rock and a hard place" — having just rejoined global institutions only to find them questioned and defunded
• Nearly $9 billion humanitarian funding gap exposed as emerging economic powers lag in contributions
• AI governance can't wait, panelists warn, with models changing "every 2 hours" while regulation takes years
• Irish minister connects multilateral debates to kitchen-table concerns: cost of living, housing, and migration all stem from global instability
• Mary Robinson warns 7 of 9 planetary boundaries are in breach while politicians remain distracted

The basics: The panel opened with a central question: before designing a new multilateral system, what specifically has failed in the existing one?