‘I’m not that alarmed that this process could damage the multilateral system, but I am worried that it will waste time, resources, and political capital.’

The main UN General Assembly week will see more hype than usual this year as Secretary-General António Guterres launches his Summit of the Future – an attempt to “forge a new international consensus” by reforming multilateralism for an era of rapid change and deepening geopolitical divisions.

Seen as a potentially legacy-defining moment for Guterres, the 22-23 September summit will be marked by a Pact for the Future in which governments will agree – or not – on how to approach international cooperation in the coming years.

A 20-page zero draft of the pact – an initial document from which diplomats can begin to negotiate – was published on 26 January by Germany and Namibia.

But a 19 February update – obtained by The New Humanitarian – showed widespread disagreement over the document among the governments of UN member states: The extensive additions and deletions stretched to 242 pages.