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STORY: TOKYO / GUTERRES PRESS ENCOUNTER
TRT: 05:12
SOURCE: UNIC TOKYO
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 20 MAY 2026, TOKYO, JAPAN
1. Wide shot, exterior, Japan National Press Club building
2. Wide shot, Secretary-General António Guterres walks up to the dais
3. SOUNDBITE (English) António Guterres, Secretary-General, United Nations:
“I am determined to ensure a strong UN-Japan partnership for the future. The true hallmark of partnership is revealed in times of crisis. And our world today is rocked by conflicts, climate chaos and inequality. Inflation is rising and the cost-of-living crisis is deepening — made worse by the conflict in the Middle East, which is sending prices for energy and raw materials - including fertilizers -skyrocketing. It is essential to immediately reestablish the freedom of navigation in and around the Strait of Hormuz, and to end all ceasefire violations and create conditions for a political solution to the conflict.”
4. Wide shot, Guterres at the dais
5. SOUNDBITE (English) António Guterres, Secretary-General, United Nations:
“With the strong support of Japan, I am convinced we can weather today’s storms and restore global trust in what we can achieve by standing as one. And by implementing the Sevilla Commitment on Financing for Development agreed last year, to supercharge financing for development while providing new tools for effective debt relief. But the most important reform that needs to be established is the reform of the UN Security Council whose composition does not guarantee the legitimacy and effectiveness that obviously are dramatically affected by the fact that the permanent members have three European [countries], one Asian - when Asia today have at least half of the world's population – one North American but no African nor Latin American.”
6. Wide shot, Guterres at the dais
7. SOUNDBITE (English) António Guterres, Secretary-General, United Nations:
“The United Nations remains the essential, one-of-a-kind meeting ground to advance peace, sustainable development and human rights. Eight decades after our founding, we can draw a direct line between the creation of the UN and the prevention of a third world war. But our organization is only as strong as Member States’ commitment to it. For 70 years, the goals of Japan and the goals of the United Nations have been strongly aligned. Across the decades, the UN has benefitted enormously from Japan’s generosity and commitment to the multilateral system. And Japan has successfully leveraged its role at the United Nations to grow its diplomatic influence and build economic prosperity and peace through a stable and cooperative global system.”
8. Wide shot, Guterres at the dais
9. SOUNDBITE (English) António Guterres, Secretary-General, United Nations:
“If one looks at the worst conflicts, the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the dramatic situation in Gaza, and the recent bombardment of Iran by Israel and the United States, the voice of the Secretary-General has never been silenced. And we were able to defend always the primacy of international law, to condemn the violations of international law without double standards, and that has constituted a fundamental instrument of credibility for those that are at the head of an organization like the UN. We were never corrupted by fear or by the need to be nice to the most powerful in the world.”
10. Wide shot, Guterres at the dais
11. SOUNDBITE (English) António Guterres, Secretary-General, United Nations:
“I'm not going to ask Japan and China to pay the American quota. I insist for the United States to pay what is due to the UN. It is clear that we have a meaningful number of arrears. If we count peacekeeping and Regular Budget, those arrears are above $3 billion. If you count only the Regular Budget, they are 1 billion something dollars. And obviously, this money was necessary. And the fact that this money did not exist has translated itself, as I said, not in the collapse of the organization, but we had to shrink, we had to reduce our activities. And the price was largely paid by those that received assistance from the UN, which means there is more hunger, which means there is less vaccination, which means there is less support to water and sanitation, which means more people die.”
12. Wide shot, end of presser
Addressing a press conference on the final day of an official visit to Japan, Secretary-General António Guterres today (20 May) highlighted the importance of partnerships in a world “rocked by conflicts, climate chaos and inequality,” and said that during his tenure as Secretary-General, “we were never corrupted by fear or by the need to be nice to the most powerful in the world.”
As Japan is marking 70 years of cooperation with the UN, the Secretary-General told reporters he was “determined to ensure a strong UN-Japan partnership for the future,” and said, “the true hallmark of partnership is revealed in times of crisis.”
He said, “inflation is rising and the cost-of-living crisis is deepening — made worse by the conflict in the Middle East, which is sending prices for energy and raw materials - including fertilizers -skyrocketing” and stressed that it was “essential to immediately reestablish the freedom of navigation in and around the Strait of Hormuz, and to end all ceasefire violations and create conditions for a political solution to the conflict.”
“With the strong support of Japan,” Guterres said, “I am convinced we can weather today’s storms and restore global trust in what we can achieve by standing as one.”
The most important reform that needs to be established, he said, “is the reform of the UN Security Council whose composition does not guarantee the legitimacy and effectiveness that obviously are dramatically affected by the fact that the permanent members have three European, one Asian - when Asia today have at least half of the world's population – one North American, but no African nor Latin American” countries in the Council.
The Secretary-General said, “the United Nations remains the essential, one-of-a-kind meeting ground to advance peace, sustainable development and human rights.”
Responding to a journalist’s question, he said, “if one looks at the worst conflicts, the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the dramatic situation in Gaza, and the recent bombardment of Iran by Israel and the United States, the voice of the Secretary-General has never been silenced. And we were able to defend always the primacy of international law, to condemn the violations of international law without double standards, and that has constituted a fundamental instrument of credibility for those that are at the head of an organization like the UN.”
Asked about the financial situation of the Organization, Guterres said, “I'm not going to ask Japan and China to pay the American quota. I insist for the United States to pay what is due to the UN. It is clear that we have a meaningful number of arrears. If we count peacekeeping and Regular Budget, those arrears are above $3 billion. If you count only the Regular Budget, they are 1 billion something dollars. And obviously, this money was necessary. And the fact that this money did not exist has translated itself, as I said, not in the collapse of the organization, but we had to shrink, we had to reduce our activities.”
He said, “the price was largely paid by those that received assistance from the UN, which means there is more hunger, which means there is less vaccination, which means there is less support to water and sanitation, which means more people die.”
