Mr Chair,

As participating States we regularly extoll the virtues and stress the importance of the OSCE’s comprehensive approach to security. A key element of that approach includes a strong and unique commitment to engagement with civil society.

In the field of transnational threats, discussions on many topics frequently lead to an acknowledgement of the key role that civil society can play. For example, in helping to counter and prevent violent extremism or radicalisation. In the Second Dimension, discussions on economic and environmental issues are greatly enhanced by expertise and insights from civil society actors – sharing insights on how communities are affected by corruption, or the importance of urgent action on climate change.

In the human dimension, civil society plays a particularly important role in helping us implement our shared commitments. By reporting and documenting actions by authorities that are in direct contradiction to our political commitments, they help hold governments to account, with the aim of ensuring that our fine political words translate into tangible benefits for our citizens.

Of course, this week we should be gathered with civil society organisations in Warsaw to participate in the annual Human Dimension Implementation Meeting (HDIM). It is an important event in the calendar of the OSCE, and helps demonstrate our shared commitment to the OSCE’s concept of comprehensive security. It is a disappointment that certain Decisions related to HDIM continue to be blocked. Holding a meaningful HDIM should be a key priority for all participating States, and Permanent Council Decisions related to HDIM should have been agreed in a timely manner.

We thank Sweden for choosing “civil society” as a special topic for this month, and for your determination to involve civil society in your activities throughout the year. Through their expertise and independence, civil society organisations bring unique perspectives to this organisation. Recognising their contribution, and safeguarding their participation in the OSCE should be a priority, not only for the Chairpersonship, but for all participating States.

Thank you Mr Chair

Thank you, Prime Minister Hamdok, for your dedication to leadership during this difficult but important transition to democracy.

I congratulate your Government on the tremendous progress made, particularly on economic reforms and progress under the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Initiative.

This Sunday marks the first anniversary of the Juba Peace Agreement – a landmark step towards security and justice for the people of Sudan.

Progress on the Agreement, however, has been slower than hoped.

We urge the signatories to establish the Peace Commission and security arrangements.

We also call for the swift establishment of the Monitoring and Evaluation Mechanism.

This will provide the transparent assessment that international partners need to support the implementation of the peace agreement.

The formation of the Transitional Legislative Council is another vital step to be taken towards a more inclusive, democratic Sudan.

Secretary-General, Foreign Minister Søreide (Sir-AY-da), there has been significant progress since 2019, but Sudan’s journey is far from over.

I can assure you, and the people of Sudan, that the UK remains steadfast in its support for the civilian-led transition.

We condemn any attempt to destabilise or undermine this important process for Sudan’s peace and future prosperity.

Sudan’s government and the international community must play their parts in ensuring its success.

We look forward to continuing to support Prime Minister Hamdok and his government to deliver lasting change for the people of Sudan.

World leaders have given international travel a further boost today (30 September 2021) by agreeing a series of new measures at the G7 transport and health meeting hosted by Transport Secretary Grant Shapps.

In the first meeting of its kind between G7 transport and health ministers from major global economies, agreement was reached to align their international travel strategies through 7 principles that will build a long-lasting recovery for the international travel sector.

These 7 high-level principles are:

• futureproofing the transportation sector against future health threats
• ensuring the fair treatment and safety of essential transport personnel
• respecting privacy and data protection in implementing vaccination certification solutions
• reaffirming the pre-eminence of scientific evidence in planning international travel policy
• ensuring fairness and equity in respective national responses
• maintaining regular international and multilateral engagement
• delivering a safe, sustainable and resilient recovery

The 7 principles agreed today will drive global standards on international travel and continue the progress made to make a long-lasting recovery for the sector.

As outlined in the Chair’s statement, the group also agreed to focus on improving data protection in vaccine certification developments, as well as prioritising the decarbonisation of transport.

This builds on recent work done by the UK government to simplify its international travel system to make it easier for people to travel to and from the UK, including for all G7 nations – whether that’s for overdue business trips or catching up with loved ones.

G7 members also agreed to focus on facilitating a sustainable global recovery committing to prioritising the sustainable decarbonisation of transport and protecting the rights of transport workers in their vital work to facilitate international travel.

Grant Shapps Transport Secretary said:

Under the UK’s presidency of the G7, we are determined to get people travelling abroad as freely and safely as possible and the progress made today between all G7 nations is testament to this vision.

By sharing information, working together on common standards and solutions for vaccine certification, and keeping a focus on a sustainable recovery for our travel sector, we will build a resilient and long-lasting recovery now and for generations to come.

Lord Kamall Health Minister said:

Global cooperation on healthcare is crucial, especially during a pandemic and the strong links we have with our G7 partners continue to help protect people around the world.

The UK’s world-leading clinical trials have saved lives. We owe a huge debt to those volunteers who stepped forward to help break new medical and scientific boundaries by taking part in these trials, so we must make sure they are not disadvantaged when travelling.

I am pleased that we have agreed steps to support the safe return of international travel, and I look forward to working with my G7 colleagues further.

Ministers also outlined their collective support for the work of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), including the upcoming High-level Conference on COVID-19 next month. The conference will bring together over 190 states to discuss issues relating to international travel, helping to achieve a common approach for aviation recovery as we continue to collaborate with our international partners in response to the pandemic.

Looking to the future, G7 partners agreed that a joined-up approach was essential to mitigate against risks associated with the current pandemic and any future health threats, understanding how to safeguard international travel, and providing a high level of resilience for the sector in the longer term.

Thank you, thank you very much Mr President, distinguished guests, ladies and gentleman.

Great speech Mario and ciao from Londra. I’m very sorry I’m not able to be with you today, but I just want to say to all of you at this gathering: Mario, you and I, we’ve got to face it.

We were born in the 1960s; the politicians, I’m afraid, like us – we’re middle aged people.

And we’re going to be meeting to thrash out the world’s path to net zero in just a few weeks’ time at COP26.

But it will be the people in the audience, it will be your generation, young people, who are left to deal with the consequences if we should fail.

Because a child born in 2020 will endure seven times as many extreme heatwaves and twice as many droughts as their grandparents.

And as this gathering has heard in sometimes harrowing detail, young people around the world are already paying the price for the reckless actions of their elders.

Hundreds of millions of you are facing rising seas, failing crops, burning forests and ever-more ferocious storms. Daily challenges that lead to lost opportunity.

Your future is being stolen before your eyes, and I saw the protestors earlier on, and frankly you have every right to be angry with those who aren’t doing enough to stop it.

And perhaps the most frustrating thing is that we know we can stop it.

There is still just enough time to put on the brakes. We know what needs to be done, we just have to get on with it.

It’s a big task, one that will ask a lot of absolutely everybody. But change on the scale we need is perfectly possible.

When I was a child something like 80 per cent of the UK’s electricity was generated by burning coal. Even as recently as 2010 we got 10 times more electricity from fossil fuels than from renewables.

Yet today, as I speak to you, most of the electricity consumed in the UK comes from clean green sources. Our carbon emissions are barely half what they were in 1990.

And coal, which was once the undisputed king of our energy mix, now accounts for less than two per cent of our electricity – a number that will hit zero within the next couple of years.

I tell you this not because I want to brag about how great the UK is – because I’m the first to admit that we all have much more to do – but because I want to show what can be achieved when people and politicians have the will to make change happen.

That’s why it’s so important that these three days are not the end of the story.

We’ve got 190 countries represented here, almost 190 countries represented here.

And if between now and November, the COP26 Summit, that you all continue to raise your voices in the way that you have, as passionately and articulately as you are doing;

and if you can keep talking to the politicians and the business leaders where you live about this issue and why you care about it and why we must have action – then what I’m saying to you is we can turn this thing around.

And the four things we want to come out of COP26, four big changes in our approach, and it’s very easy to remember – it’s coal, cars, cash and trees; coal cars, cash and trees.

We want to move away, as I’ve described, from using coal as the way we generate electricity, we want to move to move towards renewables. We want all the countries in the world to move off coal.

We want everybody to stop using internal combustion engine vehicles, and it can be done, people are moving away from them as we speak.

As Mario has just said in his really excellent speech, we want to raise the funds that the whole world needs, the developing world in particular, to tackle climate change – and we need to get up to $100 billion.

And we need to plant 100s of millions if not trillions of trees around the world.

If we do all that, we can make COP26 in November, which Mario and I are working on, we can make it the beginning of the end of climate change.

So without being unduly rhapsodical, when you’re my age, you young folks, you young thrusters out there, you’ll inhabit not a world on fire, but a planet where your phones and your computers and your lights are powered by the wind and the water, the waves and the sun;

You’ll inhabit a world where electric cars glide silently down your streets from California to Cape Town; emission-free, guilt-free jet zero planes will fly overhead; and all of us will be able to deal with whatever the climate throws at us.

So what I’m saying to you is that the situation is dire, it is frightening, but change is possible and it can be done.

So help me and help us to make it happen at COP26.

And together let’s make this earth the planet that you deserve.

Thank you very much.

Thank you [Roberto Cingolani] very much indeed. And thank you for organising this event with your team.

I think it’s been brilliantly organised. And the fact that we’ve managed to get young people here from across the world, many of whom actually have had to make very difficult journeys to get here. I think it’s testament to the organisation but also to the young people who have come here.

Listening to the session, I think there are probably three feelings that I got. One was that it was incredibly inspiring. Secondly, that they spoke really very very frankly.

And I think third, for me, was that they spoke the truth. That we need to do much, much more, much faster. And I have to say, I hope every minister who was present, those that were tuning in, felt pretty uncomfortable and squirmed when those messages were being delivered. The home truths were being delivered.

I think PM Draghi talked about the fact that what we were hearing shamed this set of world leaders. And there is no doubt that this group of young people and, in fact, young people around the world, are going to hold this set of world leaders to account if at COP26 we are not able to credibly say we have kept 1.5 degrees within the reach. Of that I’m absolutely certain.

And one of the ministers who spoke also made a really important point. He said, in three days, we’ll have had 400 young people, very few of them will have met before, coming from almost 200 countries, able to deliver a document in three days, that they agreed on. Consensus.

If you look at the Paris Agreement. Six years on, historic agreement. But there are still key issues outstanding.

And perhaps it’s time, at COP26, for the ministers and the politicians to take the lead from young people, and actually find that consensus. Finally.

Reflecting on some of the messages that came through. They were, in my view, really very well thought out. it’s some of the issues that we have been discussing over the past year and a half through the COP process with Roberto and other governments as well. In terms of energy transition, in terms of the finance flows, in terms of just transition and capacity building, getting the non-state actors to do their bit so of course governments have to step up. And then actually showcasing the work that is going on.

And I think Roberto is right. This is the start. This cannot be the last time that we get young people together and have this kind of discussion. And so I am very open to us, and Roberto and I will discuss this with our teams, looking at how we build on this. I mean this really cannot be a one off, because if it is, I’m afraid it will not go down well with the young people who have come here today.

In terms of COP itself. What we will be doing is taking these messages from young people, they will be discussed at COP. We will ensure that the outcomes are presented, and that ministers respond to these outcomes, these decisions that have gone forward from young people. And this will take place on the Youth and Public Empowerment Day.

We’re also going to ensure that throughout the COP26 process, the voices of young people are heard throughout that two week period. There’s a lot of expertise in that room. There’s a lot of expertise internationally when it comes to understanding of nature, of science, of transport, all of these issues. And we will ensure that young people’s voices are reflected in those discussions at COP26, throughout that two week period.

I think the final thing I just want to say on this is that there were a number of times that the young people challenged us and said: You’re not answering our questions. You’re not actually responding to what we’re asking.

So Roberto and I have agreed that we will get the feedback that comes through. We will respond to the best of our abilities on those questions that have been raised. But actually, this is a question for every government. It is not just a question of Italy and the UK. Yes, we are together, partnering and leading on organising COP26. But this is for every government.

I think that is very clear in terms of the response that young people require. Yes it’s an international response but it’s also a response that has to be delivered by individual governments in their home nations as well.

So I just want to end with saying that yes, we have more work to do in terms of the NDCs, the 2030 emission reduction targets, and Net Zero targets, the finance. We’re gonna have a lot of discussions, Roberto and I, in the Pre-COP now with ministerial colleagues on some of those outstanding issues in the Paris Rulebook.

And I hope that one thing that we will always have ringing in our ears, is the voices of young people that we’ve heard of these last few days. And I think if we keep those voices at the front of our minds, I do think we will have an opportunity to come to consensus together.

But at the end of the day, it is on this generation of leaders, it is on us, it is on the people who are on the stage sitting there. I know, Jayathma, you said, you’re putting it on the young people to tell us what to do. Of course, you know, we have to do our bit. But as I said, this goes back to us working together, and that’s what I want to see coming out of this meeting.

Thank you.