‘No more plundering, no more exploitation’ – UN Chief says resource wealth must benefit producing countries

(Kaieteur News) – United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has called for an end to the exploitation of resource-rich developing countries, noting that nations that produce critical minerals must keep a much larger share of the wealth generated from their natural resources.

Addressing the G77 and China on Friday during opening ceremony of the 50th annual Meeting of Ministers for Foreign Affairs of the Group of 77, Guterras called for a new approach to the global race for critical minerals, warning that the energy transition must not repeat the inequalities connected with the exploitation of natural resources in the past.

“No more plundering. No more exploitation,” Guterres told the meeting of foreign affairs ministers.

nited Nations Secretary-General António Guterres

He said producing countries and communities affected by mining must retain “a far greater share of the value created from their resources. According to the UN chief, the countries must be more than suppliers of raw materials to the global economy.

“Developing countries must be leaders and beneficiaries of the clean energy revolution, not spectators,” he affirmed.

The message comes against the backdrop of growing international demand for minerals needed for batteries, electric vehicles, renewable energy systems and other technologies.

For Guyana, the broader issue of how much value remains in the country from its natural resources is already part of the national conversation.

In May earlier this year, President Irfaan Ali launched “El Dorado Reimagined,” the country’s national gold and jewellery brand, with the aim of moving Guyana from a producer of raw gold to a creator of higher-value jewellery and luxury products.

At the launch, the head-of-state said Guyana had for years extracted and exported gold while jobs, skills and economic value associated with further stages of production remained outside the country. The initiative includes efforts to expand local refining, craftsmanship and manufacturing.

The first major product under the initiative was a commemorative gold medallion made entirely in Guyana, from mining and refining to design and minting.

“For decades, Guyana has done what so many resource-rich nations have done. We dug, we washed, we poured, and we waved goodbye,” the head-of-state said.

He said with gold leaving the country, so do jobs, skills and billions of dollars in unrealised value.

“Today, we are saying not anymore,” Ali said, as he outlined the push to move Guyana from a nation focused on extraction to one that also creates higher-value products from its resources.

Guterres, in his UN address, made a similar point in the context of critical minerals, saying producing countries must have a greater stake in the value created from their resources.

He also warned that the clean-energy transition should not create a new version of the inequalities associated with earlier periods of resource exploitation.

Guterres said the same principle must apply to the minerals that will drive the global transition away from fossil fuels.

He warned that the countries with the resources needed for the energy transition should not be left behind while wealth and manufacturing opportunities accumulate elsewhere.

The secretary-general’s comments also come as the UN pushes for reforms to the international economic system, with developing countries demanding a greater voice in decisions affecting finance, trade, investment and access to technology.

Earlier in his address, Guterres said developing countries are being “crushed by unsustainable debt” and locked out of affordable financing, while calling for reforms to the international financial architecture.

He said the clean-energy transition presents an opportunity to change that imbalance.

“The sun belongs to no one. The wind cannot be embargoed. Innovation can come from everywhere,” Guterres said.

He said renewable energy is now the cheapest source of new electricity in most of the world and represents a major opportunity for developing countries to achieve greater energy security and sustainable growth.

But he warned that the benefits of the transition must be shared more fairly.

“We must also ensure that the mining of critical minerals does not dig deeper into the inequities of the past,” Guterres said.

The question of local value addition has also featured prominently in Guyana’s gold sector, including calls for greater local refining and processing capacity.

Source: Kaieteur News