INTERVIEW: UNDP Official Urges Japan to Take "Maximum Leadership"

Washington, Nov. 19 (Jiji Press)--Asako Okai, U.N. assistant secretary-general and director of the U.N. Development Program's Crisis Bureau, has urged Japan to "take maximum leadership" when the country holds the Group of Seven presidency and a U.N. Security Council nonpermanent seat next year.

In light of deepening division in the world amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine and U.S.-China rivalry, Okai said in a recent interview with Jiji Press that she would like to see Japan lead the member states in "coming up with a system that works."

Okai stressed that the world faces a multitude of challenges, including climate change, food security and debt issues, for which the "normal, traditional way of working is no match."

As the scale of the humanitarian crisis "has now become too big," Okai said, "We might not be able to support all the people" in the crisis.

"We need to change the way we deal with development and humanitarian assistance," she said, underscoring the necessity of creating a systemic approach to aspects of food insecurity related to production and supply being overly concentrated in certain regions.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]