President William Ruto on Wednesday, September 21, implored world leaders to embrace the bottom-up agenda to achieve global economic prosperity.
While making his address at the 77th United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York, Ruto affirmed that the nations needed to work together to recover from the ravaging effects of climate change, the global food crisis, terrorism, cybercrime and armed conflict and the pandemic.
He coined the phrase: Building Back Better, from the Bottom to urge the inclusivity of the marginalized working majority in the economic mainstream.
"Building Back Better is the universal rallying call to incorporate lessons learned into doing more, in a better way to recover from the shock."
"I suggest that we have a golden opportunity to faithfully adhere to this motto by augmenting it, in word and in deed, with an additional “B”: Building Back Better, from the Bottom."
"Building back better from the bottom upwards is, essentially, about including the marginalized working majority in the economic mainstream," he stated.
The president pointed out that the global food crisis could be solved by implementing strategies aimed at economic inclusion which will subsequently lead to sustainable development.
"The bottom billion relentlessly wage their daily battle for survival in a crowded arena characterized by scarcity of opportunity and generally precarious existence. The ingenuity, optimism, resilience and energy in this ever-bustling bottom is sometimes called hustling."
"It is time to bolster the resilience of our nations; to mainstream these millions through deliberate strategies and efforts for economic inclusion; to Building Back Better, from the Bottom-Up," Ruto added.
The Head of State called upon the foreign nations to support the worst affected countries by sharing climate adaptation technologies as well as working towards achieving multilateralism.
"With this in mind, I call on the Member States and all relevant stakeholders to demonstrate strong political will and showcase effective cooperation by supporting the most affected countries financially, as well as by sharing land restoration and climate adaptation technologies."
The theme for the 77th UNGA is, “A watershed moment: transformative solutions to interlocking challenges”.
