UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called for deeper international cooperation to address global health crisis, and reduce poverty and inequality. “We need deeper international cooperation to address the global health crisis, reduce poverty and inequality, achieve the Sustainable Development Goals and avert climate catastrophe,” the top UN official said on Sunday in his video message on the UN Day for South-South Cooperation, which is celebrated globally on September 12 every year.

“The COVID-19 pandemic is the most complex immediate challenge facing our world and it is undermining hard won social, economic and environmental gains,” Guterres was quoted as saying by Xinhua news agency. “In such trying times, the solidarity that underpins South-South cooperation has once again proven vital for developing countries,” the Secretary-General said.