at the? Session ¡°Who Brokers Trust Now?¡±

World Economic Forum

Good morning,

Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen,

Who brokers trust?

A simple question and, actually, in ordinary times, there would be a simple, very short answer.

Multilateral institutions like the United Nations.

The General Assembly is, after all, the world¡¯s most representative body, with 193 Member States, one seat¡­ one vote, no matter how rich or strong, giving it unparalleled moral authority.

We see this every September when world leaders from all around the world come together for the so-called High- Level Week¡­..they come together, no matter how much they disagree, but they know this is the place where you broker trust.

But as we all know, these are unfortunately not ordinary times.

Already when opening the 80th session of the General Assembly in September at the High-Level Week, there was a feeling that we were at a make-or-break moment… at a crossroads.

Facing more conflicts than ever before.

Including the almost four-year long aggression by a permanent member of the Security Council against its neighbor — a grave violation of the United Nations Charter.

Yet, since the beginning of this year, 2026, it has become even more clear that we are not all singing from the same songbook anymore.

And due to this, more and more, Member States hesitate when circumstances demand principled conviction.

Voices that were once outspoken in their support for all the three pillars of the United Nations Charter – peace and security, sustainable development, and human rights – fall more and more silent in the face of their erosion.

The Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ is not only under pressure but under outright attack.

So, before we kick off the debate on who brokers trust, we need to address in these times the deeper, fundamental principles that are required for trust to be built and maintained:

Truth.

And rules.

So let us start with truth.

As Nobel peace prize laureate Maria Ressa put it:

¡°Without facts, you can¡¯t have truth. Without truth, you can¡¯t have trust.¡±

Again, in ordinary times ¨C this would not even be worth discussing.

Yet today, we live in a world where fake news, falsities, mis- and disinformation, is all over.

Rarely an oversight due to ignorance, but a deliberate attempt to weaponize mis- and disinformation.

Just as the all too often tepid response of ignoring what we know to be patently false in order to stay diplomatic, is not a pure success strategy .

So let me be clear: the truth is the truth;
We do not negotiate truths and facts¡­ we use them to negotiate, to broker trust.

And speaking for example of the High North¡­. Yes, there are different geopolitical interests and security concerns, but in no way does this make an argument that Greenlanders do not belong to the Greenland.

And that they are not part of citizens of the Kingdom of Denmark, by this, citizens of the EU, and members of NATO ¨C they enjoy the same sovereign rights as anybody else on earth.

So in these times, to uphold the truth, the basis for trust, it is even of more important as we are seeing also the developments in the digital world on artificial intelligence especially.

As we all know and discuss here in Davos in many many different forums, there are great benefits of AI- from healthcare and finance, agriculture to cybersecurity:

But we also know these tools are being used to blur the line between truth and lies;

to strategically turn doubt into distrust.

Many are biased.

Speaking as a woman ¨C and also a mother of two daughters ¨C

I would like to underline that when it comes to deep-fakes they are not only gender biased but are systematically attacking women- as for example, ninety-six percent, so almost all, of deepfakes are pornographics targeting only women.

Second: trust is impossible without common rules and principles.

Be it in politics, business, or sports, as we are just having the winter Olympic games just around the corner,¡­.you cannot be the fastest racer and win a gold medal if you are not playing to the rules; then you will be disqualified.

Same as an investor, why would you put your money into a business if the competition rules are totally unpredictable?

Trust is built on rules.

Our forebearers learned the hard way how chaotic a world without trust is¡­A world in which everyone pursues their interests, rules be damned.

This world ended in complete disaster.

I just came from London where we celebrated the first meeting of the General Assembly, 80 years ago, back then also in snowy London but in ruined streets, there was not even a meeting place, this is why the church had to move out of a church building to let the world in.

So that 51 heads of state ¨C from the US to India, from Brazil to Saudi Arabia, came together, they were acknowledging that after they had learned, painfully, what a lawless international order, relying on the hope of appeasement, could lead to.

They took a risk ¡ª to trust dozens of other countries, eventually even including former enemies, like my own country who started the second World War ¡ª not because it was easy, but because the alternative was unthinkable.

They built trust brick by brick.

Debate by debate.

Resolution by resolution.

So if there is now this persistent myth again, that standing up for this international order they built 80 years ago, the rules-based order, system, would be na?ve, that the only ¡®real¡¯ politics is power.

I want to be crystal clear: standing up for the rules-based international order is not only the right thing to do, it is a clear act of self-interest.

The founders of the United Nations understood that because they

had seen what the alternative would mean, in a world where might makes right, there can be only one outcome: chaos and war.

The Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ Charter is the world¡¯s common life insurance.

In the same way the international trade and economic order is the life insurance for businesses, your investments, your growth.

So, the answer to the question, who is brokering trust is simple:

  • Trust is brokered by those who hold up the common rules and principles, even when it is hard.
  • Trust is brokered by those who act when action is required, even when the costs are high.
  • Trust is brokered by those who speak the truth, when silence or distortion would be easier.

So, the final question to our debate today and the coming days here in Davos is:

Can we act in that same spirit and take similar steps, together?

Like 80 years ago.

Because ¨C there won’t be a magic wand for someone to fix this.

So, my call is the same as it was last week, when addressing the Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ Member States: we need a cross-regional alliance, of heads of governments, but also of business leaders and economic officials ¨C to stand up for the international order.? To stand up, and give a positive sign that we can form this alliance.

And to end on a good note -this alliance is still incredibly huge ¨C 193 Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ member states, minus a handful, does not equal, you don¡¯t have to be a finance expert for that, zero.

It does not even equal 87.

It¡¯s still a big, big majority.

And also having with some of the colleagues here a very early breakfast this morning today, we could see that multilateralism is indeed way awake.

We were discussing with the largest group of the United Nations, the African countries, their African continental free trade agreement.

And just imagine, if you combine this with the trade agreements mentioned yesterday by the President of the EU Commission, how powerful joining forces on international trade and joining forces on multilateralism can be.

I thank you.

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