Your Excellencies, Heads of State and Government,
Secretary-General of the United Nations,
Your Excellency, Ms. Paula Narvaez, President of the Economic and Social Council,
Excellencies, Distinguished Delegates and Guests,
It is an honor to welcome you to the 2023 High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable
Development – the 'SDG Summit'.
The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development – adopted unanimously by all United Nations
Member States in 2015 – constitutes a global call to action to banish poverty from our
societies, protect and preserve our planet, and to ensure prosperity for all.
The 17 Sustainable Development Goals serve as a beacon of hope and a roadmap for common
action to create a more equitable, more just, and more sustainable world.
Now, at the midway point, it is essential that we take stock of our progress and assess
the remaining challenges that confront us.
Such assessment is a necessary basis for charting a course for success to ensure that we, the
United Nations, keep faith with the bold undertaking we gave to the world in 2015, that no one
is left behind.
Today's Summit therefore provides a unique platform for us to recommit to the 2030 Agenda.
I therefore encourage you to use this opportunity for peer learning to share your experiences;
forge partnerships; and put forth innovative ideas that can help drive meaningful change.
However, let us be clear, Excellencies,
A combination of factors – including the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, impacts
of climate change, and the war in Ukraine – have presented a series of complex and
intersecting crises.
And, while this has dramatically altered the trajectory of the entire world, it is – as
is too often the case – those in the most precarious circumstances and those who are
already the most vulnerable, who suffer the most.
This includes the countries in special situations – Small Island Developing States, Least
Developed Countries, and Landlocked Developing Countries.
The most vulnerable in our communities – including women and girls, young people, persons living
with disabilities, older persons, and indigenous peoples – have not been sparred and are
at the foremost receiving end of these crises.
Despite commitments to eradicate poverty and reduce hunger being at the core of this agenda
– alarmingly, 1.2 billion people were still living in multi-dimensional poverty as of
2022.
It is estimated that approximately 8% of the global population – or 680 million people
– will still be facing hunger in 2030.
Can we accept these numbers or, because they make us uncomfortable, should we pretend they
do not exist and carry on with business as usual?
Surely, we cannot.
To do so would amount to being reckless.
Rather, we must do more to lift people sustainably out of poverty and hunger not merely because
it is the right thing to do in the name of humanity but also because to do nothing would
be to fan the flames of discord and conflict, with well-known terrible consequences.
Excellencies,
While there have been setbacks, we cannot relent in our resolve and determination to
do our utmost to rescue the SDGs – as we have been challenged by the Secretary-General.
The fact that we are lagging in our promise cannot be the death knell for our blueprint
– nor should this Summit be a forum to point fingers, apportion blame, and certainly, not
to accept defeat.
Instead, bold and transformative actions must be prioritized to support the well-being of
our global constituents, particularly those left farthest behind.
This is our moment to re-dedicate ourselves to the SDGs, and to reinvigorate progress
across the entirety of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
The 2023 Global Sustainable Development Report outlines clear steps in that regard.
It recommends an ambitious "SDG-push" scenario to improve social protection, strengthen governance,
promote a green economy, and address digital disruption, while improving access to quality
education and healthcare in a human rights setting.
With concerted, ambitious action, it is still possible that, by 2030, we could lift 124
million additional people out of poverty and ensure that some 113 million fewer people
are malnourished.
Such achievements would also generate gains across other Goals related to health, nutrition
and education.
Adequate investment in the SDGs is therefore a win-win for all, with cross-cutting and
knock-on benefits reverberating across the globe – positively impacting every society
and every community.
Excellencies,
I urge you to make this strategic investment in the SDGs – through effective domestic
resource mobilization accompanied by fulfilment of the targets set for the inflow of Official
Development Assistance (ODA) and productive partnerships with the private sector.
We must reform the international financial architecture – to promote affordable, stable
long-term financing for sustainable development across the Global South, where development
has been in perpetual deficit.
The Financing for Development Dialogue and the Summit of the Future are both key opportunities
to continue pushing this reform agenda, bearing in mind the urgent need to address the worsening
gap for financing the SDGs.
Excellencies,
By delivering meaningful change to the lives of so many, we can demonstrate that the UN
not only hears the demands of those in difficult situations – but, more importantly, that
these needs will not go unmet.
Renewed faith in us, by the many who depend on us, will help to restore our credibility,
trust and ultimately, a sense of confidence that UN-led multilateralism delivers.
We must remember, the world is watching.
Our eight billion constituents are looking to us for a signal that we will keep our promises
– and that we are alive to
the reality that we have only seven years left before 2030.
They want and deserve full reassurance that we – all together,
recognize the circumstantial setbacks that so many have experienced and continue to endure,
and that we stand ready to support them in their time of acute need,
and, most importantly, that we see the heightened sense of urgency; and
we are all prepared as the world leaders gather here today to raise our ambition and recommit
to meaningfully delivering the 2023 Agenda and its 17 SDGs.
With that in mind, I challenge you all to demonstrate emboldened leadership by using
this Summit to announce groundbreaking commitments to support and to complete the 2030 Agenda.
I call for your support to the Political Declaration – negotiations for
which were skillfully led by Qatar and Ireland, to whom I extend my grateful thanks and that
of the membership.
I sincerely believe that the Declaration represents the most ideal common denominator for the
overwhelming majority of members.
Adoption of a strong Declaration at this Summit will herald the start of a new phase of accelerated
progress to achieve the SDGs by 2030.
As we navigate the challenges ahead, the SDGs will
remain a true blueprint for humanity and will continue to be our guideposts to deliver peace,
prosperity, progress, and sustainability for all peoples, everywhere.
As the late former Secretary-General Kofi Annan once said, we must work tirelessly to
achieve a better world that is free from fear and free from want.
Thank you.