It was another busy day at UN Headquarters. The general debate of the 78th UN General Assembly opened in the morning, and in the afternoon leaders picked up their exchange on how to reinvigorate and accelerate action on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in the context of the second and last day of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Summit.
Want to dig deeper into today's talks? Read the full Earth Negotiations Bulletin daily report.
Leaders’ dialogues focused on:
- strengthening the multilateral system for enhanced support, cooperation, follow-up, and review; and
- the mobilization of finance and investments and the means of implementation for SDG achievement.
Delegates emphasized that the relevance of the UN depends on its capacity to respond to global challenges. They converged on the need to mobilize resources to support developing countries’ sustainable development efforts. Many called for better harnessing science and technology to accelerate action.
Amid broad agreement on the need to reform the international financial architecture, discussions touched upon redirecting International Monetary Fund (IMF) Special Drawing Rights (SDRs), increasing concessional finance, de-risking private investment, and tax reforms to enhance developing countries’ domestic resources.
During the closing segment, UN Secretary-General António Guterres called upon leaders to make the most of the discussions held at the Summit by focusing on seven key areas:
- mobilizing at least USD 500 billion for sustainable development per year, ideally with the help of a leaders’ group to outline concrete steps to get funding flowing in 2024;
- shifting the focus of Voluntary National Reviews towards accountability of commitments made at the Summit;
- strengthening support for food security, energy, digitalization, education, social protection and decent jobs, and biodiversity;
- bringing to life the Global Accelerator on Jobs and Social Protection;
- fulfilling the goal of 0.7% of gross national income (GNI) for official development assistance (ODA) in 2024;
- using the next IMF meeting to accelerate progress, including through recapitalization, rechanneling of SDRs, restructuring debt on longer and more affordable terms, and developing concrete proposals for a reform of the global finance architecture in time for the Summit of the Future in 2024; and
- arriving at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change's (UNFCCC) 28th meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP 28) with concrete plans to support developing countries in achieving a just transition to renewable energy and to operationalize the loss and damage fund.
“This development to-do list is not just homework, it is hope work” Guterres underscored, calling for leadership and for countries to take these discussions to heart when preparing their national budgets for 2024.
All ENB photos are free to use with attribution. For the UN Summits Week 2023 please use: Photo by IISD/ENB | Diego Noguera.
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Leaders’ Dialogue on “Unity and Solidarity: Strengthening the Multilateral System for Enhanced Support, Cooperation, Follow-up and Review””
Delegates listen to the intervention by Klaus Iohannis, President of Romania
Antony Blinken, US Secretary of State
Nikos Christodoulides, President of Cyprus
Prince Albert II of Monaco
Klaus Iohannis, President of Romania
Hage Geingob, President of Namibia
Katrín Jakobsdóttir, Prime Minister of Iceland, and Filipe Jacinto Nyusi, President of Mozambique, moderate the Leaders' Dialogue
Xavier Espot Zamora, Prime Minister of Andorra
Jonas Gahr Støre, Prime Minister of Norway
Leaders’ Dialogue on “Mobilizing Finance and Investments and the Means of Implementation for SDG Achievement"
Delegates listen to the remarks by Rebeca Grynspan, Secretary General, United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD)
Kristalina Georgieva, Managing Director, International Monetary Fund (IMF)
Faisal Alibrahim, Minister of Economy and Planning, Saudi Arabia
Demeke Mekonnen Hassen, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs, Ethiopia
Beena Johnson, General Secretary, National Campaign on Dalit Human Rights
Aboubakar Nacanabo, Minister of Economy, Finance and Forecasting, Burkina Faso
Rebeca Grynspan, Secretary General, UNCTAD
Delegates gather for the last leaders’ dialogue
Closing
A view of the Trusteeship Council Chamber during the closing session
António Guterres, UN Secretary-General
Dennis Francis, Trinidad and Tobago, President of the 78th General Assembly
Li Junhua, Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs
Around the Venue
The media outside the UN
A view of the SDG Pavilion on the UN North Lawn
The global scrub choir performs non-stop at the entrance of the UN complex
US security on the East River
