Your Excellency María Fernanda Espinosa, Presidentof the General Assembly,Your Excellency Ambassador Koji Tomita, presiding Japanese G20 Sherpa,Your Excellency Ambassador Koro Bessho, Permanent Representative of Japan,Excellencies,Distinguished Delegates,Ladies and Gentlemen,
I wish to join the President of General Assembly in welcoming Ambassador Tomita, with whom I work very closely.
It is my honour to address this informal plenary of the General Assembly, both in my capacity as Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs and as the United Nations G20 Sherpa.
At the outset, I would like to acknowledge the alignment of the G20 priorities under the Japanese Presidency with the vision of the 2030 Agenda.
Prime Minister Abe, in a letter issued earlier this year, announced that, and I quote: “at the Osaka Summit, Japan is determined to lead global economic growth by promoting free trade and innovation, achieving both economic growth and reduction of disparities, and contributing to the development agenda and other global issues with the SDGs at its core”. Unquote.
Through these efforts, Japan seeks to realize and promote a free and open, inclusive and sustainable, "human-centered future society."
Towards these broader objectives, Japan pays particular attention to data governance, disruptive innovations for climate change and enhancing the free, open, and rules-based international order. These are all issues that are central to the implementation of the 2030 Agenda. Let me thank Japan for its proactive engagement with the United Nations in the G20.
Excellencies,Ladies and Gentlemen,
The G20 is a member state-driven process that sets its own agenda. The United Nations and other International Organizations, as invited guests, contribute expertise, analyses and policy options based on our respective mandates.
The UN’s engagement with the G20 has grown steadily since the Group met for the first time at the Summit level, in 2008. The United Nations has consistently focused on mobilizing G20’s attention to global development challenges, and to the needs of the most vulnerable countries and populations.
The UN has also been a strong advocate for forward-looking policies and approaches towards sustainable, inclusive and equitable growth. This engagement has contributed to strengthening G20’s engagement in advancing the 2030 Agenda. The adoption of the G20 Action Plan on the 2030 Agenda in Hangzhou in 2016, and the development of the Hamburg Update and the Buenos Aires Update in 2017 and 2018 respectively, reflects the commitment to accelerated implementations.
Secretary-General Guterres has actively participated in the G20 Summits. In his engagement with G20 leaders, the Secretary-General has repeatedly underscored the centrality of collective action. He has emphasized the need to preserve and renew multilateralism to redirect globalization towards sustainable development for all.
The Secretary-General has called on G20 leaders to accord high priority to the implementation of the 2030 Agenda, Financing for Development as well as Climate Action. The Secretary-General’s active participation in the Buenos Aires Summit contributed to the delivery of the Leaders Communique.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
2019 is a momentous year for implementation of the 2030 Agenda, the Addis Ababa Action Agenda and the Paris Agreement. The series of High-level events convened under the auspices of the United Nations General Assembly in September will mobilize commitment and action at the highest political level.
Under the leadership of the Secretary-General, the United Nations system will continue to advocate for the alignment of the G20 work with UN frameworks. Therefore, sustainable development, climate change, future of work, human capital investment and financing for development, will remain the focus areas for our engagement with the G20.
In this regard, I welcome the plan to issue an Osaka Update on the implementation of the 2030 Agenda. I am also pleased to note that Japan is committed to pursuing further progress on the G20 Compact with Africa.
In addition, the United Nations stands ready to engage with the G20 on a number of specific issues and initiatives pursued under Japan’s G20 Presidency. These include oceans plastics pollution, ageing and its policy implications, and financing of universal health coverage.
I am confident that UN-G20 engagement on these initiatives will yield positive and concrete outcomes that can be fed into the high-level events in September. I encourage G20 members to participate at the highest level at these high-level events.Ladies and Gentlemen,
In order to strengthen effectiveness and coherence of UN engagement with the G20, the Executive Committee of the Secretary-General decided to establish a UN-System wide coordination mechanism and develop a UN strategy for engagement with the G20.
As a result, a UN G20 Working Group has been established. It will coordinate UN system input to the G20 and improve information sharing on UN’s engagements with the G20.
The Working Group, convened by me, consists of 21 UN entities that participate in the work of the G20. It has functioned effectively in strengthening the UN’s strategic messaging across the various work streams of the G20.
A Strategy for UN Engagement with the G20 has also been developed. One of the focus areas of the Strategy is to facilitate the effective interaction between non-G20 countries and the G20 at the UN.
In this connection, I wish to inform you that the Deputy Prime Minister of Singapore and Chair of the G20 Eminent Persons Group on Global Financial Government, will address the upcoming ECOSOC Forum on Financing for Development.
This is just one example of how we are working to improve the communication between the UN and the G20.
Dear colleagues,
Let me end by acknowledging once again the strong and proactive engagement of the Japanese G20 Presidency with the United Nations.
Ambassador Tomita, I look forward to working closely with you in the months ahead towards a successful G20 Summit in Osaka.
Thank you, madam President!
I wish to join the President of General Assembly in welcoming Ambassador Tomita, with whom I work very closely.
It is my honour to address this informal plenary of the General Assembly, both in my capacity as Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs and as the United Nations G20 Sherpa.
At the outset, I would like to acknowledge the alignment of the G20 priorities under the Japanese Presidency with the vision of the 2030 Agenda.
Prime Minister Abe, in a letter issued earlier this year, announced that, and I quote: “at the Osaka Summit, Japan is determined to lead global economic growth by promoting free trade and innovation, achieving both economic growth and reduction of disparities, and contributing to the development agenda and other global issues with the SDGs at its core”. Unquote.
Through these efforts, Japan seeks to realize and promote a free and open, inclusive and sustainable, "human-centered future society."
Towards these broader objectives, Japan pays particular attention to data governance, disruptive innovations for climate change and enhancing the free, open, and rules-based international order. These are all issues that are central to the implementation of the 2030 Agenda. Let me thank Japan for its proactive engagement with the United Nations in the G20.
Excellencies,Ladies and Gentlemen,
The G20 is a member state-driven process that sets its own agenda. The United Nations and other International Organizations, as invited guests, contribute expertise, analyses and policy options based on our respective mandates.
The UN’s engagement with the G20 has grown steadily since the Group met for the first time at the Summit level, in 2008. The United Nations has consistently focused on mobilizing G20’s attention to global development challenges, and to the needs of the most vulnerable countries and populations.
The UN has also been a strong advocate for forward-looking policies and approaches towards sustainable, inclusive and equitable growth. This engagement has contributed to strengthening G20’s engagement in advancing the 2030 Agenda. The adoption of the G20 Action Plan on the 2030 Agenda in Hangzhou in 2016, and the development of the Hamburg Update and the Buenos Aires Update in 2017 and 2018 respectively, reflects the commitment to accelerated implementations.
Secretary-General Guterres has actively participated in the G20 Summits. In his engagement with G20 leaders, the Secretary-General has repeatedly underscored the centrality of collective action. He has emphasized the need to preserve and renew multilateralism to redirect globalization towards sustainable development for all.
The Secretary-General has called on G20 leaders to accord high priority to the implementation of the 2030 Agenda, Financing for Development as well as Climate Action. The Secretary-General’s active participation in the Buenos Aires Summit contributed to the delivery of the Leaders Communique.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
2019 is a momentous year for implementation of the 2030 Agenda, the Addis Ababa Action Agenda and the Paris Agreement. The series of High-level events convened under the auspices of the United Nations General Assembly in September will mobilize commitment and action at the highest political level.
Under the leadership of the Secretary-General, the United Nations system will continue to advocate for the alignment of the G20 work with UN frameworks. Therefore, sustainable development, climate change, future of work, human capital investment and financing for development, will remain the focus areas for our engagement with the G20.
In this regard, I welcome the plan to issue an Osaka Update on the implementation of the 2030 Agenda. I am also pleased to note that Japan is committed to pursuing further progress on the G20 Compact with Africa.
In addition, the United Nations stands ready to engage with the G20 on a number of specific issues and initiatives pursued under Japan’s G20 Presidency. These include oceans plastics pollution, ageing and its policy implications, and financing of universal health coverage.
I am confident that UN-G20 engagement on these initiatives will yield positive and concrete outcomes that can be fed into the high-level events in September. I encourage G20 members to participate at the highest level at these high-level events.Ladies and Gentlemen,
In order to strengthen effectiveness and coherence of UN engagement with the G20, the Executive Committee of the Secretary-General decided to establish a UN-System wide coordination mechanism and develop a UN strategy for engagement with the G20.
As a result, a UN G20 Working Group has been established. It will coordinate UN system input to the G20 and improve information sharing on UN’s engagements with the G20.
The Working Group, convened by me, consists of 21 UN entities that participate in the work of the G20. It has functioned effectively in strengthening the UN’s strategic messaging across the various work streams of the G20.
A Strategy for UN Engagement with the G20 has also been developed. One of the focus areas of the Strategy is to facilitate the effective interaction between non-G20 countries and the G20 at the UN.
In this connection, I wish to inform you that the Deputy Prime Minister of Singapore and Chair of the G20 Eminent Persons Group on Global Financial Government, will address the upcoming ECOSOC Forum on Financing for Development.
This is just one example of how we are working to improve the communication between the UN and the G20.
Dear colleagues,
Let me end by acknowledging once again the strong and proactive engagement of the Japanese G20 Presidency with the United Nations.
Ambassador Tomita, I look forward to working closely with you in the months ahead towards a successful G20 Summit in Osaka.
Thank you, madam President!
File date:
Monday, March 11, 2019