NOON BRIEFING HIGHLIGHTS

Spokesperson for General Assembly President Csaba Kőrösi
United Nations Headquarters, New York

Friday, 28 July 2023

SDG SUMMIT

 

The President of the General Assembly, Csaba Kőrösi, today took part in the meeting of the principals of the UN Sustainable Development Group, which is led by the Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed.

 

The President updated on the SDG Summit, which will be held all day on Monday, 18 September, and for a half-day on Tuesday, the 19th.

 

He reiterated again that this has to be a non-traditional summit… world leaders need to give concrete commitments instead of long speeches.   

That the credibility of a sustainable transformation is on the line – and credibility of multilateralism.

 

The President said that for him, the most important part of the SDG Summit will be the last 30 minutes, when the Secretary-General and the PGA-elect Dennis Francis summarize in plain language the discussions and the biggest commitment.

 

Ahead of the SDG Summit, on the Saturday and Sunday before, so 16 and 17 September, will be the SDG Mobilization and Acceleration Days – there will be events with young people, women, the private sector and civil society – and raising media attention will be important. There are plans for an SDG Pavilion, and you can expect sports analogies.

 

During today’s meeting, the President was very candid about what is working and what is not. And I will share that finance is the big issue.

 

One of the President’s messages is that “It is a time to look ahead. We have to make some political commitments – even if they are not renumerated. But we have to go over that hurdle.”

 

A political declaration will be adopted at the opening on Monday, 18 September.

 

WEEK AHEAD

 

Looking ahead to next week…

 

A couple of items to highlight…

 

On Tuesday, 1 August, Member States are expected to take action on a draft resolution Is related to the BBNJ – the Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction. The draft welcomes the adoption of the Agreement… calls on Member States and regional economic integration organizations to consider signing and ratifying possibly starting on 20 September 2023.

 

There is also a draft resolution for action that day related to the commemoration of the 125th anniversary of the Parament Court of Arbitration.

 

QUESTIONS

There were no questions on-camera for the Spokesperson.