Venezuela, Lebanon & other topics - Daily Press Briefing

Sorry, bear with me 2 seconds. Alright, good afternoon. Thank you for joining us, and I'm sure you're all watching the game on your laptops. No?

No? Okay.

All right. You would never. Thank you. Yeah. I won't check. Just a reminder, 12:45, there'll be a briefing here on the Sustainable Development Goals Report 2026. It will be launched by our Deputy Secretary-General, Amina Mohammed. Joining her will be the Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs, Lee Jun-hwa, and the Acting Director of the Statistics Division of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs, our friend Shantanu Mukherjee. Then tomorrow I will be joined by UNFPA's Director General— Executive Director, excuse me— Diane Keita and Alessio Cangiano, Senior Advisor at UNFPA. They'll be here to brief you on the launch of their new global report based on the findings of the Demographic Futures Survey. And our Deputy Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, is on his way back from Geneva, where, as you know, he was at the AI Summit. He'll be in New York later today and in the office tomorrow morning. Related somewhat to the DESA report, I wanted to flag that the World Investment Report 2026 was released today by our friends at the UN Conference on Trade and Development, otherwise known as UNCTAD.. And that report shows that global foreign direct investment rose 6% to $1.6 trillion in 2025. That ended 2 years of decline, but the recovery remains narrow. It remains fragile and remains uneven. The report notes that inflows to developed economies rose 11%, while developing economies recorded only 2% growth, reaching $901 billion. According to UNCTAD, the world's top 20 host economies attracted more than 80% of global foreign direct investment in 2025, underscoring a trend that runs throughout the report. Investment is becoming more concentrated across countries, across sectors and projects. Full report is available to you on the internet. Uh, also want to flag that, uh, Tom Fletcher, our emergency relief coordinator, Michael Fletcher is arriving today in Venezuela. He'll be on a 4-day visit to meet with survivors as well as frontline responders after the devastating earthquakes that hit that country nearly 2 weeks ago. Mr. Fletcher will also meet senior government officials and those supporting search and rescue effort. Tomorrow morning at 8:30 AM New York time, he will speak from Caracas at a virtual ministerial-level member states briefing. Briefing about the humanitarian response so far and what comes next and what Member States can do, and that will be available to you on UN Web TV starting at 8:30 AM. Concerning the ongoing assessments that are going on in Venezuela, from our part, our colleagues at the Humanitarian Affairs Office refer to rapid assessment of people's immediate humanitarian needs, a process which includes humanitarian partners, field visits, surveys with affected people. These are not overall damage and recovery assessments, which normally includes development partners as well as international financial institutions. So yesterday I guessed the answer to a question and I was wrong. OCHA also wants to clarify that the current status of humanitarian funding for Venezuela, which as you know had a response plan in place prior to the earthquake, Before the earthquakes, the $632 million humanitarian response plan for Venezuela had received around $115 million. Since then, total reported funding for that plan has increased to $300 million, and we expect to hear more about the appeal in tomorrow morning's member states briefing by Tom Fletcher. Meanwhile, on the ground, we, along with our humanitarian partners, are continuing to help coordinate and deliver assistance to meet people's most urgent needs in support of the government-led efforts in Venezuela. Uh, the World Food Programme provided ready-to-eat food kits to nearly 2,400 people and family food baskets to over 4,100 at a response— at response centers and shelters that have been set up. Uh, they also provided about 5 metric tons of food through community community kitchens in LaGuardia. Since the response efforts began, the World Food Programme has reached more than 25,000 people with food assistance. That was much needed. WFP, though, aims to reach half a million human beings sheltering in affected areas during the first 3 months of the response and has the operational capacity to scale up assistance to up to 1 million people if the funding comes in. Moving to Lebanon, where Jean Arnaud, the officer in charge of the Office of the Special Coordinator for Lebanon, kicked off a visit to Israel today. He is scheduled to meet with senior officials for discussions on the importance of consolidating the cessation of hostilities and advancing the implementation of Security Council Resolution 1701. We will keep you updated as the meetings take place and we are briefed on them. In recent days, he also held meetings in Lebanon with senior government officials Yesterday, he met with the Minister of Interior, Ahmad al-Ajar, and separately with Lebanese Army Commander General Rodolphe Heichel. Discussions with the officials focused on recent developments and efforts to strengthen stability in Lebanon. On the humanitarian front in Lebanon, our humanitarian colleagues tell us that the situation on the ground remains critical, with major protection concerns and significant gap in essential Services, despite the reduction of hostilities after the ceasefire that was announced on June 19th. While returns continue, military activities and security incidents are still being reported, and conditions remain fragile in many areas. More than half a million displaced people have begun returning to their communities, but tens of thousands remain displaced, including more than 34,000 people still living in collective shelters. Many families are under— reluctant or unable to return due to damaged housing, due to insecurity, and due to the continued presence of unexploded ordnance and the absence of basic services in their home villages. Children continue to bear disproportionate burden to this crisis. According to UNICEF, an estimated 308,000 children remain displaced. More than a million children require some sort of humanitarian assistance. And 62 unaccompanied or separated children have been identified. Disrupted education, psychosocial distress, limited access to services continue to impact children across the conflict-affected areas. Partners are also reporting increased protection concerns linked to child labor, school dropout, exploitation, domestic— gender-based violence, domestic violence, harassment, movement restrictions, and barriers to accessing humanitarian humanitarian services. These concerns are particularly acute in conflict-affected communities. We and our humanitarian partners are responding despite these challenges, but as you can imagine, as always, funding remains below the needed level. The revised flash appeal launched by us and the government of Lebanon in June seeks $640 million to support 1.4 million vulnerable people through August. So far, the appeal is only 42% funding, which leaves us with critical and active gaps in our work. Heading south to the occupied Palestinian Territory, our humanitarian colleagues there tell us that people continue being displaced in Gaza in areas along the so-called yellow line, as Israeli troops' advancement is shrinking the area that families can still inhabit. According to initial information received this morning, At least 9 families were displaced from Dahab displacement site in southern Gaza, with some saying they fled advancing tanks. Shooting and injuries were also reported nearby. Our humanitarian partners are responding by providing newly displaced people with tents, with shelter items, and other basic assistance. Support of— to those facing protracted displacement continues. Last week, we and our partners supported more than 30,000 households, including through vouchers. The aid included more than 250 tents, 10,000 tarpaulins, 10,000 bedding items, and nearly 15,000 kitchen sets. However, the number of families assisted is declining because of funding shortfalls that compound restrictions on the entire area of Gaza— excuse me, on the restrictions on the entry of items into Gaza. So far, just a quarter of the $4.1 billion required for humanitarian operations in the occupied Palestinian territory this year has been secured. Meanwhile, yesterday, our colleagues from the World Health Organization said while teams are providing wheelchairs, crutches, prosthetic limbs, walking aids to people with complex injuries, the support, as always, falls much, very much short of the actual need. Over 43,000 people with life-changing injuries require rehabilitation in Gaza. Yet only one-third of the need for assistive devices has been met. Our partners working to support healthcare in Gaza remind us that attempts to bring in medical equipment and devices into Gaza continues to face delays and denials. This includes equipment for labs, diagnostics, physical rehabilitation and physiotherapy, as well as prosthetic device. A quick update on the work of Pekka Havisto, our Secretary-General's Personal Envoy for Sudan. I can tell you that he's currently in Chad, where he's holding meetings with national authorities and diplomatic counterparts to discuss the current situation in South Sudan and its regional implications. He's also expected to visit camps hosting Sudanese refugees in Chad. This visit comes amid growing concern over the regional dimensions of the conflict in Sudan. Mr. Havissoo is engaging with all relevant stakeholders, including neighboring countries, with a view to preventing any further escalation and advancing dialogue towards a resolution of the conflict. In the coming weeks, he's expected to return to Sudan for further political meetings. And a quick note from the Central African Republic on the humanitarian situation, where our colleagues say that we and our partners are mobilizing emergency assistance to meet people's urgent needs following clashes just over a week ago in the town of Amdafok, near the country's border with Sudan. Displaced people— people displaced by the fighting there urgently need protection support. They need health care and they need access to safe drinking water. The security situation remains volatile, with the town's sole health facility apparently having been looted. While humanitarians were able to deliver 400 tarpaulins and other shelter assistance to the town over the weekend, The rainy season has rendered the main road into the town impassable, hampering efforts to scale up the response. Some 2 dozen metric tons of humanitarian cargo are still awaiting transport. Meanwhile, about 1,000 people displaced from villages around Amdafok have sought safety in Birao, putting pressure on already stretched resources in the town, which is hosting 25,000 refugees from Sudan. Uzbekistan. Just two more brief notes. WMO, the World Meteorological Organization, today released a report that shows the vast ocean expanse in the Southwest Pacific is becoming hotter and more acidic. This is harming local economies and marine ecosystems while rising sea levels threaten vulnerable coastal communities and low-lying island nations. The report shows that how the region had its second warmest year on record just behind 2024, with extreme weather causing widespread disruption, economic damage, and loss of life. According to WMO, last year the remaining tropical ice cover in Papua, Indonesia was estimated to be only about 2% of the ice observed in 1988. The last remaining tropical glacier of the region is expected to disappear by the end of this year or early next. And Lastly, today is World Kiswahili Language Day. Kiswahili is one of the world's most widely spoken languages with more than 200 million speakers across Africa and beyond. And on that note, I will say to you, "Maswali." Anybody knows what that means? Questions? Ah, now you're paying attention. Yes, ma'am, please.

Thank you. So my question is about Cuba. So on Cuba, we can see the General Assembly has voted for years to call an end to the US embargo, but until now we can see the embargo still in place. So what's the Secretary-General's message today, especially on the impact on the people in Cuba?

Well, I mean, I think, as you know, the Secretary-General, the UN system as a whole has been following very closely the humanitarian situation in Cuba. We have done— working with our country team, we have tried to do our best to support the Cuban people in this difficult moment. We've also been involved in efforts to get fuel in to Cuba for humanitarian purposes. We continue to be very concerned about the situation on the ground and the impact of the ongoing energy shortage and the knock-on impact it has of— on healthcare, education, and just basic services. I think it's very important that there be some sort of measures to alleviate this situation. And obviously, the The Secretary-General continues to believe that there is a broader need for dialogue, cooperation, respect for international law, and he recalls the longstanding position of the General Assembly, which has consistently called, as you said, for an end to the embargo imposed by the US on Cuba. Efraim.

Thank you so much, Steph. On Mr. Arnault's travels, is there any particular message he's bringing with him to Lebanon and Israel?

The message is about full respect for the Security Council Resolution 1701, for the need for everyone to respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Lebanon, for a return to calm along the Blue Line, both in the south of Lebanon and in the north of Israel, for the sake of people on both sides.

Yes, and quick question on Mr.

Havisdoğlu, who exactly is he Who is he meeting in Chad? Do we know?

Uh, I will try to get some, uh, more detailed, uh, names for you, but I'm sure he's meeting people at the senior, uh, at the senior level. All right. Well, that was a lot of questions. Um, you all have 17 minutes to take a break before the Deputy Secretary General comes in. I will see you then. Yeah, it's pretty amazing. What? Oh, I didn't see that. Your water is all fresh and all yours. All right, good afternoon and apologies for the delay. We're absolutely delighted to be joined by our Deputy Secretary General, Mina Mahathir. Ahmed, who is herself joined by Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs, Mr. Lee Jun-ho, as well as the Acting Director for the Statistics Division of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Shantanu Mukherjee. They are here to present the Sustainable Development Goals Report 2026. DSG, you have the floor, and then we'll hear from your our colleagues. Great.

Thank you very much, Steph. Good afternoon— no, good morning, everyone. I think it's morning. Smile, it might never happen. But it is a pleasure to welcome you all to the launch of the Sustainable Development Goals Report 2026 and to deliver some remarks on behalf of the SG. It is a little over a decade ago the world embarked on what was a bold, a universal plan of action that was for people, planet, and prosperity. Something that started in 1992 but came to be for the 2030 Agenda in 2015. The SDGs, as you all know, are social, environmental, and economic in their nature. Every goal, from health to education to clean energy, requires that we invest in productive and resilient inclusive economies. The report is revealing the global picture, but we must not forget what it does mask, and that is outstanding progress on SDGs in some countries, but also serious gaps across regions and countries. Today, thanks to these findings, we can say two things with confidence: that the Sustainable Development Agenda, its 17 goals, work. They are delivering for people, just not fast enough, not evenly and more inclusively, and there are a huge risk of reversals. This year's report tells both stories. First, let's have a look at the story on the progress for for human dignity in our societies. Since 2020, the global unemployment rate has seen a steady recovery, dropping to a record low of 4.9% in 2025. In the last decade, nearly 1 billion more people have had access to drinking water. There are increasing numbers of women in our parliaments, in local governments, and on boards, nearing the 30% target—about 27%. 9 people in 10 now have access to electricity. Children under 5 are surviving who a decade ago would not have done. 34 countries have already met the target of under-5 deaths. AIDS is claiming a third fewer lives. More people than ever have something to fall back on in terms of social protection. And almost 3 in 4 people now have access to the internet, up from 2 in 5 in 2015, evolving rapidly. These successes show us that real progress has not only been made, but it's been made because of the political will, the sustained investment, and international cooperation around a framework that is working— the SDGs. We also know far more than we did in 2015, thanks to an important enabler: data. We measure more, we measure better, and with greater precision than we've ever done. And what the data shows is that progress has not reached everyone everywhere. Those gaps now risk widening as the world faces serious headwinds. And this is the other part of the story that this report tells. The conflict in the Middle East has rippled through the global economy. It's been disrupting maritime traffic, traffic, tying up energy, fertilizer, and food corridors, and driving up inflation. In Gaza, war has undone 77 years of human development. And for several years now, we've seen some of the hottest summers on record. Across the world, we are fast approaching the temporary overshoot of the 1.5-degree limit. And in the same year that military spending reached $2.9 trillion, development assistance suffered its steepest fall on record, while the annual SDG financing gap still stands at $4 trillion a year. These headwinds are exacerbating the progress being made, and we're not meeting the demand of our growing populations across the world. Only 36% of assessable targets are on track or making moderate progress. One young person in five is without a decent job and no place to learn, and among them are twice as many young women and young men. Food security has improved only marginally, and the world is nowhere near ending hunger by 2030. Decades of progress in reducing poverty and hunger can be reversed in a matter of months by a pandemic, a conflict, or a climate shock, as we have witnessed. This report also counts 273 million children that are still out of school, 1 woman in 3 who have experienced violence, a share that has barely moved in 20 years. People with disabilities face discrimination at 3 times the rate of everyone else, and many are missing from the count altogether. But let me be clear, this is not a failure of the goals. The goals are sound. They were designed over 4 years, consulted. This is an inclusive agenda, and where they have been backed by political will and resources, they do deliver. But we have a deepening crisis on the means of implementation. Many countries are being asked to deliver on promises without the tools to keep them. Financing gaps, debt pressures, weak cooperation, and unequal access to technology and data are slowing the progress. We need an urgent reform of the international financial architecture to better support developing countries, and that does include scaling up the lending capacity of the multilateral development banks and delivering meaningful debt relief to least developed countries and small island developing states. Our frontier technologies, including artificial intelligence, can accelerate development, but only if they close divides rather than entrench them. And I think it's worthy to note here that in 2015, this was not an issue that was being discussed. It wasn't on the agenda. There's not a goal for that. But we do need the digital public infrastructure, the investment in connectivity and skills, and the genuine technology transfer that can put these tools in the hands of many and not just in a few. The same is true of data. The Medellín Framework will strengthen the systems that tell us who is being reached and who is not. Finally, 3 commitments underpin all of this. Advancing gender equality is an enabler of every goal. We've always said that Goal 5 was the docking station for every other goal. Accelerating the transition to renewable energy, and we've had opportunities of that. We've seen where the energy security crisis from the war in Iran has given us an opportunity to to scale up the renewable energy transition. And putting peace first by investing in the instruments of development rather than the ever-rising military spending. None of today's defining challenges can be solved by countries acting alone. The evidence presented in this report makes one thing unmistakably clear: the Sustainable Development Goals remain achievable if we choose to act together with greater urgency, scale, solidarity and resolve, but that choice must be made now. It must be made with the 4 years to go for a decisive final push to change the trajectory that we are currently on. Thank you.

Thank you very much, DSG. USG, please.

Thank you. Well, dear friends, I don't have much more to add after the DSG's very comprehensive and inspiring description about this year's SDG Progress Report, I just want to highlight two messages. Certainly, the overall picture is very clear. We yield a real progress already in a number of areas, in a number of fronts, and also in a number of the regions and the countries. But at the same time, those progress does not achieve it at our disrupted the space and the scale. So, but the way forward is clear, as highlighted by the Under-Secretary-General. We need the political determination, political goodwill, and also global partnership. In addition to that, we need to see that the scaled-up financing schemes and it also reformed from our IFI partners. Second, we need to introduce the more frontier new technologies to catch up with the same SDG implementation. All in all, the SDG itself is achievable, but it all depends on how we design our strategy for the next. Thank you.

Thank you very much. Shantanu, please, did you want to add something? Thank you.

Thank you, Deputy Secretary-General, Under-Secretary-General, members of the press. The HLPF reviews SDGs 6, 7, 9, 11, and 17 this year, so let me highlight a few related points. On SDG 6, some of the largest gains have been in rural areas, which are where progress is often the hardest to achieve. Safe drinking water access rose from 50 to 60%, safe sanitation from 36 to 49% and basic hygiene from 52% to 71%. This means better health outcomes and more time for women and girls to pursue education, work, and other productive activities. On SDG 7, we see strong global energy coverage and growth in renewables, but equally concerning, deprivation remains highly concentrated. About 9 in 10 of the 655 million people without electricity live in Sub-Saharan Africa. On SDG 9, Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure, we see resilience to shock, but also areas that need greater attention. Only 32.7% of small manufacturing firms have access to credit, a concern for livelihoods and jobs as costs rise and firms seek to adapt to changing markets and technologies. Related, broadband coverage is growing, but 5G access is only 4% in low-income countries compared to 55% globally, signaling a persistent digital divide. On SDG 11, cities are finally being built more efficiently, but slums continue to grow with 1.16 billion living in them. Public services are improving but not keeping pace as cities bring several SDGs together in practice, offering a chance to improving billions of lives, we should capitalize on this opportunity. On SDG 17, let me highlight that low and middle-income countries are, for the third consecutive year, paying more in debt service than they receive in new financing. External debt is now at a record $8.9 trillion. At the same time, remittances to low and middle-income countries reached $687 billion $1.1 trillion in 2024. Finally, it is encouraging and personally perhaps a little gratifying that 163 countries are now aligned with international statistical standards, up from 139 in 2019. Thank you.

Thank you very much. First question to Emily from AFP.

Sorry, it's blocked. Thank you very much. On behalf of the UN Correspondents Association, thank you for doing this briefing. I'm Amélie Bothelier from AFP News Agency. I have two questions. I mean, you said that there are progress, but a lot of the SDGs are lagging behind. So do you see any sign in a world where governments are spending more on military expenses than on development that we could make the progress needed to actually reach the goals that the world has set to itself. And on a more personal note, DSG, I mean, your name is circulating everywhere as a possible candidate for next SG, so once and for all, can you tell us if you are a candidate for the next SG? Thank you very much.

DSG, please.

Okay, I think I've said this before, I'm not a candidate for the Secretary-General of the United Nations. It is a privilege already to serve as the DSG. I hope I can finish this by December 31st in one piece, but I also believe in the rotation. I believe that in Latin America and the Caribbean, we can find a woman candidate for the job and that Member States should push to make that happen. So, not a candidate. Thank you. Second question, much more important, is really about whether we're going to achieve the SDGs or not. I think we don't stop for want of trying. We have to get to 2030. We need to accelerate what we do. We need to talk about the scale. No longer are projects and pilots the answer to this. And with that, there are a number of things that need to change. In the financing, that needs to change. We need to have access. To longer-term finances. We need to address the debt issues that are coming up continuously as we go into one conflict and another. It does exacerbate things. Inflation goes up and so interest rates go up and debts that have been taken with goodwill are no longer able to be serviced, and if they are, it's to the detriment of the SDGs. You hear education, you hear health, these are the SDGs. So I think that we need to do two things: fix the means of implementation, and we can still do that, we can de-risk. Africa, for instance, is looking at its own financial architecture, has $1 to $4 trillion outside of the continent, and how does it bring it back? That means the institutions working closer together. So means of implementation is big. The second is that we need to work better across the pillars, because if we don't, we're not going to find the peace that we need. And that really means taking the political agenda more seriously and the peace and security one, not just reacting, but we need to find the end to these conflicts. That's member states. Member states need to convene and come together and look at these challenges where countries are being put out of any hope of development. I just mentioned the 77 years of Gaza, but before that it was 40 years in Syria when it started on the MDGs. So there is a really important work and, and, and, uh, investments to be made across these pillars of our peace development and human rights. I do believe that we can go far. I think we can go far. Many countries are showing that they can, but the blocks to it are the means of implementation. And possibly technology can play a role. It can be leapfrog or it can just put you way back, but that's why we have these country teams, that we can sit with countries individually, that I talked about in the beginning being masked by the global averages that we can do specific things on.

Thank you, Sherwin. Then Pam.

DSG, I'll quote you, "Advancing gender equality is an enabler of every goal," right? So, where Goal 5 fails, so do a large number of the other 16 goals. So, how do you counter the diversity, equity, and inclusion headwinds that Goal 5 is currently facing including narratives that diversity undercuts meritocracy?

Sadly, the whole question on diversity has been turned on its head. When we said 'leave no one behind', we meant exactly that. In every single community and country, with the data that we have now, identify those that you're being left behind— vulnerable communities, discriminated against communities, large numbers who are living below below the poverty line. People have to be lifted out of poverty with dignity. I think that that means that you need to look at your women, you need to look at all the communities, whether they are LGBTQI+ or it is our indigenous people, disabilities, the Asian— I mean, these are all communities that are left behind. They're left behind when there's a humanitarian crisis, talk less a development one. I think it's important that you look at the work that we're doing at the country level. When we engage countries, their national priorities. There are very few countries that are so exclusionary where human rights are on the back burner. The vast majority of them are making progress and I think we need to target those that are not, just as we target the G20 on climate, to make sure inclusion is a very real word in the investments that are made for every citizen in a country. Thank you.

Pam Denambo.

Thank you, Stefan. Thank you, DSG and USG and Statistics. We appreciate all the information. As you pointed out in the last graph, the ODA is down 23%. So that seems— I mean, you've said the official development assistance being down that far makes it very hard to get these very ambitious goals forward. You've said there's a lot of progress, but a lot hasn't been made. Is there any point in which in the next 4 years you will reassess— I mean, or just plow forward or reassess what goals can be achieved and what cannot? And thank you so much for your information, DSG.

Pamela Falk, you—

No, of course, Pamela. Thank you very much for those questions. I think that it's I think it's really important that when we see ODA, this is a commitment made by a part of the world that built its wealth on another part of the world, and that commitment was a handshake to say, okay, we are going to use this to invest in your development. It has never been achieved. It's remained at 0.36% for a very long time. There are some countries who have gone over 1% and reached 1%, but even they are now stepping back. And I think it's an important contribution. Not to every country— it was never going to develop every country— but you have some vulnerable countries where over 40% of their budget is ODA. That's a considerable amount. What we really want to see is, first, keep the commitment. It's needed. We don't need less, we need more, and we need to keep showing that you're getting a return on that commitment. But I think the second thing is that we need to look at these vast number of resources that the world has today— we've never been richer— to get them released in a way in which countries can access those funds. Developing countries pay their bills, by the way. It's when you put barriers in front of them that they don't, and they have to think about the person that is going to die because they don't have access to water and the debt that they're paying. And in some cases, I will say, unfortunately, they're paying the debt to the detriment of that poor person, and that shouldn't be the case for any government. So I think that we need to look at access to those long-term resources that are accessible and that we're not charging extraordinary rates for developing countries against developed ones. So let's get that money in as well. I think that the investments that we talk about when it comes to domestic resources are important, efficiencies where we see domestic resources Looking at the SDGs as a framing, so when I say to you that 50% of the population, women and girls, need to feel those investments, it does not mean you silo them and you're waiting for somebody to put money in the women and girls ministry. You need to put it in agriculture, in health, in education, in industry, because we ought to be impacting them. So a better way of planning and putting those investments into resources.. And as for the goals, well, you know, for us, I think that many of these goals will be achievable. We review them every year, every 4 years, with the HLPF and VNRs. We will have a summit in 2027. That will do 2 things. It will put big push for accelerating to 2030. We're not done yet, and there are many things that can achieved through the severe commitment that could allow that more means of implementation to come. But at the same time, we will be looking at the SDGs and beyond, and I see that we will not change the framing for sustainable development because that's— we're not there yet, and it still matters today as much as it did in 2015. We'll have a different set of goals for sure. Member States will look at those and they'll introduce some that are new to our environment and response that we need. But that's yet to come. 2027, member states will take a decision on what to do to accelerate the last mile and what to do to start thinking beyond 2030. Thank you.

Thank you so much.

Thank you. Namo, Gabriel, and then Evelyn. Thank you so much.

This is Namo Abdullah with Roodaw Media Network.

I have two questions.

The report says—

the first one, the report says electricity now reaches more than 90%. Of the world's population, yet resource-rich countries like Iraq, which hold some of the world's largest oil and gas reserves, face chronic blackouts. I want to know what the report says the reason is for this. Is it really lack of resources or governance? And my second question is, I think some of the goals you said are regressing, some of the SDG goals. Can we know which specific goal is progressing fastest in countries like Iraq or other conflict—

other post-conflict countries? Thank you.

I'm going to give the second question about which specific goal. I mean, if I was to take a pitch at it, I would tell you the goals on women and girls and inequality. These are the two big goals I think we are— we've got major issues with. As we exclude. But in terms of electricity, again, a number that masks the reality, and behind that there is both a governance issue in terms of institutions and their ability to get their head around what they need in energy transitions, the grid systems that don't work, the possibility of renewable energy that not always does it foot the bill of baseload for industrialization. But countries like Iraq can do it, but countries like Iraq are coming out of years of conflict. You can destroy things in very short time, but to rebuild them requires us to have a governance, a government, the capacities to roll that out and to have the— I think the long term for it. So what can we do more immediately? What can we do in the midterm? It takes a generation. I'm looking at what we need to do to do in Syria today. It's huge. It's a country that does not exist as Syria used to exist, and today we have to fix institutions, and that's people. People are not robots. These are people who have to understand not just how to keep a job, but how to run a system on health, on education, on making sure that you're rebuilding communities. You don't just rebuild a community by putting up a 10-story block. You have to talk to the people in that community. What do they want? How do they want to come out of all of that. So to the question of power, of course Iraq should have power and it does have both, not so much the resource challenge, but one where planning and institutions have to be prepared for this transition. Thank you.

Gabriel, Evelyn, and then the gentleman in the back.

Hello, it's Gabriel Elizondo from Al Jazeera English. Thank you very much for the briefing.

That's right.

You just mentioned that, in your opinion, women and girls is an area that we still very much have a lot of work to do. We constantly hear this in many different development reports. Why is it that women and girls, in your opinion, are still having— when they make up half the population, are still having these challenges? I know that's broad question. And do you think that we need to rethink— the global community needs to rethink completely how it approaches this issue?

Yeah, that's a good question. We had that question asked to us in the UN when we did a report to try to understand what was our contribution to that failure. Because when people in the institution tell me it's going to take 200, 300 years to get gender equality, I'm wondering why we even open our mouths to say that. What are we doing wrong? And internally, we had a problem of even understanding conceptually gender equality and how we would deliver that. We're so stovepiped into the issues that we have, we didn't see women as an outcome in every investment we made. It was always UN Women had the responsibility, possibly UNFPA. No, the 42 agencies, funds, and programs have the responsibility to deliver for women. So I think internally, understanding that we as the international community struggled with that, have a plan for how to do that, and it's much better as we do our planning and as we engage not only with an intergenerational exchange, but also with our partners in civil society and the private sector, which I think we sort of projectize women and girls rather than really see this as an investment and outcome that we could get. In society. The other is that it depends which country you're talking about. If you talk about Nigeria, my country, we're over 60% under the poverty line and 50% of those are not just women and girls, it's also men and boys. And still, for us culturally, when you come to it, it's the man that's going to feed, clothe, and house you and the woman is secondary. So there's a lot up here that we have to sort, that we are partners in this and that we can both contribute. Contribute to economic well-being of our families, our communities, and the country as a whole. So I do think that we cannot put this into a cookie cutter and say that this is how we do this. Yes, the goal tells who we want to— gender equality— and we have a few targets. It has to be more meaningful how we address the data and we plan for those investments in countries. But we also have to see that whenever there is a catastrophe of one whether it's a conflict or it's climate. How do we address resilience? We know that if women are put in charge of the recovery, everyone gets it. And if not, very few get it. So, again, we've got to show more the implications of those investments, and maybe we've not done that as well and communicated it as well. It's one of the reasons why this gathering of journalists is so important is how do I communicate sustainable development that doesn't always give you a headline unless it's miserable? So, you know, what do we need to do? How can we pass those messages and make it very clear that, you know, that one half of society that's left behind has huge value to add to the human family? Thank you.

Evelyn, then we'll go to the back. Good afternoon. Hold on a second. We'll go in the front first.

Go ahead, Evelyn.

Oh, thank you, Steph. Good to see you again. And it's a fantastic report because the name SDG, when it was first announced, meant nothing to anybody and sounded like a committee had invented it. And what you seem to have done is taken existing programs from all different areas and give them a focus and put them in one place. Is that— is that accurate?

We've tried. I can tell you that this has been incredibly difficult in a system where we siloed and we were about projects that many well-intentioned people wanted to fund. It is always well-intentioned and immensely important to a girl who is given an opportunity to go to school. But I need a system of education that says every girl and not just a few. And that's what the SDGs were trying to do. And you're right, it's been really difficult to get past the acronym. It's been even more difficult to get past the number. Many will tell us 17 goals are too many, but, you know, tell that to someone who doesn't see tomorrow. Every one of them matters to that person. They deserve an equal chance at a life of dignity as everyone else does. So I do think that in communicating these to policymakers, to politicians, it's been important to put a face behind the goals and also to show the interlinkages. When I say that, look, if you're going to invest in climate action, it better be with the interest of women at heart, and you ought to be speaking to them because— the brunt of that, the farmers, where they are in countries where we're seeing vast numbers losing their yields, it's women that end up being impacted. So I think, yes, we've made a— we've done much better than we did, I would say, 5, 10 years ago at the beginning when we were making that transition. But we've still got to make the case somehow, because you can see how SDGs have been instrumentalized in some countries, where they don't even want them in the language. But when I look at those countries and their plans and what they aim for people, even their constitution talks about SDGs. So perhaps it's the acronym, perhaps it's the little pin, who knows? But what we do know is that they work for people. What we do know and we can evidence that we've seen Mr. Lee and his department do in the report is to show how that's been done. What we have to do is to keep the momentum of don't take your foot off the pedal. Because for every— every time you do that, people die. People lose hope. People are then taken into a life where it is less than— less than one of dignity, where it is conflict as opposed to a job that could have been available. So let's not take the foot off the pedal. We really can do a lot more, for many millions more, maybe not the billions that we're looking for. But, you know, the day after 2015, there was 2030, the day after 2030, for sure there's going to be another date that member states will promise because the world hasn't finished its job yet.

Thank you. Gentleman back.

Me?

Yes, please.

Good afternoon. My name is Shahrukh Majidov. I came from Uzbekistan for High-Level Political Forum and decided to participate this press briefing. Thank you for organizing it. So, Ms. Mohammed, the RLC crisis and climate change are serious threats for our region, especially for Central Asia, where countries are trying to balance environmental actions with social support. What concrete steps is the United Nations taking to help bring international support, finance support, and investment to the region most affected by crisis?

Thank you. Well, first, the United Nations as member states is making commitments nations and recommitting the needs for financing to go to climate-related action and the SDGs, of which it's very much a part. I think that we have tried— the SG and his strategy has demonstrated what the impacts are, but he's also demonstrated the implications if we don't deal with not having a temporary overshoot of 1.5 and keep the world well below 2 degrees. And in doing so, we've been very targeted about the countries that are responsible., and in targeting those countries and trying to get the political commitment to step back from fossil fuels, to invest more in the transitions to green, blue, turquoise, whatever the economy that affects you has been really important, and I think that we have to continue to advocate for that. For agencies, funds, and programs, our voice is best at the country level. It's even with what countries have, how can we better integrate agenda that is resilient, that accepts and understands that adaptation is also climate action, and that we don't again silo all these acronyms and these nomenclatures that the UN is very good at, many meaningful, but at the country level, we need to be able to practicalize this. Many of our leaders are there for a short term. A lot of the things that we need to do are institutional. They're not popular investments.. And so this is where we need partners who are putting money into development, perhaps to take some of the slack of what is not an— is not a very sexy investment, but is a very meaningful one, while other— while countries take up the other part of it. So good division of labor of what happens when we come to work with you at country level. Some of these things are regional. It's really important for us to understand what happens in Nepal— when there's melting snow and ice will affect all the countries that are downstream. And as we say more recently, the El Niño is a global phenomenon, so no one is immune from it. And we see the heat, we see the floods. So hopefully the implications and the reality of today, the science that underpins this, will perhaps get the financiers, will get the politicians to lean in. You know, as they say, it is a tough sell when there are competing demands in developing countries. I think the international community needs not to be afraid of the resources that are needed for us to be a less stressed world, a world where people don't have to think about tomorrow, whether they will see it or not. There are the resources to do this. There should be the political will to move these resources and the financial architecture architecture that needs to be reformed for money to climate.

Thank you. Ephraim.

Thank you so much. It's Ephraim Kusaifi with Arab News Daily. I have one question and two quick follow-ups. My question is, you mentioned the Middle East conflict and the disruption it has caused the maritime traffic and driven up food, fuel, and fertilizer costs. My question is, which countries or region are you most concerned about in terms of food security and inflation shocks tied specifically to this particular disruption. The two follow-ups: who are the countries, or who politicizes the SDGs, and why? It's interesting that you mentioned that. And the second follow-up: when you say you're not a candidate and it's time for Latin America to take over, do you mean that you are not actively pursuing any state backing for a late-stage bid,, and are these reports completely false? Thank you.

Okay, last question first. I have no intention of being a candidate for this job. The job of the SG is a serious one. I have been proud and humbled to accompany Antonio Guterres in this last 9 and a half years. It's a job and a half, so I'm not a candidate for that. But as I said, I do believe in this rotation. I think Latin America and the Caribbean has the chance to put a candidate forward, and I hope it's going to be a woman. That's what this institution needs now. The world needs a lot of healing, and that goes to, I hope, a woman candidate from Latin America and the Caribbean. No, there are no backdoor meetings or anywhere that one can be said to advocating to go for this position. So let me finish the job that I've been given, and then I have a much, much, I think, more attractive job at home in Nigeria, in Africa. And that leads me to your second question, really, where are the countries that are going to be most affected by this? They are, of course, in Africa, but they are also in Asia. And there is a link to what happens in— with the inequalities and food security in Latin America and the Caribbean. It does have huge implications for the Gulf, smaller population, but equally important as every citizen in the Gulf, and we shouldn't take it away from that. You've already seen the implications of the energy security, food security perhaps, in well-off nations, developed countries, and they're already taking the kind of policy positions that they can afford to take, but other countries don't have that. As I said, we're stacked up against many pressing demands, no fiscal space. So yes, in Africa. But having said that, the UN has done really well since COVID to try to support countries on a resilience agenda, which means that we have more muscle than we thought we had when things come at you crashing down every day with each crisis. And so we're seeing here many countries, middle-income countries, that have been able to meet those gaps, but vulnerable countries have not. The SIDS Others have not, and that's where we really need to concentrate with that. Which countries do we say are, you know, not supporting— Who politicize? Who politicize? I think, you know, it's not about naming countries. It's about they know and you know which countries these are. It's continuous effort. The more that we are seeing a disconnect between the very values and principles that we hold in the Charter and then, you know, a pushback against that that represents it in these frameworks, the SDGs, is alarming. Countries came together to agree them and to use these frameworks or the acronyms is really, you know, it's hitting the soft underbelly of the human family. Family. And that really, quite frankly, is a cheap shot.

Thank you.

Noreen, I think we'll wind this down.

Thank you very much. My name is Noreen Hussein with IPS News. I have a more technical question about the report and the nature of the collection of the data that's used to track SDG progress. As you mentioned in your comments initially, Madam DSG, that data collection has improved significantly in the 10 years since the introduction of the SDGs. You have far more data points for— to measure data from. If it has improved, where are the— where are the challenges and the data gaps at the moment when it comes to tracking SDG progress? And which goals do not yield sufficient trend data?

I'm going to pass this to our technical people, but I will say, for one, the disaggregation of data continues to be a big challenge. We have these aggregates, we can give you global figures, but masking the reality on the ground is much more difficult. That we have to rely on national data, and maybe at this point I can— Mr. Lee, Srinivas Rajaji, the data guru.

I think, as GSG said, disaggregation is a big problem. Another one is that things are changing really fast and our data collection methods are deliberately a little bit slow, but then sometimes we miss being right on top of things at exactly the right moment. These are challenges we are working on, but we also have to keep in mind that we are awash in data, so how to interpret it and take meaning from it is really important, and that's where this official statistics and so on comes in, which is to make sure that you are drawing reliable lessons from it. Thank you.

DSG, USG, Mukherjee, thank you all for coming, and the report is in the DSG's hands. I know you've read it, but please introduce it. And it is 2-0 Egypt with 10 minutes to go.