Second Committee, 2nd plenary meeting - General Assembly, 81st session

Sure, Good morning, colleagues. Good morning. The second committee is called to order. Excellencies, distinguished delegates, ladies and gentlemen. It is my honor to welcome you to the opening of the Second Committee of the 81st session of the General Assembly. Let me begin by expressing my appreciation to my predecessor, Ambassador Lamin Dibba of the Gambia, as well as the Bureau of the previous session for their leadership and dedication in steering the work of this committee. Thanks to their guidance, the General Assembly recently adopted decision 80/2013 520B, outlining a series of measures to revitalize the Second Committee's work. I'm also pleased to acknowledge the members of the Bureau of this session, our Vice-Chairs, Mr. Robert Bumbury of Canada, Mr. Walter Josemir Ramirez of El Salvador, and Mr. Hussein Hassan Mohamed Hussein of Maldives, and our rapporteur, Mr. Ivo Miguel Rubio of Angola. I look forward to working closely with them and with all delegations to ensure productive and successful session. Excellencies, the Second Committee begins its work at a moment of profound global challenge and transformation. The world continues to grapple with economic uncertainty and fragmentation, elevated debt burdens, persistent inequalities, climate change, and widening development financing gaps. Rapid technological advances are affecting economies and societies in ways that present both extraordinary opportunities, but at the same time, significant risks. Artificial intelligence is poised to reshape development pathways, affecting productivity, labor markets, public services, education, governance, and deepening inequality, both within and between countries. As the principal forum of the General Assembly for deliberation on economic and financial issues, this committee has a critical responsibility to advance international cooperation for sustainable development. This responsibility is even more urgent as we enter the final four years of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The theme of our general debate, financing sustainable development in a changing global economy to accelerate the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals, captures both the urgency of our moment and the central challenge before us. The global economy today has yet to regain the momentum needed to deliver on our shared ambitions. Global growth is projected to expand by only 2.7% this year, remaining below the pre-pandemic average, while over 800 million people continue to live in poverty. Financing is a necessary requirement to translate global aspirations into tangible outcomes on the ground. At the time when the annual SDG financing gap is estimated at more than 4 trillion US dollars, the scale of the challenge before us demands renewed ambition and collective action. Through our deliberations and outcomes, we can shape policies and actions that strengthen financing for development, support sustainable economic growth, address systemic challenges, and accelerate progress across all dimensions of the SDGs. Excellencies, the program of work before us is comprehensive and reflects the challenges facing the international community today. Over the coming weeks, the committee will consider issues at the core of sustainable development, including microeconomic finance policy, financing for development, and food security and nutrition. We'll explore the opportunities and challenges arising from rapid technological change and digital transformation. Information and communications technologies, including AI, hold tremendous potential to accelerate SDG progress. Excellencies, I would like to highlight two important events where your engagement can help shape broader reflections and policy orientation. The first is the joint thematic meeting with the Economic and Social Council and the second committee on 19th of October. which will provide an opportunity and an important platform for strengthening policy coherence and promoting integrated approaches to sustainable development. Secondly, the dialogue with the regional commissions on 20th of October will offer valuable regional perspectives on development challenges and opportunities. Excellencies, the issues before us are complex and perspectives may differ. Yet, experience has shown that through respectful dialogue and a willingness to seek common ground, this committee can continue to deliver outcomes that command broad support. As chair, I am committed to conducting our work in a transparent, inclusive, and impartial manner. I count on your cooperation, engagement, and constructive spirit throughout this session. Let us approach our deliberations with a shared sense of purpose and urgency. Let us demonstrate that multilateralism can deliver practical solutions. Excellencies, as we embark on our work, I am particularly pleased that we'll hear from two distinguished speakers today who will help us to set the context of our discussion and enrich our reflections. Under Secretary General for Economic and Social Affairs, Mr. Lee Jin-Woo, and Professor Parfait Eloundou of Cornell University. I warmly welcome them both and look forward to their insights. I now invite the Under Secretary General for Economic and Social Affairs to make an opening statement. Mr. Lee, the floor is yours.

Thank you, thank you, Madam Chair, Excellencies, distinguished delegates, good morning. At the outset, I would like to congratulate you, Madame Ambassador, and the distinguished members of the Bureau on your election. I wish you a very success in guiding the Committee's critical work during this session. Madame Chair, as just now, as you said it, outlined in your opening remarks, the finish line of the 2030 Agenda is in sight. but there are many obstacles in our path. Multiple intersecting crises, from geopolitical tensions and economic uncertainty to climate shocks, food insecurity and debt distress, continue to slow the progress across the SDGs. Progress remains deeply uneven across the goals and among the countries. But our data and the country reporting also indicated this. The success is still achievable when the political will, targeted investment, and strong partnerships align. The global economic landscape is volatile and challenging. Trade fragmentation, conflict in the Middle East, and climate disruption weigh heavily on developing countries. While a severe downturn has been averted, the global economy, based on our assessment, is projected to grow by just 2.6% this year and 2.9% next year, well below the pre-pandemic average. Simultaneously, Rising inflation elevated the borrowing costs, growing debt servicing burdens, and the decline in official development assistance are shrinking the fiscal space of developing countries. This severely constrains their ability to invest in essential infrastructure, education, and climate resilience. In addition, Rapid technological shifts, climate pressures, and the fragmenting geopolitics are forging a new forms of exclusion, a challenge we can address in the forthcoming World Social Report, calling for a new economics of the social inclusion. Predictably, least developed countries, landlocked developing countries, and the small island developing states remain the most acutely at risk with a diminished capacity to absorb the new shocks. Dear colleagues, distinguished delegates, we must be very clear. The era of the commitments without the implementation must be behind us. The window between now and the 2027 SDG Summit is decisive. All the actions over the next two years will significantly shape whether the 2030 agenda survives. To succeed, we must, first, advance the implementation of the severe commitments that the agenda and strengthen the global financial safety net. Second, expanded access to long-term affordable financing and scale up the multilateral development bank lending and their impacts. Third, boost the domestic resource mobilization, including support for the ongoing negotiations on a UN framework convention on international tax cooperation and its two early protocols. Fourth, scale up the investment in sustainable development, climate resilience, digital transformation, and food security. ensuring countries remain firmly in the driver's seats of their development strategies. Excellencies, distinguished delegates, the recent General Assembly decision on revitalization of the Second Committee reflects a commitment to the renewal, efficiency and impact. I sincerely urge all of you to use these measures to strengthen the committee's contribution to the final stretch of the 2030 Agenda. As the third UN decade for eradication of the poverty entered its final year, we must accelerate the integrated transformative action to eradicate poverty in all its dimensions, tackling the structural barriers of facing those left the furthest behind. on operational activities for development. The committee has an opportunity to advance the ongoing UN development system reform in line with the quadrennial, the comprehensive policy review, or QCPR. Given this committee's strong record on advancing global energy discussions, I again invite you all to consider whether the time has come to endorse the holding of a UN conference on energy to further elevate this vital issue. Dear colleagues, distinguished delegates, the path to 2030 is narrowing, but it remains open. Let this session prove that multilateralism still is our best and our most effective instrument for overcoming global development challenges. UN DESA and our partners across the whole UN system stand ready to support your deliberation. I wish you a very highly productive and successful session. Thank you.

I thank the Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs for his statement. Allow me now to introduce our keynote speaker, Professor Parfait Eloundou of Cornell University, who is Professor of Global Development and of Public Policy at Cornell University and incoming Director of Cornell's Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies. His research focuses on the intersections of population dynamics, social change, and sustainable development, including issues of inequality, education, employment, health, and food security. He has taught and conducted research across Africa, Asia, and North America, and has worked extensively with international organizations, including the United Nations, the World Bank, and USAID. A member of the United Nations High-Level Advisory Board and a member of the independent group of scientists that prepared the 2019 Global Sustainable Development Report, he continues to contribute to global policy and research initiatives advancing evidence-based approaches to sustainable development. It is now my pleasure to invite Professor Elendu to deliver his keynote address. Following his presentation, I encourage all delegations to engage with Professor Elendu and take advantage of this valuable opportunity to exchange views on issues of great relevance to work of this committee. Professor, you have the floor.

Thank you, Madam Chair, for this kind introduction. Excellencies, distinguished delegates, ladies and gentlemen, I really want to thank you for the opportunity to join you today as we put our heads together to reflect on how to finance development and to do so in a very difficult environment. You know you have a professor in your midst when you start seeing PowerPoint. But I promise you that I'm going to be as clear and as straight to the point as Under Secretary was. Under Secretary was clear. The message was clear. The financing of development today is challenged internationally by shifts in donor priorities and is challenged nationally by limited fiscal space and the servicing of debt. As a result, we have large financial gaps that are estimated to be about 4 trillion annually. As a result, we also have a lag in achieving sustainable development goals. So far, only 36% are estimated to be on target. And so if you want to close these gaps, if you want to narrow these gaps, we have to do two things. The first is to mobilize far more resources than we do today. And then the second is to design systems that are going to be effective and make those resources count. The question is, how do we achieve this quantum leap in both the volume and the efficiency of our financing? Now, to answer these questions, I thought we could draw from Archimedes, who said a long time ago, and I would quote, "Give me a lever long enough and a fulcrum on which to place it, and I shall move the world." "Give me a lever and I shall move the world." These words were said over two millennia ago, but I thought I would bring them up because I think they speak to what you are trying to achieve here. Archimedes was trying to lift the world physically, literally. What you're trying to do is to lift the world figuratively to make it a better place. Now, because there's then this similarity in purpose, you are essentially doing the same thing. I thought I would use Archimedes as a background, as a frame of reference to lead our discussion. And if you see Archimedes' bet, He essentially articulates it onto four points. There is first a lever, he's going to talk about a lever, he's going to talk about a goal, which is lift the world, he's going to talk about an anchor point, and the person doing the lifting. In terms of what you are trying to do, we'll also need to talk about four main points. What is the goal that you're trying to achieve? What are the sustainable development goals that are priorities today? What are the entry points? In other words, what are the places, the subpopulations, the policies that are going to make it possible for us to be maximally effective? What is the lever? In other words, what are the financial instruments that we can mobilize? And finally, in terms of agency, what are the people and institutions that are going to lead the charge? And so these are the four points that I'm going to make. I'm going to take you through one of each at a time. and just offer a brief commentary before making one, hopefully, relevant policy suggestion. Let's begin with the goal. Archimedes had one single goal, and it was to lift the world. Unfortunately, you have many, many goals, 17 of them. Now, to make it simple, we can group them in three major boxes. that include the economic box, the social box, and the environmental box. Now, these boxes overlap, that is, they have something in common, but they are also distinct. They are sufficiently distinct that they require individualized attention. Depending on whether now you are most focused on promoting economic growth, making social progress, or focusing on environmental protection, The sources of funding that you can leverage and the rationale for demanding resources are going to be different. The resource, the return on investment that you can expect is also going to be different. For some of the goals or some of the targets, the returns are going to be private and they're going to be public for other resources, or they can be exclusive or non-exclusive. So there's a distinction. to be made and the deliberate attention to be given to each of these goals. It's a mistake to focus on one single goal and assume that the others are going to follow. For instance, many countries today achieve growth but without reduction in poverty, and as a result, you have tremendous growth in inequality. If you really want to reduce inequality, it is important not to assume that you can grow and that growth is going to trickle down. It's important not to assume that you're going to grow and clean later. You have to give dedicated attention to each of these big three pillars. And so that's my first message, right? Match your financing to SDG priority areas and give dedicated attention to each of these pillars. Second point. Given that you have set your priority goals, where do you focus investment? What are the specific policies? What are the specific groups and areas in which you are going to focus your investment for maximum impact and maximum spillover? I'm just going to give you an example of what I mean by maximum impact and spillover. Many countries in the world today have a large so-called youth bulge, that is to say a large population of youth that are unemployed. Now, if you can think about investing strategically in these groups, then you can have a maximum impact because in these countries, this is a large population. That is an age where they make critical decisions about education, about consumption, about migration, and so forth. And therefore, you are going to have an effect that is large and an effect that is immediate. At the same time, you are going to have an effect that can ripple over other groups and benefit other populations. In other words, for instance, it's going to benefit the elderly if you invest in elderly care. It's going to benefit the tutoring industry. It's going to release adults from domestic care. And it can also broaden the tax base. So from investing in one strategic group, in this particular case, youth, you can actually achieve multiple benefits. And so that's what I mean by deep impact. and maximum spillover. And so the second lesson here that I want to focus your attention to is to invest as much as possible in places where the benefits are going to reinforce each other. Third point, which is about the lever, in other words, the financial instruments that you need to mobilize. Archimedes had just one lever. And all he needed from his lever is to be long enough. As long as it's not long enough, it's going to achieve his goal. Unfortunately, we need far more from our levers. We need our levers to be long, to be sturdy, and to be diverse. And so There's a possibility to reach multiple sources and to organize them in a way that is simple. You can think about these sources in terms of domestic versus international, public versus private. And so you have the quadrant that we have here with all of these resources. Now, as you think about these resources, these funding sources in these quadrants, you can quickly see that none is perfect. Each of them has advantages and Each of them has disadvantages and drawbacks. Okay? And so the reason why we need multiple resources is because none is perfect. And by having multiple resources, we are going to have three advantages. The first, of course, is volume. Everything else equal, more funding resources, more funding. The second is complementarity. Some Funding sources are good for some purposes and others would complement elsewhere. So for instance, you can mobilize international funding to promote broad environmental question. You can use local national public funding to support essential services. You can mobilize private resources to fund private consumption. You can mobilize community support to promote and to support those that are left behind. So you have that kind of complementarity going on. At the same time, having a diversity of funding sources builds in some resilience. In case where there'd be one funding source that fails, other can more or less make up for the difference. And so diversification is the name of the game. We have to, as much as possible, complement and boost different funding sources to make them complementary and to make the system complementary and reliable. So that's the third point. The fourth and the final point is about agency and whose responsibility it is to secure the financing. And the simple point here is that financing is more than simply mobilizing resources. It's a long chain of actors and actions that goes from securing the funds and to accounting for these funds. And so along this chain, you have a multiplicity of actors that have to intervene, each of them with a specific role, and they have to work in coordination. Just securing the funds does not guarantee the ultimate result. The enterprise can fall if you have a breakdown at later stage. So we have to think holistically about financing system in ways that include not just the mobilization, but the implementation on the field, the evaluation of the result, and the accounting of the resources that were made available. And so the point here is the need for coordination of multiple actors with a clear definition of responsibilities of each of these set of actors. And so as I close my very brief remarks, I want to return to Archimedes to say that your task is similar, in a sense, to his, but his was far simpler than yours. All he had was one goal. one entry point, one lever, and just one person to run the show. In your case, it's far more complex. You have multiple goals to follow, 17 of them, many, many entry points that are possible and that you need to choose from and coordinate, many financial instruments that you have to combine and match and complement and nurture, and then many institutions that you have to coordinate for maximum efficiency. And so the first challenge before you is one of coordination and efficiency, right? But that's not all. That's probably the least of them. In addition to coordination, there's a challenge of mobilization. Efficiency is not enough. It's clear, as Under Secretary said in his address, that the Sustainable Development Agenda needs more resources And that case has to be made. The case for international cooperation has to be made. And as we make this case, we can use a range of arguments from moral and humanitarian to economic and political to existential argument. The moral argument is to say essentially that the poverty that we see around the world today is the legacy of past exploitation and extraction. And so international cooperation is a form of redress. That is the moral argument. The humanitarian argument is for us to be a great and just society, we are going to be evaluated by how we take care of the least of us. The economic argument is that by lifting those who are left behind, we create markets that are going to benefit everybody. And so it is in our best interest to cooperate. The political argument is that instability anywhere is instability everywhere, instability that can show up at your door. And finally, the existential argument is that we can save this planet. We will save this planet together or we will perish together. Thank you.

I thank Professor Landau for his interesting and thought-provoking presentation. And now I would like to invite distinguished delegates to take the floor for any comment or question in relation with the presentation we have just heard from Professor. If there is any request for the floor, please push your microphone. I think professor is used with shy students. It's not the case here, but let's see if anyone would have any question or the presentation was very clear for everyone. Professor, it seems that it has been clear enough, but at the same time, we need to digest a little bit the messages that you gave. And by thanking you for being with us, I hope very much that this conversation will be continuing in the next month that the committee will continue its session. I hope that we can have your wisdom with us in next conversations. Thank you very much for being with us. If you have any additional remark, you are welcome to do so. Please, Professor.

Well, I have to say my students are not shy. And if they don't have any question, I can have questions of the audience, just one or two questions. I just would like to hear from you, based on your country experience, what do you see as the number one challenge to meeting the SDGs? Anybody has any thoughts to share?

Colleagues, any point you can raise with Professor? I know we'll be very active while we negotiate the draft resolutions, but here as well, we need to share some thoughts if you have. Can I exercise my position as chair and invite one of my vice chairs to add anything? Yes, thank you. Canada, distinguished delegate of Canada, one of vice chairs of the committee, Professor, would respond in a way your interest for finding also the opinion of the members of the committee. Distinguished delegate of Canada, you have the floor.

Thank you very much, Madam Chair and Professor N'Guye. I think your remarks were very thought provoking, as the chair outlined. One of the challenges that we face in the committee is a continuation of a method of work and a custom of work that keeps us in our comfort zones. And I think what you outlined, Professor, is effectively boiling down this enormous challenge into the work of the committee to think differently. And so we, I think, as the chair outlined, it's something that we would need to take back and reflect upon, especially in light of the revitalization campaign that the undersecretary general outlined. This was a decision that a decision that the General Assembly adopted recently, which seeks to reframe the way that this committee does its work. And, Professor, your call on us to reflect and to link ultimately the work of the committee, its economic and financial work in pursuit of the SDGs is truly the it's really the biggest challenge before us to think kind of in that broad sense. So I wanted to take the floor in response to the chair's call to break the ice. And hopefully in so doing, others have had the time to come up with their ideas. So, Professor, maybe you can prod your student body one last time for engagement. Thank you.

Thank you for the intervention. Professor, would you like to--?

Yeah, before prodding the student body, I would like to appreciate what you just said and just share how in academia at the moment, there's a yearning and a great admiration for the work you do. We sometimes think of ourselves as being in the ivory tower, which is insulated from the real world, and we see you as people with the finger on the pulse. I think we are very admiring and respectful of the power that you have to transform the world. And so every time we come here, we really want to be useful and to listen and to truly listen. Under Secretary Lee has made it possible for many of us to get a chance to explore and to be made aware of the work you do. And so we appreciate this partnership. In her introduction, Madam Chair has said that just the incoming director of Cornell's Inaudi Center for International Studies, and this could be a research arm for what you do. Many of my colleagues in academia are actually very, very, very interested in being supportive of the work you do. And so via this commission, via undersecretary, you can have resources in academia to support you in your work. Thank you.

Thank you, Professor. I don't see anyone requesting for the floor, so I think that the best way is to continue the conversation, and we really appreciate Finland. I apologize, and I give with pleasure the floor to the distinguished delegate of Finland.

Thank you, Chair, and thank you, Professor and Under-Secretary Lee, for your thoughtful remarks.

I wanted to a little bit continue on the notes of Canada.

First of all, it's funny, it's very difficult normally to shut up diplomats, but this morning we are quiet. Perhaps I wanted to say a few words about the connection of this committee with ECOSOC and HLPM.

And as a member of ECOSOC and previous vice chair in this committee, last year our discussions focused a lot on having only.

Three years left to meet the.

SDGs and how do we, in the words of the Secretary General, turbocharge the advancement of the goals and.

And what do we do after 2030 when it's clear, it starts to be clear that all the goals?

Will not be met. In this committee, we normally don't want to kind of rate the SDGs one above another. We find them all important.

But as Finland, I would.

Want to say that our approach has been kind of to.

Look at the ones that are furthest behind and ones that have been backsliding in the recent years.

So.

There's of course no hiding that SDG 5, gender equality, has not taken huge advancements in these last few years.

To say the contrary.

We face enormous challenges with SDG 6 water and of course climate changes is rapidly becoming disastrous.

And this discussion was very long and in depth in our EcoSoc HLPF review.

How does?

This entity, the UN, look at all the SDGs before we arrive to 2030, and.

How do we advance them, all of them equally, and also focusing on the fact that some are further behind. And this is a very challenging task we'll have in the next three years because there's so much to do.

So perhaps to hear your thoughts.

On how to use, in a way, our time most efficiently in the coming three years when we also.

Have to look at the time beyond 2030. Thank you.

Thank you, distinguished delegate of Finland. I have in the list the distinguished delegate of Mexico. You have the floor.

Thank you very much, Madam Chair, and thank you very much, Professor, USG colleagues. I was a terrible student, so forgive me for coming in late. But I think just building off the question that Professor asked, I think that for us, the main obstacle that we see for the implementation of the SDGs specifically is the disconnect sometimes between country priorities while we're negotiating here. You go into a room with your national position and you have all the statistics and the data that supposedly back the idea or notion where your development gains should be aimed to, but then other countries don't have that data, don't have that statistical capacity, and of course their priorities are different. And so we come to a room to negotiate resolutions to advance one of the SDGs, but we cannot agree on the specifics about advancing the issue. We just agree on the common denominator. And then it's up to us countries to take that agreement and then see what we can do in our national capacity. And so it doesn't create this synergy or dynamic between the multilateral and the domestic, because most times here in New York, the committees or just the General Assembly in particular is seen as a political kind of forum. And so therefore the technical work that goes behind it has to be done in country or has to be done outside, or we need to have better partnerships with civil society, academia, think tanks, and even other actors, particularly local state governments, 'cause they're the ones who collect the data, sometimes in the absence of federal capacity to do so. And so for us here in the SANE Committee, while we're working to revitalize it and kind of land on what are the specific issues that we as a committee will move forward, We continue to go to rooms to negotiate high level commitments that we think are going to, as you mentioned, be the lever to move the world. But then it's basically just a lever that tilts in a direction that we are not capable of pushing forward at the domestic, because there's still this disconnect on what the SDGs mean internally versus what they mean in a multilateral platform. And there's countries that are advancing, there are countries that integrate the SDGs into their national development plans, There are countries that do not. And so this is kind of the argument of whether or not we're going to meet the agenda in 2030 or not. I think the question is, what are we going to do once we get to 2030, knowing that we still have to implement this collective agreement? Just because we had it in 2015 and we have the 2030 benchmark doesn't mean we should do away with it. For some countries, this is still a maximum priority. So how do we land safely? in 2030 and make a decision on what comes after, because we already have the discussion on the post 2030 financing agenda, which came from Sevilla, FFB4, which hopefully is a 10-year document. And so it's just kind of the collective decision making of, are we going to still be diminishing the capacity of this committee by agreeing to low-hanging fruits, or are we going to map out a concerted plan of action of what we should do beyond 2030? So I think that for us, that's kind of the biggest drawing question for the next three and a half years. Thank you.

Thank you, distinguished delegate of Mexico. Professor, I have two other speakers on the list, so maybe we collect also their intervention and give you the opportunity to react upon that. I now give the floor to the distinguished delegate of Cameroon.

Thank you, Madam Chair, for giving me the floor. And all of my appreciation and that of the Cameroonian delegation to the distinguished Professor, Tafie Nwiwenyigo, for his brilliant presentation.

To achieving the SDGs remains the lack of adequate, predictable, and affordable development financing, which continues to constrain the fiscal space required for structural transformation, job creation, and investment in social and climate priorities. In this regard, SDG 17 must be restored to its full strategic significance as the critical lever through which the means of implementation, financing technology, capacity building, and effective partnerships can be mobilized to accelerate progress across the entire 2030 agenda.

I thank you.

I thank the distinguished delegate of Cameroon. Professor, the list is going long, so I think it's better to give you the floor to react to these first interventions and then to start taking others. Professor, you have the floor.

Yes, thank you. We'll start with Finland and to acknowledge the fact that the three year that remain are an important gap, and you were asking what, besides turbocharging, we can do. And I think turbocharging is one, but there are two other things that can be done. One is to look in the rearview mirror and to take full stock of the lessons that we can learn from the last 15 years. There are already efforts to do partial summaries. The Global Sustainable Development Report have provided partial summaries. But I would suggest we take a longer and more complete window, and Under Secretary and I were talking about this, to just look at the experience of the last 15 years in a more global manner, item by item, region by region, goal by goal, and just to see what has been the common narrative, what kind of useful story we can tell, what lessons that we can learn as we move forward. So turbocharging is one. Looking in the rearview mirror is the other. The other is actually to look forward beyond 2030, right? Begin to project ourselves. Social scientists are not good at all at predicting the future. But we have a few instruments that are based on the demographics of the world today. Given what we have today in terms of the demographic configuration and the trend, we can make reasonable assumptions about what the world might look like by, let's say, the middle of the century. And so we can also engage in this exercise. And I'm happy to tell the delegate from Cameroon that his Ministry of Planning has been pioneering work in that particular area of perspective. And I had the honor to work a little bit with that ministry in doing avant-garde work in thinking about the future, mobilizing tools of perspective, however imperfect, to begin to make educated guesses as to what would be the baseline for the future and how we can move to create a better future. The delegate from Mexico is, I think, is far from what I would consider a bad student because he gave very cogent answers to the first question and a very interesting answer, in addition to just making a commentary between the disconnect between individual aspirations and collective bargaining, which is kind of understandable. He makes the case that we can use the experiences of today and the move to 2030 as a launchpad to the future, which I also agree and which is the point that I was making about prospective analysis into the future, beyond the priorities that we can set. Let's think about what the baseline is if we go with business as usual. Thank you.

Thank you, Professor. I have on my list Lebanon, Kazakhstan and Australia in this order. I now would like to give the floor to the distinguished delegate of Lebanon.

Thank you. Thank you, Madam Chair, for giving me the floor. And good morning, dear colleagues, and I wish you a happy 2016 first, and all the best with negotiations and the works of the committee this season. And of course, I would like to thank USG and Professor for your insightful remarks, very informative presentation, Professor. And actually, I'm going to be more asking the question than just presenting the situation in the negotiations here in this committee. I just would like to know, because when Madam Chair was presenting your portfolio and you're like, what's the important topics you're tackling in your work, she mentioned food security. And I think this is a very important topic that is being, some momentum for this topic, especially when it comes to the. situation worldwide and the current situation and the new challenges that we're facing every day and this year specifically. And this is why I would like to know from your perspective and from the academia perspective too, how we can push for this SDG. All SDGs are important for my delegation. They're all very important and we don't have a specific one that we only want to tackle. But this one, I was very intrigued to know your opinion, how we can push and how we can have more progress in the implementation. And I need to admit that I love the visuals. It's very, I find the colors very refreshing. Usually we don't see these visuals on the screen here in this committee. And I would like to thank you for joining us and we really value your presence here today with us. Thank you, Madam Chair, and thank you, everyone.

Thank you, distinguished representative of Lebanon. Now I'd like to give the floor to the distinguished delegate of Kazakhstan.

Thank you, Madam Chair, and I would like to express our gratitude to you, Julie, and to Professor. for their valuable remarks. I have a question to Professor. As we're approaching the 2030 and discussion already begin about what should come next, we'll be very interested to hear your perspective of the post-2030 agenda. What do you see as a key priorities and challenges for the period beyond 2030? And what do you recommend to us as member states in terms of what should we focus on and what kind of framework should we be working towards after 2030? Thank you.

Thank you, distinguished representative of Kazakhstan. Now I would like to give the floor to the distinguished representative of Australia.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Australia doesn't have any questions at this point. Thank you.

Thank you. Now we turn to Professor Elendu for his comments regarding the questions that have been posed. Professor, you have the floor.

Excellent questions again. The question on food security is of great interest because this is actually a perfect example of why we need to think systemically. The challenge of food security is not a question for agronomists only, is not a question of production per se, is not a question of economists only who are going to negotiate marketing margin. It's a question of nutritionists, people who care about health, people who worry about the environment, logistics, sociologists who are going to be worried about farming techniques and the extent to which they are appropriate to different cultures and so forth. And so this is a topic that I relish because It's an area in which you basically have everything, all the disciplines connected, many steps involved, the possibility for international exchange, and the realization that we're moving into, let's say, both growth and post-production world. we have enough, we have the capacity to produce enough food. And so it's an interesting paradox that you still have hunger in the world, even at a time when we have the opportunity to produce enough food for everybody. And so it raises a profound question about the nature and the essence of development. Are we truly committed to eradicate basic problems such as poverty or hunger, et cetera. We have the capacity to do so. The question which we have to consider increasingly is whether we have the will, not just political but social will, to resolve all these problems. Kazakhstan asked me the question that I would have liked Under Secretary to ask me. have been waiting and waiting and waiting for him to ask me this question, which is, what do I see as priorities? And while I was waiting, I actually forget to think about my answer. So I don't really have a good answer. And so the answer that I'm going to give you is a little bit biased because I'm a social scientist and there's a natural impulse to be attentive to social question. And so I would venture to say not necessarily the top question, but I think we have to give greater attention to the goals that are lagging. Questions of inequality and social progress. Gender inequality, youth employment should be at the center of the next push, right? And we have ways to creatively think about this question and begin to solve them, right? This is one of the most important exercises that I would advocate for if I'm given the opportunity. And so Kazakhstan, thank you for giving me the opportunity to talk about this very publicly. Thank you.

Thank you, Professor. This brings us to the end of our interactive discussion today. On behalf of the whole committee, I would like also to express our gratitude for your presence and your engagement with the members of the committee today. And as I mentioned, we hope very much to have a continuous conversation with you. And I also would like to thank USG Lee for his presence and his remarks. Colleagues, we'll allow ourselves a few moments just to arrange the podium in order to start with the general debate. I would like to kindly ask you to stay in the room for a few moments that we start immediately with the general debate. Thank you. Excellencies, distinguished delegates, I now invite the Committee to begin its general debate on the theme of its 81st session, Financing Sustainable Development in a Changing Global Economy to Accelerate Implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals. I wish to remind delegations that the Committee at its organizational meeting on 1st of October decided on the time limits of seven minutes for delegations speaking on behalf of a group of states and five minutes for interventions by individual member states during its general debate. The time limit for statements from intergovernmental organization and the United Nations system is four minutes. The list of speakers has been prepared bearing in mind these time limits, and I strongly encourage you to respect them. To assist speakers in time management, a countdown clock will be projected on the screen in the room. The clock on the speech timer will start blinking red to indicate that the speaker has one minute left to conclude his or her statement. Please note that the microphone will be automatically deactivated in case speaker exceed the time limit. This measure will be taken in order to ensure optimum use of the time and resources that are available to our committee. Delegations are requested to submit longer versions on their statement by email to e-statements. I thank speakers in advance for the cooperation. With these comments, I now would like to give the floor to the first speaker on my list, the distinguished representative of Uruguay on behalf of Group of 77 and China. You have the floor.

Madam Chair, Excellencies, Distinguished Delegates, I have the honor to deliver this statement on behalf of the Group of 77 and China. At the outset, the Group congratulates you, Madam Chair, and the members of the Bureau on your election. We assure you of our full cooperation and constructive engagement. We meet at a critical juncture for sustainable development. With only a few years remaining until 2030, implementation of the 2030 agenda and its sustainable development goals remains significantly off track. Developing countries continue to face several structural mutually reinforcing challenges. The international community must therefore respond through strengthened international cooperation, solidarity and multilateralism supported by adequate means of implementation. The eradication of poverty in all its forms and dimensions remains the greatest global challenge and an indispensable requirement for sustainable development. The 2030 agenda as well as national development priorities must remain at the center of our collective efforts with particular attention to the needs and priorities of developing countries and those furthest behind. Madam Chair, the group attaches particular importance to the effective, timely, and comprehensive implementation of the Sevilla Commitment as an important framework for strengthening international cooperation and financing for sustainable development.

The group calls

for adequate, additional, predictable, sustainable, and accessible financing for developing countries in line with their national development strategies and priorities. The group reiterates the longstanding commitments on ODA by developed countries, including the target of 0.7% of gross national income for developing countries, from which 0.2% for the least developed countries. We also underscore the need to strengthen multilateral development banks and ensure access to affordable, long-term, and predictable financing. The international financial architecture must become more inclusive, equitable, effective, and responsive to the needs and priorities of developing countries. whose voice, participation, and representation in international economic decision-making must be strengthened. Debt sustainability is likewise a critical concern. Borrowing costs continue to constrain fiscal space and divert resources from poverty eradication, health, education, infrastructure, and climate action. The group therefore supports strengthened efforts towards a more effective, predictable, and equitable international debt architecture. Madam Chair, international trade remains an important engine of economic growth and sustainable development and contributes to industrialization, capacity building and economic diversification. The group reaffirms its commitment to a universal, rules-based, open, transparent, inclusive, predictable, equitable, and non-discriminatory multilateral trading system with the WTO at its core and with special and differential treatment as an integral part. The group remains concerned about increasing fragmentation and trade restrictive measures that can undermine global economic stability and development prospects. We reiterate our long-standing position against the promulgation and application of any unilateral coercive measures that impede economic and social development. Madam Chair, sustainable development remains at the heart of the work of the Second Committee. The group reaffirms its commitment to the full and effective implementation of the 2030 Agenda and other international agreed development commitments while respecting national development priorities. Climate change continues to impose significant economic, social, and developmental costs on developing countries. Climate action must therefore be accompanied by adequate means of implementation, including new, additional, predictable, and accessible climate finance, technology transfer, and capacity building. Adaptation, resilience, and addressing loss and damage requires strengthened international support, as well as investments on green transition in accordance with the respective international obligations under the UNFCCC and its Paris Agreement. Resilient agriculture and food systems likewise require greater investment in technology infrastructure. capacity building and access to markets, particularly to strengthen food security and support small scale producers. Science, technology and innovation are critical enablers for sustainable development. The group calls for strengthened international cooperation to bridge technology and digital divides through technology transfer on fair and equitable terms, capacity building, digital infrastructure, connectivity, skills and research and development. Artificial intelligence present both opportunities and challenges. Developing countries must participate meaningfully in shaping its international governance in an inclusive development-oriented manner anchored in multilateral cooperation while respecting national circumstances. South-South and triangular cooperation can make an important contribution through the exchange of knowledge, technology, expertise and best practices, but is not a substitute for North-South cooperation. Madam Chair, the group reaffirms the importance of addressing the specific needs and vulnerabilities of countries in special situations. LDCs require strong support for the implementation of the Doha Programme of Action. LLDCs require enhanced international cooperation to address transport and transit costs, infrastructure deficits, connectivity and trade barriers. SEADs continue to face unique vulnerabilities arising from their size, remoteness, limited economies of scale, and exposure to climate change and natural disasters, making full implementation of the Antigua and Barbuda agenda for SEADs essential. The development challenges of middle-income countries must likewise receive appropriate international cooperation. The group reaffirms the importance to uphold the full realization of the right of self-determination of peoples living under colonial and foreign occupation, which continue to adversely affect their economic and social development as well as their environment. It also reaffirms its

I thank the distinguished representative of Uruguay for the statement, and now I would like to invite the Permanent Representative of Philippines to address the statement. Ambassador, you have the floor.

Thank you very much, Madam Chair. I have the honor to deliver this statement on behalf of the 11 members of ASEAN. The full statement will be circulated in case I get cut off. It is my also distinct honor to congratulate you and your Bureau on your well-deserved election. We assure you of our full support. This year's theme of the second committee, financing sustainable development in a changing global economy to accelerate SDG implementation, echoes ASEAN's vision under the Philippine chairmanship with the theme, navigating our future together. Both reflect ASEAN's resolve to steer the group proactively and cohesively through an evolving regional and global landscape. ASEAN is strongly committed to achieving sustainable development and promoting ASEAN as a credible, reliable hub for trade, investment and production networks in the global economy. ASEAN reaffirms the importance of strengthening synergies between relevant commitments on sustainable development, such as the ASEAN 2045 Agenda, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the Pact for the Future and its annexes, and the Compromiso de Sevilla. We underscored the importance of partnerships with regional and international organizations, including the UN, in addressing global challenges, advancing shared priorities, promoting sustainable development for the benefit of our peoples. Amidst the changing global economy, regional organizations such as ASEAN can play a pivotal role in reforming the international financial architecture, advancing economic integration, catalyzing development finance, selling innovative solutions, scaling innovative solutions, and enhancing coherence between national and international efforts to bridge the SDG financing gap. Closing the SDG financing gap requires mobilizing all sources of finance. Public resources remain essential, while innovative and blended financing approaches and appropriately risking mechanisms can help mobilize private capital for sustainable development. ASEAN views the timely and effective implementation of the Compromiso de Sevilla as an important instrument in addressing the unique and urgent needs of developing countries. To this end, I wish to highlight the following priorities of ASEAN. Number one, narrowing development gaps and promoting inclusive, participatory, and equitable access to economic opportunities in line with ASEAN's vision of a single and future-ready economy for the region, anchored on sustainable growth and good governance. Two, deepening regional economic integration strengthening resilience and sustaining high quality growth through the ASEAN Economic Community Strategic Plan for 2026-2030. Three, upholding and underscoring the importance of a sustainable and rules-based international trading system with the WTO at its core and advancing its reform so that it can better serve all our economies. Number four, mobilizing public and private resources and investments to address infrastructure needs, accelerate regional connectivity and development through bankable project pipelines and innovative financing mechanisms for sustainable infrastructure. Number five, pursuing priority economic deliverables designed to strengthen trade and investment linkages, accelerate digital transformation, integrate ASEAN's MSME agenda, leverage the creative economy and innovation, and advance sustainable and inclusive economies, including through the responsible strategic use of emerging technologies such as AI as a transformative tool for MSMEs and health services. Number six, preserving the unimpeded flow of energy and essential goods, including food, agriculture inputs, pharmaceutical products, transport fuels, in order to safeguard economic stability, ensure affordability, and strengthen resilience, especially amidst the impact of ongoing conflicts on global and regional economic activities. Number seven, enhancing liquidity management to support intra-ASEAN trade and investment and encourage the development of innovative financing structure using blended finance and de-risking mechanisms to mobilize private capital at scale and commit towards greater financial inclusion and financial health. Eight, responding to future shocks and emerging risks by building a resilient, adaptive, inclusive, and people-centered community. ASEAN is committed to strengthening regional coordination and climate adaptation and mitigation towards a climate and disaster resilient and low carbon economy. Number nine, supporting efforts to reform the international financial architecture to enhance the capacity of multilateral development banks to mobilize additional development finance and catalyze private capital. In this regard, ASEAN welcomes Thailand's hosting of the 2026 IMF World Bank Group Annual Meetings. Number 10, promoting exchanges of experiences and best practices, technical cooperation through South-South and triangular cooperation. Madam Chair, finally, we also underscore the importance of empowering the people of ASEAN by fostering social inclusion, protecting people in vulnerable situations. I thank you.

I thank the Permanent Representative of Philippines for the statement. And now I'd like to invite the Permanent Representative of Turkmenistan for the statement. We don't have still the microphone, please. Can you connect Turkmenistan with the microphone? Thank you.

Yeah, even.

Thank you so much. So, Madam Chair,

First of all, I have the honor to deliver a statement on behalf of the Group of Friends of Sustainable Transport, and at the outset, to wish you and the Bureau productive work for the session.

Nine months into the UN Decade of Sustainable Transport passed, and our collective priority must be clear, to translate plans into implementation, measurable progress, and concrete impact. Sustainable transport is a critical enabler for sustainable development. It's clear, as recognized across the 2030 Agenda, CVIA commitment, AwaSA Programme of Action for LDCs, the DOHA Programme of Action for LDCs, and Antigua and Barbuda Agenda for SEEDS. So connectivity is inseparable from inclusive growth, resilience, and access to opportunities.

So first, we encourage member states and all relevant stakeholders to accelerate implementation of the Decade at

the national, regional, and global levels. taking into account different national circumstances and priorities. Second, we underline the importance of stronger coordination across the United Nations system also.

So we look forward to consideration during this session of the Secretary-General's assessment requested by the resolution

80/132 on the potential need for coordination mechanism on transport within the UN.

So third, implementation must be backed by predictable resources. International financing institutions, development banks,

donors, and private sector have an important role in expanding financing, technical assistance, technology cooperation, and capacity building, particularly for developing countries. So we also attach importance to effective monitoring. Resolution 80/132

provides for a joint Atlas of Transport Sustainability to showcase indicators, good practices, and voluntary commitments. So the recently launched UN System Data Commons presents an example on how member states provided data can be brought together through a common, accessible, and modern platform.

So we believe this initiative could offer useful illustration to the development of the Atlas also. So also recall the resolution 77/286, which declared 26 November as the World Sustainable Transport Day. As we advance towards the 2013 midterm review of the decade,

our objective should remain action-oriented, turning policies into projects, partnerships into results, and sustainable connectivity into opportunities for all. Thank you, Madam.

I thank the distinguished representative of Turkmenistan on behalf of the Group of Friends of Sustainable Transport. Now I'd like to give the floor to the distinguished representative of Palau on behalf of Alliance of Small Island States. Palau, you have the floor.

Madam Chair, I have the honor to deliver the statement on behalf of the Alliance of Small Island States, AOSIS. Our group congratulates you and the members of the Bureau on your election and assure you of AOS's support and cooperation as we deal collectively with our program of work for the 81st session. Madam Chair, the theme for this year's general debate asks us to confront a fundamental question. In a changing global economy, is finance flowing to where it is needed the most? The global financing gap to achieve the SDGs now exceeds $4 trillion annually. ODA fell by a record 23.1% in 2025. The share of global foreign direct investment flows to SIDS in 2024 remained at less than 1%. Debt service burdens across SIDS have reached two-decade highs. Taken together, these numbers reveal a fundamental problem. We do not face only a shortage of finance. We face a problem of where finance flows, on what terms, and according to whose measure of need. Too often, countries facing the greatest vulnerabilities encounter the highest cost of capital, the narrowest fiscal space, and the greatest barriers to accessing concessional resources. For SIDS, whose goal under the Antigua and Barbuda agenda is resilient prosperity, this contradiction is particularly acute. Our small economies, geographic remoteness, narrow productive bases, and exposure to external shocks and climate-related disasters make development more costly and recovery more difficult. At the same time, it should not be viewed only through the lens of vulnerability. We invest CAR's resources in protecting oceans, ecosystems, and biodiversity that provide global benefits. Therefore, financing seeds is an investment in global public goods, and denying affordable capital only compounds in global risk. Madam Chair, through the Seville commitment, we have already agreed on a different direction. The task is now implementation. For AOSIS, this means urgent action in three areas. First, vulnerability must matter in determining access to finance. GNI alone cannot tell us what a hurricane costs, what geographic isolation costs, or what repeated exposure to external shocks costs. Measures that complement and go beyond GDP, including the multidimensional vulnerability index, must move from recognition to meaningful use across the United Nations system, international financial institutions, and development partners. Second, we must confront the debt crisis as a development crisis. For too many states, scarce public resources that should finance hospitals, schools, resilient infrastructure, and economic transformation are instead absorbed by debt service. Development finance cannot mean indebting the vulnerable simply to withstand the next shock. The Seville commitment provides important avenues forward, and these commitments must now be operationalized. In particular, we call for urgent support to the SIDS Center of Excellence to fully operationalize the Debt Sustainability Support Service and translate this commitment into practical support. AOSIS also continues to support an ambitious intergovernmental process on debt and solutions that are timely, predictable, and responsive to the circumstances of our vulnerable countries. Third, declining public finance cannot simply be replaced by expensive private capital. We recognize the indispensable role of the private sector, but mobilizing private finance must mean directing investment towards sustainable development and not merely towards markets where returns are easiest and risk are lowest. Therefore, ODA remains indispensable, particularly for countries and sectors where private capital cannot or will not go. We therefore call on development partners to reverse these declines and fulfill their commitments. We also need greater use of guarantees, blended finance, and other instruments capable of reducing the cost of capital and unlocking investment in SIDS. Madam Chair, at a time when we aim to close financing gaps and accelerate achievement of the sustainable development goals, we should be removing barriers to development, not creating new ones. In this regard, AOSIS calls on states to refrain from unilateral coercive measures inconsistent with UN Charter and international law. Such measures, particularly against one of our members, undermine the Charter, restrict trade investment, and deepen vulnerabilities that SIDS are working to overcome. In closing, Madam Chair, the Abbas gives us a roadmap towards resilient prosperity for SIDS. The Sevilla commitment gives the international community a framework for financing that journey, and the 2030 agenda gives us the destination. With the 2027 SDG Summit approaching, what remains is to ensure that finance reaches where it is needed the most, when it is needed most, and on terms that make sustainable development truly possible. AO Systems ready to work with all delegations towards that objective. I thank you, Madam Chair.

I thank the distinguished representative of Palau. And now I would like to give the floor to the distinguished representative of Australia.

Madam Chair, I'm honored to deliver this statement on behalf of Canada, New Zealand, and my own country, Australia. Let me begin by congratulating you on your election. CANS looks forward to working with you, the Bureau, the delegations during the 81st session of the Second Committee. Madam Chair, we all know this session will play out against a backdrop of multilateral system under sustained pressure, but we must remember the reason why we are here, to help drive sustainable development for individuals around the world, ensuring that no one is left behind. This means second committee outcomes must be focused on advancing implementation of the 2030 agenda and achievement of the sustainable development goals. This is even more critical as we approach discussions on what will follow the 2030 agenda. Cairns wants to see second committee processes align with building an accountable, efficient UN system equipped to respond to current and future global challenges. We will continue to support reform processes to bolster all three pillars of the UN, including promoting meaningful outcomes on the sustainable development. this session, Member States must put the commitments of the resolution 80 of 251 into practice under UN 80. This means greater discipline, clarity and brevity in creating mandates supported by concept notes and meaningful review and retirement clauses. CAHNS welcomes the progress made on second committee revitalisation, though we would have preferred greater ambition. Now we need to implement those outcomes fully. Madam Chair, the adoption of the Seville Commitment at the Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development brought us together with a renewed focus. It reaffirmed our shared commitment to multilateralism and a pathway to mobilizing greater levels of finance for sustainable development. CANS wants to see the primacy of this outcome respected and given the space to succeed. We caution against attempts to renegotiate this outcome through the resolutions under the macroeconomic cluster. Madam Chair, Cansbury emphasises that gender equality and disability equity are catalysts for sustainable development and the bedrock of a peaceful, secure and prosperous world. Our families, our communities and our economies are stronger when all women and girls are safe, empowered to achieve their full potential and their rights, including sexual and reproductive health and rights that are protected and promoted. Gender responsive and disability inclusive sustainable development efforts, including finance, are critical in regaining lost ground and in advancing us further. Our commitment to gender equality and disability equity is resolute. The ever more evident impacts of climate change, including through extreme weather events and disasters, continue to undermine hard-won development gains and progress towards the 2030 agenda. Vulnerable countries, such as small island developing states and least developed countries, are at the front line of climate crisis, which threaten their livelihoods, security and wellbeing. CAN supports greater recognition of the external vulnerabilities faced by some countries, particularly SIDS, across the multilateral system and international organisations, and the need for tailored solutions. This can only happen through the full implementation of the Antigua and Barbados action plans for SIDS. Pre-COP, which is currently underway, is being hosted by the Pacific. It presents a unique opportunity to project voices of SIDS onto the global stage and generate momentum for action. As we approach COP31, where Australia is serving as president of negotiations, CANS looks forward to working with all parties to advance ambitious, balanced, and practical outcomes that strengthen implementation of the Paris Agreement and accelerate mitigation, adaptation, finance, and just transition efforts. This includes reinforcing the Paris Agreement's core foundations and scaling up practical solutions to drive sustainable development while reducing emissions. Chair, the operational activities for development resolution will be a priority focus for Cairns again this year. In the context of significant pressures on the UN development system, it is imperative we implement previous agreed reforms, such as a more empowered and therefore more effective resident coordinator system. Chair, we encourage delegations to engage with the spirit of cooperation and progress and accepting well-established consensus positions early. The work of the committee should reflect the outcomes of the recent landmark agreements and recent agreed language. As is well known, we understand the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities and respected capabilities in the light of different national circumstances to be applicable in the climate context, not here. We expect any reference of technology transfer to be on voluntary and mutually agreed terms. References to sanctions and unilateral coercive measures should be aligned with the agreed 2030 agenda formulations. Alternatives will only hold up consensus. We firm, our firm commitment to gender equality is well known. We support and empower the Bureau and facilitators of individual resolutions to create and sustain inclusive good faith negotiations right to the end. As Cairns, we reiterate the importance of seeking consensus outcomes and expect the final text to adequately and in a balanced way reflect the different voices around the table. Chair, Cairns is steadfast in our commitment to the 2030 agenda and the UN system reforms. Both are critical to protecting the UN's vital role in advancing sustainable development. You can count on Cairns to continue to be a constructive voice in this committee, working collaboratively with all delegations to secure meaningful outcomes. Thank you.

I thank the distinguished representative of Australia for the statement delivered on behalf of Cairns, and now I'd like to invite the Permanent Representative of the European Union, to deliver the statement on behalf of the EU and its Member States. You have the floor.

Thank you, President. I have the honour to deliver the statement on behalf of the European Union and its Member States. The candidate countries Turkey, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Albania, Ukraine, the Republic of Moldova, Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as Armenia, Andorra, Monaco and San Marino align themselves with this statement. Let me begin by congratulating you. Ambassador Janina, for your appointment as Chair of the Second Committee, as well as the other members of the Bureau. Please rest assured of our full support. Colleagues, the international community faces a complex and increasingly challenging landscape. We all know this. Conflicts and acts of aggression, terrorism, poverty, persistent inequalities, fiscal pressures, the acceleration of climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution threaten to reverse years of hard-won development progress. Technologies, including AI, represent opportunities for progress, but at the same time, present their own challenges and risks. And in the midst of all this, multilateralism itself is under immense strain when these challenges necessitate effective multilateral cooperation grounded in the principles of the UN Charter and the broader framework of international law. The Second Committee has a strong tradition of consensus building and common objectives. Important recent global commitments, including the Seville Commitment and its Platform of Action, the Ocean Conference, and the World Social Summit, are concrete examples of what multilateralism can deliver. The EU and its Member States remain fully committed to the 2030 Agenda, the overarching global framework for sustainable development, and to the Pact for the Future. Putting this in practice, the EU's global gateway, fully aligned with the 2030 Agenda and its Sustainable Development Goals, is delivering hundreds of billions in sustainable investment to improve infrastructure, health, education, innovation and research systems around the world. This year, we will be guided by the following three key considerations. First, accelerating implementation of shared commitments. And as 2030 is fast approaching, yes, we are behind. At the same time, our common efforts to achieve the SDGs have also successfully driven historic progress. They can be powerful catalysts for progress in the future as well. We need an integrated and coherent approach to implementing them, addressing the interlinkages between the economic, social, and environmental dimensions of sustainable development. Thinking about the post-2030 period should not detract from today's work or diminish ambition for 2030. Second, this past year, marked by yet another wave of record high temperatures and climate disasters, has made it abundantly clear that we must double down on tackling the triple planetary crises of climate change, biodiversity loss, and pollution. We are dangerously approaching the 1.5 Celsius limit. This perfect storm is no longer simply knocking on our doors, it is breaking them down, flooding our homes, drying out our crops, forcing people to flee, and wiping out entire villages in a matter of minutes. They severely constrain development and aggravate existing vulnerabilities, devastate lives and livelihoods, hit the most vulnerable hardest. The Paris Agreement and its objectives must remain the cornerstone of our collective action. Building on our success in decoupling economic growth from greenhouse gas emissions, the European Union continues to lead and advocate for global climate action. We are also the foremost contributor to climate finance, living up to our commitments as a matter of global solidarity and of leaving no one behind. We must live up to our commitments to work more efficiently in and through this committee and improve how we work. Recent decisions, including under UN 80, aimed at ensuring the relevance and functioning of the UN and the UN General Assembly. Now, those should be put in practice. Fewer, shorter, and more strategically focused resolutions will be far more effective than duplicating mandates and spreading resources thin. Working on the basis of difficult, agreed, consensual decisions of the past without renegotiating them yet again would be an extremely important step to focusing instead on implementation and changing people's lives on the ground to the better. Colleagues, finally, sustainable development can grow lasting roots only in peaceful, democratic, and inclusive societies. where human rights, gender equality, and the rule of law are respected, where governance is transparent, where institutions are accountable, where a civic space is protected, and justice is accessible to all. Women, can and must play an active role at all levels of decision-making in shaping and promoting transition and progress. The data, colleagues, is clear. Gender equality is not just the right thing to do. it is the smart thing to do. Greater participation by women in the economy is linked to higher growth rates. Chair, colleagues, in closing, the international community stands at a decisive moment of implementation of the 2030 Agenda. You can count on the European Union's Member States to contribute fully to the collective effort to achieve meaningful progress throughout this session. Thank you.

Thank you, Ambassador, for your statement. Now I would like to invite the Permanent Representative of Jamaica for his statement on behalf of CARICOM. Ambassador, you have the floor.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I do have the honor to deliver these remarks on behalf of the 14 member states of the Caribbean Community. First, let me congratulate you and all the members of the Bureau on your election to steer the work of the Second Committee during the 81st session. Caricom Member States assure you of our support and constructive engagement. We also express gratitude to His Excellency Lamin Diba and his colleague Bureau members for their diligent stewardship of this Committee during the 80th session. Caricom aligns itself with the statements delivered on behalf of the G77 and China and AOSIS. Madam Chair, we are just four years ahead of the SDGs target date. Although there has been notable progress since universal endorsement of the 2030 Agenda and its SDGs in 2015, the gap between ambition and achievement remains concerning. Globally, only 36% of the 139 SDG targets with trended data are on track or making moderate progress. Nearly half are moving too slowly, and 15% have slipped below their 2015 baselines. We face a staggering estimated US$4 trillion annual financing gap for the goals in developing countries, while ODA has collapsed by a record 23%, with further declines anticipated in 2026. CARICOM has always maintained that ambitious commitments should be backed by the necessary actions that can shift our trajectory towards the delivery of tangible results. Adequate, predictable, and affordable financing to accelerate progress on the SDGs is urgently needed if we are to keep our collective promise of leaving no one behind. As SIDS in the second most disaster-prone region of the world, the worsening impacts of climate change often require many Caribbean countries to divert investments and scarce resources earmarked for sustainable development to address a climate crisis that we did not create. Disruption of local revenue streams and the high cost of financing disaster recovery often leave many of us with high or increased debt burdens. Tightening fiscal space and rising debt distress heavily obstruct sustainable development in developing countries, particularly SIDS. For the Caribbean region, accelerating progress on the SDGs cannot occur without substantially improved access to financing for development, including climate financing. This is a prerequisite for sustainable development, yet the majority of the countries in our region have limited access to concessional finance due to the system's over-reliance on metrics based solely on per capita income. In this connection, CARICOM urges the operationalization of the MVI and the use of complementary measures of progress that go beyond GDP to more accurately assess countries' development needs and their eligibility for concessional finance. As SIDS are a special case for sustainable development, mainstreaming the Antigua and Barbuda agenda for SIDS must remain a priority, alongside swiftly honoring the Seville commitment to close the SDG financing gap. A changing and challenging global economy also calls for innovative approaches to finance sustainable development. In this regard, CARICOM encourages the use of innovative financing mechanisms including debt for climate swaps, debt for nature swaps, and blended finance instruments that can unlock private sector investments in sustainable development projects while reducing debt burdens. Chair, for years, CARICOM has urged reform of the international financial architecture to provide better support for sustainable development. Existing systemic imbalances must be addressed to ensure that the system is fit for purpose and better able to cater to the needs of developing countries. This can only be done by broadening the participation of developing countries in global economic governance, addressing the gaps in the sovereign debt architecture, reforms of the multilateral development banks, and strengthening the global financial safety nets. In this context, the Bridgetown Initiative serves as a vital, solutions-oriented catalyst for these structural changes. CARICOM also maintains that our commitment to multilateralism requires us to fully engage in the reform of the multilateral system. The United Nations sits at the heart of multilateralism and plays a crucial role in fostering a spirit of collaboration and advancing sustainable development, resilience, and growth in uncertain times. The UN80 initiative provides an opportunity for all member states to constructively engage in creating a UN that is able to rise to the occasion and deliver meaningful results for all, including the most vulnerable. CARICOM reaffirms our commitment to playing our part. In this regard, CARICOM will seek the full implementation of Resolution 8251 on Mandate Implementation Review for an Efficient and Effective United Nations. and encourages all delegations to join us in this endeavor in the work of this committee. CARICOM believes that cultural diplomacy plays a critical role in facilitating effective multilateralism. To this end, we welcome the recent adoption by the GA of the International Decade of Culture for Sustainable Development. As global geoeconomic competition erects barriers to trade and business, the cultural and creative sectors offers increased opportunities for diversification, sustainability, resilience, and enhanced integration. Culture breaks down barriers and incentivizes policy and financial investment in vulnerable constituencies, including women, girls, youth, including at-risk youth. Across the Caribbean, culture remains a lighthouse, not just for economic and financial growth, but for identity, belonging, social cohesion, and regional integration. In closing, CARICOM remains committed to engaging collaboratively with all stakeholders to accelerate the implementation of the SDGs, and we look forward to actively participating in the deliberations of the Second Committee for the successful completion of the program of work before us. I thank you.

Thank you, Ambassador, for your statement. Now I'd like to invite the Permanent Representative of Gambia for his statement on behalf of the Group of Least Developed Countries. Ambassador, you have the floor.

Thank you, Madam Chair, Excellencies, distinguished delegates.

I have the honor to deliver this statement on behalf of the Group of Least Developed Countries. The group aligns itself with the statement delivered by the distinguished representative of Uruguay on behalf of G77. On behalf of the group of LDCs, I congratulate you, Madam Chair, and the Bureau on your election, and assure you of our full support and cooperation. Excellencies, at the midpoint of Doha Programme of Action, we find ourselves at a critical juncture. LDCs continue to face overlapping economic, social, and climate, and geopolitical shocks that threaten hard-won development gains. The latest report of the Secretary General provide a sobering picture. Around 42% of the population in LDCs continue to live in extreme poverty. Moderate and severe food insecurity reached 57% in 2024, while the share of LDCs global export of goods and commercial services remain at only 1.03% and in 2025, just 33.7% of our population use the internet. Bilateral ODA to LDCs declined by 25.8% in 2025, while 21 LDCs were at high risk of debt distress or already in debt distress. These pressures are constraining investment in essential services and the productive capacities needed to overcome our structural vulnerabilities. Madam Chair, our countries have nevertheless made progress in education, health, women's parliamentary representation, and access to electricity, while 14 LDCs are at different stages in the graduation pipeline. Yet progress remains uneven, insufficient, and vulnerable to shocks. Against this background, we emphasize four priorities. First, financing must match the scale of our challenges. Development partners must fulfill ODA commitments, including the commitment to provide 0.15 to 0.20% of gross national income as ODA to LDCs and reverse the recent decline in development assistance. They must expand concessional finance and grants address unsustainable debt burdens, and advance reforms of the international financial architecture. International financial institutions and creditors must facilitate timely debt restructuring, while financing frameworks must better reflect the structural vulnerabilities and specific needs of LDCs and simplify access to available resources. The severe commitment must translate into concrete results for LDCs and strengthen our voice in international financial decision-making. Second, we must accelerate structural transformation through greater investment in productive capacities, sustainable energy, digital connectivity, science and technology, and innovation, agriculture, and resilient infrastructure. This must be accompanied by stronger support for aid, for trade, export diversification, value addition, and regional value chains, as well as full and predictable duty-free and quota-free market access, simplified preferential rules of origin, and effective implementation of the LDC service waiver. Madam Chair, we also call for greater support Greater support, affordable connectivity, STEM education and technology transfer, and predictable funding for the United Nations Technology Bank for LDCs. Third, climate action cannot wait. Adaptation finance must be scaled up, access simplified, and support for resilience, early warning systems, and loss and damage strengthened. We call for universal coverage of multi-hazard early warning systems, stronger and more resilient food systems, and expand social protection to protect our population from recurrent shocks. We also call for accelerated implementation of paragraph 301 of the Doha Programme of Action through coordinated United Nations support to LDCs affected by conflict and those in post-conflict situation. Fourth, Madam Chair, we must close the implementation gap of the DPOA. We welcome progress in its five deliverables and must now move decisively towards their full implementation. The food stockholding mechanism, online university, international investment support center, sustainable graduation support facility, and the comprehensive crisis mitigation and resilience building measures. As more LDCs move towards graduation, we must ensure that graduation is sustainable and irreversible and accompanied by continued support that preserve the development gains. We call for a strengthened smooth transition framework with predictable arrangements for trade preferences, development finance, technology transfer, and capacity building. The sustainable graduation support facility must be adequately resourced to provide tailored assistance to graduating and recently graduated countries. In conclusion, To conclude, Madam Chair, the comprehensive high-level mid-term review of the Doha Programme of Action in March 2027 will provide a pivotal opportunity to take stock, address implementation gaps and renew political commitment for the second half of the Doha Programme of Action. It must provide an honest assessment of where progress is falling short, identify the necessary course corrections and agree on practical measures to accelerate the implementation of the remaining years of the Programme of Action. Mr. Chair, together, through renewed global solidarity and partnership, we can realize the potential of LDCs as resilient and dynamic economies during the so that no one is left behind. Madam Chair, with this, with your permission, I would like to deliver our national statement. Madam Chair, let me begin by congratulating you and all members of the Bureau on your election.

Ambassador, just to clarify that you can take your floor, your minutes for the national statement at a later stage, not now. Now it's dedicated to the statement of groups. And I thank you for delivering your statement on behalf of the least developed countries. Now I would like to invite the distinguished representative of Costa Rica to deliver the statement on behalf of Group of Friends on Human Security. Costa Rica, you have the floor.

Madam Chair, I have the honor to speak on behalf of the chairs of the Group of Friends of Human Security, Costa Rica, Japan, and Senegal. At the outset, we congratulate Your Excellency, Ambassador Janina, and the other members of the Bureau on your appointments. Madam Chair, imagine a young girl who has survived years of conflict and a devastating earthquake. She has lost her home, her school, and even the documents providing her legal identity. How can we tell this girl to wait in separate bureaucratic lines, one for water, one for medicine, and another one for her legal identity? We cannot rescue a child's dignity in silos. This was a real world challenge addressed by a joint UNDP, UNHCR interagency initiative, one of the exemplary programs honored by our inaugural Human Security Award in June. The initiative did not just deliver aid, it restored a future through a human security approach. While saving life was paramount, the hallmark of this initiative was its integrated inter-agency collaboration that successfully broke down bureaucratic silos and addressed interconnected human needs. This is the kind of comprehensive synergy that the human security approach is designed to unlock. By working hand in hand, they helped thousands regain legal identities, brought clear water to the community, and rebuilt a vocational school where marginalized youth can finally dream again. If this is not human security in action, what is? It was precisely to recognize and encourage such collaborative, silo-breaking efforts that our award celebrated six exemplary UN programs, including the mentioned initiative. Such a story of resilience reminds us that our work in the Second Committee, it is not about negotiating abstract agenda items. It is about human lives. And human security is how to achieve this. A human-centered, comprehensive, and context-specific approach. It ensures that our policies do not remain trapped in bureaucratic silos, but actually reach and empower vulnerable people. We also see the value of the human security approach in the context of climate-related disasters, where economic, environmental, and social crises collide. Investing in cross-sectoral resilience, such as linking health, education, disaster reduction, and technology, can prevent these shocks from compounding on each other. Such an approach drives comprehensive development investments without bias toward any single sector, and it is aligned with the spirit of the UN initiative. Our collective efforts remain anchored in General Assembly Resolution 66290. Adopted by consensus, this resolution affirms that human security is based on national ownership and it must be implemented with full respect for the purposes and the principles of the UN Charter. Moreover, its promotion should remain independent of political agendas. We invite Member States to return to this agreed framework when considering the relevance of human security to the Committee's work. Madam Chair, human security can help us keep individuals at the center of our work and strengthen the connections between development, resilience, and human dignity. The Co-Chairs of the Group of Friends stand ready to engage with Member States and partners in a constructive spirit and to exchange experience on how this approach can support efforts to achieve our common goals of leaving no one behind. I thank you.

I thank the distinguished representative of Costa Rica for the statement. And now I'd like to give the floor to the permanent representative of Namibia to deliver the statement on behalf of the African group. Ambassador, you have the floor.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Excellencies, distinguished delegates, I have the honor to deliver this statement on behalf of the African Group. Our full statement will be shared via e-statement. We congratulate you, Madam Chair, and the members of the Bureau, and assure you of our full support and cooperation throughout this session. The theme of our debate, "Financing sustainable development in a changing global economy to accelerate SDG action", raises fundamental questions. How can we ensure that the global economy provides African countries with the means to transform their economies and improve people's lives? Financing must enable countries to create jobs, provide essential services, and build resilience. Its effectiveness should be measured by the opportunities it creates and the development gains it helps sustain. Our priorities are anchored in the African Union's Agenda 2063 and its second 10-year implementation plan, in alignment with the 2030 Agenda. Financing must advance the Africa we want: economically integrated, productive and resilient, with opportunities for its people and stronger voice in global decision making. Madam Chair, the 2026 Africa Sustainable Development Report identifies progress alongside persistent gaps in access to water, energy, infrastructure, and sustainable urban services. High borrowing cost, limited fiscal space, and repeated External shocks continue to aggravate these gaps. These challenges underscore the need for stronger international macroeconomic policy coordination that takes into account the spillover effects of global economy and financial conditions on African economies. The African group calls for the fairer, more inclusive and representative international financial architecture with stronger African participation in decision making. For our group, the follow-up to the SIVILA commitments must address the barriers that constrain development across our continent. High financing costs, limited access to concessional resources, and insufficient representation in financial decision making. The priority must now be the full, timely, and coherent implementation of the Cevila commitments, building on the agreed framework and translating its commitments into concrete action and measurable results at country level. We call for the implementation arrangements that allow African countries to shape priorities and assess whether commitments are delivering results. Debt remains central to this effort. When debt servicing crowds out, investment in health, education, and productive infrastructural development prospects weaken. We call for timely, predictable, and coordinated debt restructuring with effective participation by all creditor categories. Debt sustainability assessments should account for development needs, climate vulnerabilities, and the long-term returns of productive investment. It's highlighted by the President of the General Assembly and the President of the Economic and Social Council, and widely acknowledged during the high-level general debate of the 81st session That requires a dedicated discussion within the United Nations. The African Group considers this an opportunity to bring debtor countries, creditors, and development partners together to advance fair and timely solutions that protect investment in people and capacities. It is within this context that the African Group supports the intergovernmental process of the United Nations that will make recommendations and closing gaps in the debt architecture and exploring options to address debt sustainability as envisioned in the Seville commitments. In the same vein, we welcome the establishment of the Borrowers' Platform, which will serve as an important mechanism of peer learning and for amplifying the collective voice of borrowers in global financial discussions. We also call for the transparent credit rating methodologies that reflect Africa's economic realities, supported by stronger national data and analytical capacities. In this regard, we welcome the launch of the Africa Credit Rating Agency on 7th October 2026 in Mauritius. Excellencies, Domestic resource mobilization is essential. African countries are working to strengthen revenue systems to improve public financial management and enhance transparency. These efforts must be supported by international cooperation against illicit financial flows, tax evasion, and abusive tax practices. The negotiations towards the United Nations Framework Convention on International Tax Cooperation offer the opportunity to establish inclusive rules and strengthen countries' ability of financing for development. International public finance remains indispensable. Development partners must fulfill their official development assistance commitments and expand credible concessional financing. As I conclude, Madam Chair, Multilateral development banks should strengthen their lending capacity and support African priorities, guarantee Local currency financing and risk sharing instruments should attract investment whilst safeguarding debt sustainability. Madam Chair.

Thank you, Ambassador, for your statement. And with this statement, we have exhausted the list of statements on behalf of the group. And now we start with the statement on behalf of the national statements. I would like to give the floor to the distinguished representative of Belarus. Belarus, you have the floor.

Thank you, Madam Chair. We align ourselves with the statement delivered by Turkmenistan on behalf of the Group of Friends of Sustainable Transport. The global economy is in a phase of deep turbulence. This year, we've seen the latest spiral of geopolitical tensions, and that directly struck the most vulnerable areas of the economy, energy and food. The events transpiring in the Middle East and their impact on global supply chains clearly demonstrate how vulnerable the current system is. The world is encountering a reality where geopolitical conflicts in an instant can lead to price increases for fuel and food, undermining progress achieved toward eradicating poverty and hunger. And here, those who suffer the most are the poorest strata of the population in developing states. In that regard, the work of the Second Committee takes on critical importance. It is our conviction that the Committee must propose practical mechanisms to de-escalate economic repercussions of crises. Collective approaches toward stabilization of markets and toward creating of reserve funds and ensuring the smooth supply of food and energy in regions that have suffered the most from this current situation are what we need. The Second Committee could be a platform to develop such mechanisms, including monitoring price specs and the coordination of humanitarian efforts in the economic realm. We continue to see a fundamental systematic problems in the global economy, the model of globalization has proven incapable of delivering fair growth. We're seeing not only the weaponization of economies through illegitimate sanctions, but also the destruction of the very basis for trust when financial institutions are used as weapons and the assets of sovereign states are frozen without any legal grounds. And this undermines the efforts to achieve the SDGs. We're particularly concerned about UCM's unilateral course of measures that have nothing to do with international law or the mandate of the UN Security Council. These sanctions not only lead to economic isolation, but they lead to genuine humanitarian impacts. They curtail access to medicines, medical care, food, and technology. The delegation of Belarus, again, says that it categorically rejects such tools of pressure. We're convinced that it's time to completely and unconditionally lift all illegitimate sanctions which hamper the development of countries and also hamper international cooperation. We have consistently advocated for forming a new architecture of development. It should be grounded in the principles of equality, multilateralism, and non-discrimination. In this regard, we welcome the strengthening of the role of regional organizations and integrative structures as drivers of growth. We see positive potential in the work of BRICS and other formats that represent the interests of the global majority. Strengthening these organizations will foster the creation of alternative mechanisms for financial settlements and economic cooperation, which are resistant to external pressure. This new architecture is not an attempt to isolate ourselves from the rest of the world. Quite the contrary, it proposes a just model of global mechanisms, and we support the creation of mechanisms to ensure trade risks and to develop independent payment systems and to broaden the use of national currencies in mutual settlements. These steps could decrease dependency on the euro and the dollar as tools of political pressure, and they could create a more sustainable financial system that could resist external shocks. Belarus is prepared to share its experience with these mechanisms in the context of the Eurasian Economic Union, where this sort of work is carried out systematically. We're actively participating in integration processes in the Eurasian space, and we reaffirm our dedication to developing dialogue among various regional organizations. We're that cooperation among economic unions can foster stabilization of global trade and the sharing of best practices. Linking integration projects, the Eurasian Economic Union, the One Belt, One Road Initiative, and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and BRICS will produce powerful synergy that can underpin global growth. We're prepared to work systematically to find solutions to challenges, working together and rather than unilateral coercive measures, will help overcome energy and the food crisis and ensure a sustainable level of life for everyone.

Israel has the floor, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Ambassador, Madam Chair, and warm thanks to the members of the Bureau and the Secretariat. Let me assure you that you have Israel's full support and cooperation for the success of this Committee. Dear colleagues. this is an emotionally heavy week for us in two days we will Mark three years since one of the darkest moments in my country's history the horrific terrorist attack by Hamas on October 7th 2023 and the abductions of our people left a deep scar on our nation and on us as individual a trauma that will take generations to heal nearly a year ago a ceasefire agreement was reached to be Frank It's not an ideal or a steady ceasefire, but it's been holding for a year and offers much-needed relief to Palestinians and Israelis alike. Reflecting on these events, I have often asked myself whether the work we do, the work I do here, is meaningful and whether it contributes to positive changes on the ground. To be honest, it doesn't always feel that way. The second committee agenda is filled with resolutions that deal with some of today's most burning issues. poverty reduction and food production, climate change and biological diversities, ICTs, the economic order, and financing for development. And though I don't wish to sound negative, we are not actually dealing with them. Each year, we knowingly disguise process as progress by giving statements, adopting resolutions, and then declaring our work success. But the state of Israel does not take a pessimistic view. We believe that member states can change the path we are on. Israel will continue to support the causes of gender equality and youth participation, environmental protection and sustainability, and the use of renewable energy. We will continue to promote the use of technology and innovation to achieve greater efficiency in nearly every social and economic activity. Madam Chair, this year, Israel will introduce its biennial resolution on entrepreneurship for sustainable development. In keeping with the aims of the second committee revitalization, we have streamlined the resolution, cut the text by half, and highlighted new developments. And importantly, we tried to make the text more understandable to people outside the UN. We look forward to working with you on this resolution. Colleagues, I want to use this platform to add a voice to our discussions. Every year, we select two future leaders who represent Israeli youth, and we thought it would be a good use of our time to hear from one of them directly, so Koral will take it from here. and if you give us a second to switch places?

Chair, distinguished delegates, dear fellow youth representatives, my name is Coral. I'm Israel's youth delegate. I am the eldest of eight siblings, so when I speak of future generations, I see their faces. I want their ideas to be heard, their talents to find partners, and their Israeli and Jewish identity to be a source of pride. At home, I am an economics student, surrounded by young people studying, conducting research, starting businesses, and asking how their work can solve real problems. Some are developing ideas for more efficient water use. Others are growing strawberries and seaweed in the middle of the Israeli desert. Young Israelis have much more to contribute, but development requires partners. And if we really want to build a better world, we must work together and to treat ideas but what they can contribute to development. In Jewish tradition, we ask, who is wise? The answer is, one who learns from every person. That spirit should guide this committee. I understand that we will not agree on every issue in this room, but water scarcity will not wait for us to agree, neither will food production or the need for better health. include young Israeli entrepreneurs in your ecosystems. Let us share what we know, learn what we do not, and find ways to advance the Sustainable Development Goals together. If the world sees young people as part of shaping the future and advancing the 2030 Agenda, youth should be part of the discussions here at the UN. Bring more of your youth delegates to the table. Invite us to design our future where it is being shaped. That is why speaking here at the Second Committee means so much to me. We are here to take accountability and be equal partners. Partnership with youth is the key for future generations, for your children, for me. Thank you for listening.

I thank the distinguished representative of Israel and the youth delegate for their statement. Now I would like to give the floor to the permanent representative of Malta. Ambassador, you have the floor.

Thank you, Madam Chair. And at the outset?

Allow me to join previous speakers in congratulating you and the Bureau on your election and assure you of.

Our full support. Chair Malta aligns itself with the statement delivered by the European Union and it's the following in its national capacity. Colleagues, we are in the final stretch of the 2030 agenda. While we have made notable progress on several socioeconomic issues, we must be clear-eyed and resolute about the task ahead.

First, climate.

2024 was the first calendar year to exceed 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, and we note with deep concern the findings of UNEP's limiting overshoot report.

In a resolution initiated by Malta, the General Assembly recognized climate change in 1988 as a common concern of humankind.

Four decades later, the International Court of Justice's advisory opinion affirmed this principle. While we will advocate for high ambition in addressing the triple planetary crises, we will also advocate for delivery. We need a COP31 that closes the gap between pledges and action. Furthermore, sea level rise is withdrawing coastlines and threatening livelihoods, fresh water, and for some, the very territory of the state. We warmly welcome the first ever UN declaration on sea level rise and support mainstreaming sea level rise into all relevant UN processes. Climate change is also innately linked with food insecurity. Rainfall and temperature fluctuations caused by the current El Nino further increase the risk of flooding, drought, and extreme temperatures, and threaten food production and water availability. We must integrate water, energy, food security, and climate change in our work. Second, sustainable development cannot be achieved without the full, equal, meaningful, and safe participation and leadership of women and girls. Malta reaffirms its commitment to fully implementing the Pact for the Future to advance sustainable development.

Third, finance.

Ambitious action will be limited without reforms to an international financial architecture designed for the 20th century. The Seville commitment gave us a roadmap on that, tax cooperation and representation of developing countries in international financial institutions. Our task now is to implement it to achieve these objectives. Fourth, SIDs contribute least to these issues. yet bear the highest costs, while GDP per capita locks many out of concessional finance. The Multidimensional Vulnerability Index must move from adoption to application, and the Antigua and Barbuda agenda must be backed by resources. As an island state, Malta will continue to stand with SIDS in this Committee and beyond. Finally, Madam Chair, we believe that the benefits of AI must be enjoyed equally by all humanity. Trust in AI requires cooperation and rules grounded in international law. Malta therefore supports the Global Digital Compact, which embeds AI for humanity within its goals and accelerates progress on the SDGs. Madam Chair, none of these challenges are new.

What has changed is the time left to act.

Let this session be measured not by the number of resolutions we adopt, but by what they deliver.

I thank you.

Thank you, Ambassador, for your statement. Now I would like to invite the Permanent Representative of Indonesia to take the floor.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Indonesia congratulates you and all members of the Bureau on your election. And I wish to assure you of my delegation's full support. Indonesia aligns itself with the statement delivered on behalf of the Group of 77 and China, as well as a statement delivered on behalf of ASEAN. Madam Chair, this year's theme could not be more timely. The challenge before us today is not only about mobilizing more finance anymore, but it's also about ensuring that that finance strengthens national resilience. Resilient economies create greater opportunities, cooperation, and shared prosperity, enhance our collective resilience. In this regard, Indonesia wishes to highlight three priorities. First, Finance must work for people and the real economy.

Financial inclusion must go beyond access.

It must enable households and businesses to manage risk, withstand shocks, and invest confidently in their futures. Indonesia's rapid expansion of digital financial services demonstrates how inclusive innovation can elevate millions of people and MSMEs from informal sectors into formal connected economic participation. At the same time, stronger domestic resource mobilization, fair and effective international cooperation on tax, and measures against illicit financial flows are essential to expand national fiscal space. Second, Finance must drive productive transformation. The question is not only how much capital we mobilize, but what that capital builds. For Indonesia, this means investing in resilient infrastructure, value addition, energy transition, human capital, digital transformation, and creative economy. Our electricity development plan through 2034 illustrates the scale of investment needed for a just, affordable, and orderly energy transition. At the same time, we also see creative economy as an important driver of jobs, innovation, and opportunities for youth, women, and MSMEs. In this spirit, Indonesia is reintroducing the resolution on promoting creative economy for sustainable development to keep it responsive to emerging challenges and strengthen developing countries' ability to generate greater value from their creative assets. Third, we need an international financing architecture that reflects changing global economic landscape. Countries with greater development needs should not face higher financing costs. Indonesia therefore calls for the effective implementation of the Sefia commitment, stronger multilateral development banks, greater access to affordable and concessional finance, durable solutions to debt vulnerabilities, and a stronger voice for developing countries in global economic governance. And as we approach the 2027 SDG Summit, we must accelerate delivery of the 2030 agenda, while.

Also exploring a conversation on the.

Global development agenda beyond 2030, one that preserves national ownership and policy space, and one that ensures that developing countries as shapers of the global development agenda and not merely passive recipient of it. Madam Chair, sustainable development cannot rest on ever rising debt, excessive conditionalities, or an increasingly fragmented landscape. We need financing that invests in people, enables transformation, builds resilience, and gives countries sufficient policy space. This is how finance can move from being a constraint on development and rightfully becomes its powerful engine. I thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Ambassador, for your statement. Now I'd like to invite the Permanent Representative of Egypt for his statement. Ambassador, you have the floor.

Madam Chair. Egypt aligns itself with the statements of the G77 and China, as well as the African group. Our general debate is held within a situation of uncertainty. Rising pressures face developing nations to finance development and protect development gains. And these developments are significant when we look at deferred investments and diminishing job opportunities and limited ability to afford living expenses. The fundamental challenge is represented by the overlapping shocks and their accumulated impacts. Conflicts and geopolitical tensions interrupt navigation and supply chains and raise costs and lead to fragmented economy, weakening investment opportunities. This all coincides with the fluctuating capital flows and rising financing costs. So opportunities for development narrow While needs rise, climate change also and environmental deterioration increases these pressures and negatively affect agricultural production and increases the needs for mitigation and adaptation. Crises also combine to place greater pressure on purchasing power. and opportunities for decent work, especially for youth, women, and persons in the informal sector and the more needy segments of society. Multilateralism also faces challenges that limit its ability to respond. There is a gap between commitments and the means of implementation, and core resources are not sufficient, and financing is not stable and not predictable. Earmarking leads to fragmentation and reduced responsiveness to national priorities, while measures to mobilize financing lacks the necessary capacities. Madam Chair, in light of this reality, the Second Committee faces a gap in positions and a direction towards renegotiation of previously agreed issues, which limits the ability to implement, and the challenge becomes greater when demands face outcomes and a rejection by some parties. Madam Chair, despite of the aforementioned, Egypt believes that the Second Committee can, within its mandate, promote consensus and direct it towards better frameworks, and we recommend in this regard five priorities. One, implementing the Seville commitment and providing concessional financing that is predictable. Second, reforming international financial architecture and promoting developing nations' role in doing so. Third, supporting multilateral trade and promoting the stability of supply chains and production capacities and added values. Fourth, improving the complementarity between climate change and energy transition and development. Fifth, supporting the UN development system and resident coordinators through a focus on national priorities and focusing on monitoring and evaluation. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Ambassador, for your statement. Now I would like to invite the Permanent Representative of Norway to take the floor. Ambassador, the floor is yours.

Thank you very much, Madam Chair. Chair, at a time when cooperation matters more than ever, we must rebuild trust through delivery. For Norway, three priorities should guide the Second Committee's work. First, we must strengthen the Committee's role in implementing the 2030 Agenda. It remains our common framework. Progress has been made, but it is uneven and insufficient. In the final years to 2030, resolutions must focus on concrete follow-up, national priorities and measurable progress. Second, we must turn financing commitments into action. The Compromiso de Sevilla gives us a practical framework. Norway will prioritize tax cooperation, domestic resource mobilization, action against illicit financial flows, corruption, and debt distress, and private capital aligned with national priorities and the SDGs. Third, The UN development system must deliver better on the ground. UN 80 implementation should mean a more coherent, effective and accountable UN. We must respect agreed mandates and remain firmly guided by what member states have collectively decided. Clear mandates must be backed by the resources needed to deliver real results, with a strong resident coordinator at the centre, and success measured at country level. But we as Member States also have the responsibility to review and ensure those mandates are fit for purpose and delivering results. It cannot be business as usual this committee season. In every single resolution considered, we must implement four key commitments made in resolution 80251. We must, one, produce concept notes, which include the expected impact, existing mandate landscape, and indicative financial implications of mandates. Two, include mandate implementation review clauses for all new or renewing mandates; agree clearer and more concise mandates, including streamlined preambular paragraphs; consider periodicity of agenda items, resolutions and decisions; Madam Chair, these priorities must be anchored in decisive action on climate and nature, safe and inclusive emerging technologies, including AI, and in respect for human rights and gender equality. Climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution are eroding development gains. The full, equal and meaningful participation of women and girls and the commitment to leave no one behind must guide policy and delivery. Norway will remain a consistent partner for multilateral solutions grounded in the UN Charter and international law. We will engage constructively, seek consensus and insist on focused, implementable outcomes. In short, Fewer promises, sharper priorities, and real delivery. That is how we rebuild trust in each other and in what we can achieve together. Thank you.

Thank you, Ambassador, for your statement. Now I would like to invite the distinguished representative of El Salvador to take the floor.

Gracias.

Thank you, Madam Chair, Excellencies, distinguished delegates. For El Salvador, this session is particularly important because we are members of the Bureau of the Second Committee as one of the Vice-Chairs. We shoulder this responsibility with a commitment to contribute to constructive, balanced and results-oriented work. The theme of this debate poses a central question: How to turn financing into real capacity to transform our economies? El Salvador is continuing to strengthen its public finances and its fiscal administration while producing better conditions for investment, productive activities, and trade. For us, stability and development must go hand in hand. But national efforts require a supportive international environment. Financing, investment and partnerships must address priorities defined by the countries themselves, and mobilize resources for concrete results. This is particularly important for middle-income countries, whose vulnerabilities cannot be measured solely through per capita income. El Salvador has also strengthened its dual status as a provider and receiver of South-South and triangular cooperation. Sharing solutions, capacities and lessons among countries with similar challenges can speed up results and strengthen national ownership. The digital transformation is part of that same vision. We are strengthening our infrastructure, our capacities and our institutions to apply new technologies to public services, productivity and the production of opportunities. This year, El Salvador had the honor to co-chair together with Estonia the first global dialogue on AI governance. The experience confirmed that making best use of those technologies means that we simultaneously need to make progress in access, capacity, infrastructure, and effective application. It also showed the importance of international cooperation that connects efforts. that promotes interoperability among various different approaches and identifies convergences and areas of complementarity. Thinking about the forthcoming dialogue in New York, we'll be encouraging an open conversation and practices to reduce fragmentation and allow us to make innovation into concrete benefits for our societies. Madam Chair, El Salvador confirms the importance of advancing towards sustainable, resilient and inclusive developments through holistic responses that address the specific vulnerabilities and the challenges that developing countries face. El Salvador is a country that is suffering from the effects of climate change. is continuing to strengthen its national action through the presentation or submission of its NDC 3.0, which for the first time includes a goal for mitigation for the whole of the economy, and it strengthens the components of adaptation, resilience, risk management, and loss and damage. The disaster risk reduction, therefore, is a national priority. El Salvador is still strengthening its early monitoring systems and its hydro-meteorological monitoring capacities, together with actions to protect and restore its ecosystems. Prevention and resilience are essential to protecting lives, infrastructure, livelihoods and the progress made in development. These challenges have a direct effect on agriculture and on food and nutritional security. In 2026, more than 560,000 people have benefited from agricultural agricultural grants as part of the support measures for the rural population and the productive sector. We've also taken steps to strengthen production and commercialization of food together with school food programs, and measures to guarantee proper nutrition from early childhood. The well-being of families requires adequate living conditions, housing conditions. El Salvador has made progress in regularizing property, access to financing, social housing, and the resettlement of families who live in at-risk zones. In 2026, more than 118,600 lots were regularized, and that increased legal security in the protection of the families involved. Thank you.

I would like to invite for his statement the Permanent Representative of Armenia. Ambassador, you have the floor.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I congratulate you and members of Bureau on your election and wish you every success in guiding us. As we approach 2030, we must translate our commitments into concrete results through accessible financing, stronger national capacities, resilience infrastructure, technology, and effective partnerships. Armenia supports implementing the Sevilla commitment, including expanded access to affordable long-term financing, stronger support from multilateral development banks, and financing approaches that better reflect countries' multidimensional vulnerabilities. These priorities are reflected in the Armenia UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework for 2026-2030. Aligned with our national priorities, it advances human capital and well-being, inclusive economic development, green transition, and governance. National ownership, capacity development, and resource mobilization are central to its implementation. Madam Chair, financing sustainable development must also address the environmental dimension of 2030 agenda. As host and incoming presidency of COP 17 on biodiversity, Armenia is committed to an inclusive, transparent and action-oriented conference that advances implementation of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. COP 17 will undertake the first global review of collective progress under the framework, assessing achievements and gaps and identifying where accelerated action is needed. We will prioritize mobilizing adequate, predictable and accessible biodiversity finance and strengthening implementation of the multilateral benefit sharing mechanism for digital sequence information on genetic resources, including the Gali Fund. We will also promote synergies among biodiversity, conservation, climate action, and efforts to combat land degradation while addressing pollution. Meaningful participation, monitoring, and accountability will be essential to translate the commitments into measurable results. Madam Chair, as both a landlocked and middle-income country, Armenia emphasizes that income levels alone cannot capture a country's development needs and structural vulnerabilities. We support developing a strategic plan of action for middle-income countries, anchored in national priorities and ownership. It should strengthen coordinated UN support and access to financing, technology, and capacity building without duplicating frameworks or creating additional reporting burdens. We also emphasize the full and effective implementation of the AVASA Programme of Action for landlocked developing countries to address infrastructure gaps, reduce trade costs, and strengthen resilience to supply chain disruptions. Armenia continues to advance the Crossroad of Peace initiative, including its integral component, the Trip Connectivity Project, on the basis of sovereignty, territorial integrity, national jurisdiction, and reciprocity. It aims to strengthen trade and transport links to the South Caucasus and expand the region's integration into international routes and global supply chains. In conclusion, Armenia remains ready to work with all partners to advance the 2030 Agenda, and we look forward to welcoming you to Yerevan for COP17. I thank you.

Thank you, Ambassador, for your statement. Now, I would like to invite the Permanent Representative of the Lao People's Democratic Republic to take the floor. Ambassador, you have the floor.

Thank you, Madam Chair. At the outset, I congratulate you, Madam Chair, and the Bureau on your election to the Second Committee. We assure you of our full support and cooperation. My delegation aligns itself with the statements delivered on behalf of the groups of 77 and China, ASEAN, and NDCs, and adds the following remarks in our national capacity. As we enter the critical final period of the 2030 agenda, the global development landscape remains challenging. Geopolitical tensions, economic fragmentations, Rising debt burdens and declining development assistance are constraining developing countries' capacity to invest in sustainable development. The approximately $4 trillion annual SDG financing gap underscores the urgency of translating commitments into concrete resources and actions. Against this backdrop, We underscore the importance of renewed political commitment to multilateralism and international cooperation, particularly with the Seville commitment. Its implementation should place the needs of developing countries, particularly the Global South, at the center. In this connection, we are pleased that development remains a core of the United Nations system. We support efforts to reposition the UN development system and the UN80 initiative that aim at improving efficiency and effectiveness while safeguarding the UN's development mandate and supporting countries most in need. Also, we must strengthen the availability and quality of development resources amid declining ODA, shrinking fiscal space, and mounting debt servicing pressure for developing countries. We therefore call for stronger resource mobilization, increased grants and concessional support, and the fulfilment of long-standing ODA commitments, including the 0.7% of GNI target. Importantly, stronger attention should be given to the group of countries in special situations who require adequate and tailored support. This includes areas of climate finance, technology transfer, capacity building, and enhanced market access. Madam Chair, for the Lao PDR, our graduation from the LDC category in November this year, we marked an important development milestone. By implementing our smooth transition strategy, we aim to advance macroeconomic stability, economic diversification, structural transformation, and climate and disaster resilience. We will continue strengthening domestic resources mobilization and attracting sustainable investment while requiring continued international support measures to safeguard development gains and ensure a sustainable and irreversible transition. We also attach great importance to connectivity and structural transformation. Through regional integration, trade facilitation, and infrastructure development, We are advancing our vision of transforming from a landlocked to a land-linked country. We, in this regard, encourage strengthened implementation of LDCs, our program of action, and its developments. Climate action must remain integral to sustainable development. Despite our limited contribution to global emissions, the Lao PDR remains highly vulnerable to climate change and natural disasters. the call for predictable and accessible climate resources, particularly for developing countries with limited fiscal space. Furthermore, we recognize the growing potential of artificial intelligence to accelerate sustainable development. At the same time, inclusive, transparent, and development-oriented AI governance is essential to ensure equitable access to its benefits address emerging risks and prevent new forms of digital inequality, particularly for developing countries. To conclude, Madam Chair, the challenge before us is not a lack of commitment, but ensuring implementation. The Lao PDR stands ready to work constructively with our partners and the UN system to accelerate SDG implementation in this fast-changing global environment. I thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Ambassador, for your statement. Now I would like to invite for his statement the Permanent Representative of State of Palestine. Ambassador, you have the floor.

Madam Chair, the State of Palestine aligns itself with the statement delivered by Uruguay on behalf of the Group of 77 and join other delegations in congratulating you and other members of the Bureau on your election to lead the Second Committee. You can count on Palestine's full support to ensure the success of the main session of the Second Committee. Madam Chair, Excellencies, it is clear with four years left to 2030, the implementation of the SDGs is facing alarming setbacks. From deepening inequalities to persistent injustices, the gap between our promises and the realities faced by hundreds of millions of people is growing wider. While technology and innovation have reached unprecedented levels, hunger and poverty remain at unacceptable levels. While military spending rises, development financing remains far below what is needed to achieve the SDGs. While some countries have advanced, too many are being left behind. These global setbacks are not headlines or trends. They are daily realities, and the people of Palestine know this reality all too well. For Palestine, this reality is not only compounded by the same challenges faced by fellow developing countries, but are compounded by a ruthless settler colonial occupation that has unleashed a genocide against our people. One that Secretary-General Antonio Guterres described during the general debate of the General Assembly, an onslaught with a scale of killing and destruction unlike anything I have witnessed in all of my years as Secretary-General. This has devastated every dimension of sustainable development and undermined its very foundations in Palestine. First, the social dimension of sustainable development. The ongoing Israeli genocide has not only destroyed lives, torn families apart, and denied futures, but has also stolen generations of immeasurable human potential. It killed over 75,000 of our people in less than three years, including 22,000 children. It killed more than 38,000 women and girls, with 47 Palestinian women and girls killed by Israel every day for over two years. It weaponized hunger and unleashed a manmade famine that drove food insecurity to catastrophic levels that should not exist in the 21st century. Second, the economic dimension of sustainable development. It inflicted the fastest and most devastating economic collapse ever recorded by erasing 22 years of Palestine's economic progress in just 15 months and erasing 77 years of human development in Gaza. Third, the developmental dimension of sustainable development. It destroyed more than 371,000 homes and unleashed 68 million metric tons of hazardous debris, equivalent in volume to 15 Great Pyramids of Giza or 25,000 Eiffel Towers. Madam Chair, the 2030 agenda emphasizes that there can be no sustainable development without peace and no peace without sustainable development. The SDGs cannot flourish without justice. They cannot be implemented where accountability is absent, and they cannot be achieved where international law is selectively applied. This requires ending the Israeli colonial occupation, ensuring justice and accountability, and restoring the conditions necessary for sustainable development. Let us, therefore, renew our commitment to international cooperation, to multilateralism, and to the principles of the UN Charter and international law by ensuring that our collective efforts are measured not only by the commitments we make, but by the lives we seek to improve, and above all, by the countries and people we refuse to leave behind. I thank you.

Thank you, Ambassador, for your statement. Now I would like to invite the Permanent Representative of Malaysia to deliver her statement. Ambassador, you have the floor.

I would like to first congratulate you and the other members of the Bureau on your election. Malaysia assures you of our full support throughout this session. Malaysia aligns itself with the statement delivered by Uruguay on behalf of G77 and China, and by the Philippines on behalf of ASEAN. Madam Chair, the theme of this year's general debate, financing sustainable development in a changing global economy to accelerate implementation of the SDG, remains immensely relevant to us. As we approach the final years of the 2030 agenda, the financing to deliver sustainable development remains under considerable strain. For many developing countries, progress towards the SDGs continues to be challenged by persistent financing gaps, climate pressures, and global economic uncertainties. Addressing these challenges requires continued international cooperation and a more responsive global financial system. Malaysia remains firmly committed to the implementation of the 2030 agenda. Our third Voluntary National Review in 2025 reaffirms our determination to pursue development that is inclusive, sustainable, and resilient. While Malaysia has made important progress across the SDGs, we recognize that further efforts are required to translate our ambitions into tangible improvements in the livelihoods of our people. Financing must remain at the heart of these efforts. Developing countries require not only accessible financing, but it must also be paired with adequate capacity building. This should be supported by an equitable international financial architecture that responds to development priorities. Malaysia believes that financing alone will not be sufficient. We must strengthen the means of implementation through innovation and South-South and triangular cooperation. Partnerships must translate global commitments into practical solutions that leave no one behind. Madam Chair, climate change remains inseparable from our development efforts. Malaysia remains committed to pursuing a just and inclusive transition towards a low-carbon, climate-resilient economy. To achieve this, ambitious climate action must go hand in hand with the necessary support and safeguards. As an incoming member of ECOSOC for the term 2027-2029, Malaysia looks forward to contributing constructively in accelerating the implementation of the 2030 agenda. We will continue to advocate for a multilateral system that places sustainable development at its core. The Second Committee has an important responsibility in advancing this collective endeavor. Malaysia stands ready to work with all Member States to strengthen development cooperation, advance international financial architecture reform, and accelerate progress towards the SDGs. The remaining years to 2030 demand greater and collective action. Our primary task is to ensure that commitments made at the UN are matched by the implementation necessary to deliver meaningful results on the ground. Thank you.

Thank you, Ambassador, for your statement. Now I would like to invite the distinguished delegate of India to take the floor. You have the floor, India.

I congratulate you and the Bureau on your election and thank you for choosing a very relevant topic for today's general debate. India associates itself with the statement delivered by the Group of 77 and China. The outlook for many developing countries remains deeply concerning. Official development assistance fell sharply in 2025. Disruptions to food, fuel, and fertilizer supplies raise costs far beyond the places where fighting occurs. For countries with limited fiscal space, a higher import bill can mean less investment in their people. For many, the immediate challenge is not only to accelerate progress toward the Sustainable Development Goals, but to protect hard-won gains. These pressures expose a deeply imbalance. Developing countries bear much of the cost of global instability, yet remains inadequately represented in the international financial institutions whose decisions shape their access to finance. They need a greater voice in those decisions alongside more affordable and predictable financing. Madam Chair, India approaches this debate with the experience of financing development for more than 1.4 billion people. We have strengthened domestic resources, mobilization, including through digitalization of tax administration. Our digital public infrastructure has expanded financial inclusion and access to services, while helping people and small businesses participate in the formal economy and obtain finance. We are also building a pipeline for public-private partnership projects and developing instruments to attract capital into infrastructure. Private investments has the greatest development impact when it serves nationally identified priorities and is supported by sound public institutions. We bring that conviction to our partnership with the Global South. The India UN Development Partnership Fund and the India, Brazil and South Africa Fund supports projects identified by the partner countries. The International Solar Alliance and the Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure help translate cooperation on clean energy and resilience into action. Our BRICS chairship this year offered another opportunity to address the financing challenge. India and the New Development Bank have brought together governments and the private sector to examine how more capital can reach sustainable development projects. Madam Chair, ahead of the 2027 SDG Summit, discussion of development beyond 2030 must begin with an honest account of what has impeded delivery on our existing goals. India supports an agenda that carries forward the SDGs unfinished work and respects national ownership. UN80 reform must strengthen the development pillars ability to help member states turn that agenda into results. I thank you.

I thank the distinguished representative of India. And now I'd like to give the floor to the distinguished representative of Mexico.

Muchas gracias.

Many thanks, Madam Chair. And congratulations on your appointment, and also the other members of the Bureau. And we wish you every success in your work. Mexico is participating in this general debate, convinced that restoring trust and confidence and managing change is essential for the United Nations. and to generation of concrete results for everybody. Almost three years from 2030, we are facing persistent inequalities and economic, social and environmental crises that are deeply interconnected. Given that situation, poverty eradication in all its forms and dimensions and the reduction of inequalities must remain at the center. Our experience confirms that fighting poverty is one of the main accelerators of sustainable development. Between 2018 and 2024, more than 13.4 million people have been lifted out of poverty in Mexico, and in 2026, our welfare programs reached 42.8 million people. Mexico remains convinced that multilateralism is the best tool for facing up to common challenges, but defending it also means making it more effective. We therefore welcome the recent revitalization of the working methods of the Second Commission. That's the only GA commission that has taken on an exercise of this type. Although the results don't quite reflect the level of ambition that Mexico would have liked, we welcome the readiness of the Group of 77 and China, and all delegations who made it possible to come to an agreement. This is of particular importance given the UN80 initiative, whose spirit we hope will prevail and be strengthened. In the case of mandates, we must avoid duplication, respect decisions of the members, and concentrate our efforts where we can really add value without reducing ambition or weakening substantive commitments. Development activities on the ground must consider that harmony with a system that is equipped and integrated to address the most urgent needs. Madam Chair, Mexico will uphold the integrity of the 2030 agenda and the SDGs. We are particularly concerned by reversals in the agreed language on gender equality, inequality reduction, inclusion and sustainable development. This is of particular importance given the SDG summit of 2027. The agreement built since 2015 must be strengthened rather than weakened. For Mexico, any vision of the future must have sustainable development as a holistic agenda based on poverty eradication, closing the financing gap and strengthening the United Nations development system by avoiding fragmentation. Mexico will continue to promote the implementation of the Cevier commitment and a more inclusive, representative and development-oriented international financial architecture. We must mobilize more and better resources, strengthen the role of development banks and make use of the private sector as an ally or partner to produce sustainable investment and decent jobs. Mexico will continue defending a progressive agenda in terms of agriculture, food safety, nutrition and the right to food, and also recognising migrants as agents of development. In the face of the triple planetary crisis, Mexico will promote a holistic vision that brings together climate action, biodiversity, water and the oceans, with responses based on science and international cooperation. We will continue to promote ambitious, just and inclusive climate action that strengthens adaptation and resilience, particularly among the most vulnerable communities, and that contributes to an energy transition that is just, orderly and equitable. Water must have a central place in that agenda. The upcoming United Nations Water Conference 2026 represents an opportunity to speed up the implementation of Goal 6, strengthen cooperation and improve the coherence of the multilateral system with regard to water. With regard to the oceans, Mexico will continue to promote the implementation of the agreement on marine biodiversity of areas beyond national jurisdiction, BBNJ, and better coordination in the areas of oceans, climate and biodiversity. Madam Chair, Mexico is coming to this session ready to build bridges, facilitate agreements and promote a better link between our work and what's happening on the ground. We will work with all of the members to protect what has been built, comply with what's been agreed and build new consensus with a view to 2030. And more than that, we will keep the centre. Thank you very much.

Now I give the floor to the last speaker for today's morning session, distinguished representative of Philippines, you have the floor.

Thank you so much, Madam Chair, and at the outset, we wish to congratulate you and your members on your election. Rest assured of our delegation's support and constructive engagement in the work of the Second Committee. The Philippines aligned itself with the statement delivered by Uruguay on behalf of the G77 and China, and that of ASEAN. With only a few years before 2030, accelerating action to realize the SDGs should remain our collective objective. In this context, the Philippines highlights the following priorities for this session. First, enhancing support for middle-income countries. We welcome the progress to elaborate a strategic plan of action for MICs, mandated by GA Resolution 80/149, and the Secretary-General's consultations with member states, UN agencies, and other stakeholders. As chair of the like-minded group for middle income countries, the Philippines will continue to promote a strategic plan of action that fosters a new development paradigm and addresses the middle income trap. Second, financing for development and development cooperation. Earlier this year, the Philippines attained upper middle income country status. However, income classification alone cannot fully capture the realities, circumstances, and structural vulnerabilities faced by middle income countries. Hence, the beyond GDP process must remain a priority. In line with severe commitment, the Philippines urges stronger international cooperation to mobilize development financing, facilitate technology transfer and capacity building, as well as reform of the international financial architecture. Third, agriculture and food security. Conflicts in the Middle East and Ukraine have disrupted global maritime trade and supply chains. contributing to food insecurity and economic shocks for many countries. The impacts of climate change, including the anticipated El Nino, necessitate focused action. The Philippines supports efforts to enhance food security and agricultural productivity, including through enhanced trade facilitation and institutional reforms, which are essential components of poverty eradication and attainment of the SDGs. Fourth, climate action and disaster resilience. The recent landslide and floods in Nepal have given us a stark reminder that countries that have contributed the least to global emissions are bearing the brunt of climate change. As the host country of the Board for responding to loss and damage, the Philippines is committed to advancing climate resilient development and strengthening international cooperation to support the most vulnerable, including in disaster risk reduction. Fifth, migration for development. The positive contribution of migrants to sustainable development in countries of origin, transit, and destination must continue to be recognized. We call for stronger partnerships and global cooperation to leverage diasporas and address barriers to migrants' meaningful participation in mobilizing private finance, including in lowering the cost of remittances, as called for in the Cevier commitment. Sixth, digital transformation and artificial intelligence. Recognizing the potential of AI to support developing countries, we highlight the urgent need for AI governance that harnesses AI responsibly, enhances productivity, improves public service, bridges digital divides, and protects human dignity. Seventh, South-South and triangular cooperation. South-South and triangular cooperation can help mobilize expertise, resources, and technologies to support national development priorities. The Philippines supports mainstreaming South-South and triangular cooperation as a catalyst for sustainable development. In conclusion, Madam Chair, at the general debate of High-Level Week this year, the Philippines underscored the need to always put a face to what we do, as our work here should ultimately bring about real life and positive impact in our communities and on our peoples. Let us seize this opportunity and demonstrate that multilateralism and indeed deliver for people, planet, and prosperity. I thank you, Madam Chair.

I thank the distinguished representative of Philippines. And with this statement, we have concluded the morning session. Before adjourning the meeting, I would like to recall you that we'll meet at 3 o'clock in the same room for the continuation of the general debate. The meeting is adjourned.