Welcome to the United Nations
Mr. Liu Zhenmin
Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs
Preparations for the 2018 High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF), to be held from 9 to 18 July in New York, are already underway.
As the main United Nations platform for follow-up and review of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the SDGs, the 2018 HLPF will carry out in-depth reviews of progress on SDGs 6, 7, 11, 12, 15 and 17, and their inter-linkages with other Goals. A record number of 48 countries will present Voluntary National Reviews (VNRs) on the status of their implementation of the 2030 Agenda to the forum.
The 2030 Agenda is owned and driven by countries, and the progress of its implementation depends on national actions. Country-level actions that effectively translate the SDGs to the national level, and engage all sectors of society, are crucial for success. The HLPF supports such actions by providing a global space where governments, local authorities, civil society, private sector, academia, the scientific and technological community and others can all come together to share and exchange their experiences on implementing the transformative SDGs.
The eight days of the Forum in July, however, are only a culmination of numerous activities by many actors in the months leading up to it. A number of preparatory meetings will be organized at the national, regional and global levels in the months ahead. At the national level, the VNR process is becoming a consultative and participatory one, engaging multiple stakeholders. It is expected to rally support and marshal resources for implementation. It is not an end in itself, but it plays an increasingly important role in outreach, in sharing experiences, in identifying gaps and in mobilizing action.
At the regional and global levels, there are similar engagements. These include a series of preparatory meetings organized by UN DESA, in close collaboration with Regional Commissions and other UN entities, for the countries that will present VNRs at the HLPF in 2018.
A snapshot of general characteristics of early implementation of the 2030 Agenda can be found in the Synthesis Report 2017 prepared by DESA. The report identifies challenges and examples of implementation from the countries that presented VNRs to the HLPF in 2017. It looks at a range of actions and policy measures relating to implementation, including ownership and involving stakeholders, institutional mechanisms, incorporation of the SDGs into national frameworks, means of implementation and an overview of how countries addressed goals and targets in the VNRs.
Additionally, with UN system-wide support, regional preparatory meetings (Regional Forum on Sustainable Development) will be organized by the five UN Regional Economic Commissions this Spring.
A number of thematic expert group meetings on SDGs 6, 7, 11, 12, 15 and 17 and on the interlinkages between the SDGs will also be held in the lead-up to the HLPF.
As in past years, I am certain that the 2018 HLPF will again benefit from active multi-stakeholder engagement throughout the preparatory process. During the 2018 HLPF, an SDG Business Forum, a multi-stakeholder Partnership Exchange, a gathering of Mayors and other local and regional authorities, SDGs Learning, Training and Practice sessions and many other events will be organized, allowing for a sharing of diverse perspectives on SDGs implementation.
I invite you to visit the website of the High Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development for further information on this year’s session. Please join us in this global gathering for SDGs, in our global effort to leave no one behind.
