Speakers Call for Culture of Collaboration, Renewed Solidarity to Achieve Sustainable Development, as Economic and Social Council Begins Coordination Segment

Note: Full coverage of today's meetings of the Economic and Social Council will be available Friday, 7 February.

The United Nations must celebrate its many successes as much as it acknowledges its failures, the Economic and Social Council heard today as speakers at its 2025 Coordination Segment called for a culture of collaboration and renewed solidarity.

This year, the two-day Segment, which includes panel discussions and interactive dialogues, will focus on the theme of "Advancing sustainable, inclusive, science- and evidence-based solutions for the 2030 Agenda and its SDGs for leaving no one behind."

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) represent the "common sense of humanity", and people around the world care about them, Bob Rae (Canada), President of the 54-member Council, said in his opening remarks. Stressing the need to build on previous successes, he hailed the many partnerships between Member States and various multilateral institutions, such as the Spotlight Initiative, which has protected over 21 million girls and women from gender-based violence; the Global Ghost Gear Initiative, which engages over 130 stakeholders to tackle abandoned fishing gear to reduce marine pollution; and the Infrastructure for Resilient Island States initiative, which aims to strengthen resilience against climate and disaster risks.

The people who created the Organization were living with war, depression, tariff wars, economic protectionism and poverty, he added. The vision of the United Nations was not only political but also economic and social. Commitment to a multilateral organization like the UN - whose budget in 2024 was $75 billion - does not take away a State's freedom; rather, it broadens the sovereignty of each country, he stressed.

"The stakes could not be higher," said Guy Ryder, United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Policy, who noted that only 17 per cent of the Goals are on course, while many critical targets are regressing. Meanwhile, conflicts are intensifying, inequalities are widening, the climate crisis is escalating, and unregulated technology continues to disrupt societies. The international community must unlock the scale and quality of financing needed to drive investments, alleviate the debt burden that stifles many countries, and protect economies from the external shocks, he stressed. The Pact for the Future provides a blueprint for this, he said, adding that reform of the international financial architecture is crucial to fulfil the promise of the SDGs.

Also addressing the Segment was Anatolio Ndong Mba (Equatorial Guinea), Council Vice-President, who said: "The United Nations cannot do more than what we allow it to do." Progress on the SDGs has stagnated, or even reversed course, with only 17 per cent of assessed targets on track for achievement by 2030. "We cannot afford to let this trend continue," he said, calling on the international community to "bridge divides, mobilize resources and implement transformative solutions". Highlighting the role of the Economic and Social Council and its many subsidiary bodies, he noted that the Segment has the valuable role of leveraging their insights.

Conversation with Regional Commissions, Functional Commissions and Expert Bodies

Following opening remarks, the Council held a conversation with the Executive Secretaries of the regional commissions and Chairs of functional commissions and expert bodies, which focused on "Accelerating the implementation of the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals, including by leveraging the outcomes of the Summit of the Future".

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