A/77/PV.61 General Assembly

In keeping with established practice, I would like to invite the attention of the General Assembly to documents A/77/702/Add.3 and A/77/702/Add.4, in which the Secretary-General informs the President of the General Assembly that since the issuance of his communication contained in document A/77/702/Add.2, Gabon, Lebanon and South Sudan have made the payments necessary to reduce their arrears below the amount specified in Article 19 of the Charter. May I therefore take it that the General Assembly takes note of the information contained in these documents.

In a letter dated 6 March 2023, I circulated a draft oral decision entitled “United Nations Conference on the Midterm Comprehensive Review of the Implementation of the Objectives of the International Decade for Action, ‘Water for Sustainable Development’, 2018–2028” as follows: “The General Assembly, recalling its resolution 75/212 of 21 December 2020: “Decides that the start time of the United Nations Conference on the Midterm Comprehensive Review of the Implementation of the Objectives of the International Decade for Action, “Water for Sustainable Development”, 2018–2028, be revised so that the first plenary meeting on Wednesday, 22 March 2023 will take place from 9:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.; “Decides that the presidents of the conference will proceed to appoint co-chairs of the interactive dialogues to take place during the conference, as listed in the letter from the co-host dated 3 March 2023, addressed to the President of the General Assembly; “Taking note of the note by the Secretary General contained in document A/77/781, decides to accredit the organizations identified in the note by the Secretariat and invite them to participate as intergovernmental organizations in the work of the conference with observer status in accordance with paragraph 14 of Annex 2 to resolution 75/212.” The Assembly will now take action on the draft oral decision. May I take it that the Assembly decides to adopt the draft oral decision just introduced? The draft oral decision was adopted (decision 77/552).

The General Assembly has thus concluded this stage of consideration of sub-item (a) of agenda item 18.

We now turn to the draft decision contained in document A/77/L.57. We shall now proceed to consider the draft decision. Before giving the floor for explanations of position before action on the draft decision, may I remind delegations that explanations of are limited to 10 minutes and should be made by delegations from their seats. I now give the floor to the representative of Chile.

I would like to sincerely thank all delegations for their active participation over the past few weeks and for the trust placed in Chile by the President of the General Assembly to facilitate the process of identifying the theme of the 2024 session of the Economic and Social Council and the 2024 high-level political forum on sustainable development and the set of Sustainable Development Goals to be reviewed by the forum in the year 2024. We began the negotiations guided by the mandate given by Member States for conducting this process, in that the sequence of themes for each quadrennial cycle of the forum should reflect the integrated, indivisible and interrelated nature of the Sustainable Development Goals and the three dimensions of sustainable development, including cross-cutting issues, as well as new and emerging issues, serving as a framework for reviewing the 17 Goals. Draft decision A/77/L.57, which we hope to adopt today by consensus, is the result of valuable input from delegations. The theme for the Economic and Social Council and the high-level political forum on sustainable development and the set of goals to be reviewed by the forum in 2024 contained in the decision captures, in our view, the fact that the world is at a critical juncture for the achievement of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development due to multiple crises that require effective solutions for timely implementation. I wish to highlight that this was a broad, transparent, participatory and inclusive negotiation process. Likewise, although it was a State-led process, spaces were created to receive and listen carefully to the valuable input of major groups and other stakeholders. The draft decision reflects a valuable balance that allows for the inclusion of all voices in this Assembly and will hopefully guide the work of the Economic and Social Council and the high-level political forum on sustainable development through 2024 by providing political leadership and promoting system-wide coherence and coordination of sustainable development policies, as well as ensuring that the 2030 Agenda remains relevant and ambitious, focusing on assessing progress, achievements and challenges faced by developed and developing countries, as well as new and emerging issues. We must not lose sight of that big picture and our common endeavour. I once again wish to personally thank delegations for their active participation in this process.

We have heard the only speaker on this agenda item. The Assembly will now take a decision on draft decision A/77/L.57, entitled “Annual theme of the 2024 session of the Economic and Social Council and the 2024 high-level political forum on sustainable development and the set of Sustainable Development Goals to be reviewed by the high-level political forum in 2024”. May I take it that it is the wish of the General Assembly to adopt draft decision A/77/L.57?

I would like to express my sincere appreciation to Her Excellency Mrs. Paula Narváez Ojeda, Permanent Representative of Chile to the United Nations, who ably and patiently concluded the informal consultations on this draft decision. There is one more piece of good news. Many here felt that the negotiating processes that they are mandated proved too many at the same time. We have successfully completed one out of 16, so let us continue. I am sure that members of the Assembly will join me in extending our sincere appreciation to the Ambassador and her team. The General Assembly has thus concluded this stage of its consideration of agenda item 13.