Highlights and images for 18 September 2020

 The SDG Moment reviewed the changes needed to deliver the SDGs over the course of the coming decade and build back better after the COVID-19 pandemic.

The SDG Moment reviewed the changes needed to deliver the SDGs over the course of the coming decade and build back better after the COVID-19 pandemic.

Pandemic recovery efforts were described as a “once in a generation chance to set things straight,” with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as potentially a “board to bounce back further and faster” by speakers during the 2020 SDG Moment.

Volkan Bozkir, President, 75th Session of the UN General Assembly

Vera Songwe, Executive Secretary, UN Economic Commission for Africa (ECA

“COVID-19 threatens decades of progress. But it is also an opportunity to do things differently, to imagine better future, to harness humanity’s capacity for change and progress. Now is the time for bold choices,” UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed said during the closing session. Speakers also reiterated the need for global solidarity and the importance of multilateralism.

Mia Amor Mottley, Barbados

 

Achim Steiner, Administrator, UN Development Programme (UNDP)

The SDG Moment was convened virtually by UN Secretary-General António Guterres to identify changes needed to recover better from COVID-19 and deliver the SDGs over the course of the decade. A “reality check” on progress on the SDGs was followed by a session on SDG gaps and plans, with interventions by 21 nominated Heads of State and Government. Contributions from stakeholders then addressed finance for the decade, climate solutions, and inequality.

Brad Smith, President, Microsoft

Christiana Figueres, Climate Action Champion and Convener of Mission 2020

Antonio Guterres, UN Secretary-General

Malala Yousafzai, UN Messenger of Peace and Nobel Laureate

The complexities of achieving the SDGs

Conversation between the UN Secretary-General’s SDG Advocates Eddie Ndopu and Hindou Ibrahim

Munir Akram, President, ECOSOC

Amina Mohammed, UN Deputy Secretary-General

President Salomá Zourabichvili, Georgia

President Salomé Zourabichvili, Georgia

President Iván Duque Márquez, Colombia

President Iván Duque Márquez, Colombia

Alicia Bárcena, Executive Secretary, UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC

Alicia Bárcena, Executive Secretary, UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC