President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko has received an invitation from UN Secretary-General António Guterres to participate in the summit on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), BelTA informs with reference to the press service of the Belarusian head of state.
The summit will be held in September 2023. “Halfway through the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, it’s time to face facts. Without a dramatic increase in commitment, solidarity and transformative action, we will miss the main goals of the 2030 Agenda to eradicate poverty, reduce inequality and protect the environment,” said a letter from the UN Secretary-General. – I am counting on your support for the breakthroughs our world desperately needs.
António Guterres notes that the multiple crises of the past three years have dealt a serious blow to efforts to achieve the SDGs. Nevertheless, the changes envisioned remain possible and necessary.
“The SDG Summit will be the centerpiece of a number of events, including the Climate Summit, a high-level dialogue on financing for development, a series of meetings on health, and a ministerial meeting in preparation for the Summit of the Future 2024. The SDG Summit could be the moment when our world moves from fear to hope and from deepening pessimism to accelerated action. I look forward to your personal participation in the Summit and your contribution to making it a turning point for the SDGs,” said the UN Secretary-General.
Alexander Lukashenko sent a letter of response to António Guterres.
“Minsk fully welcomes this initiative. We believe that the upcoming event is a good opportunity to summarize the intermediate results of our joint efforts. The Republic of Belarus is fully committed to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals; they are effectively integrated into our national strategic documents.
“I am convinced that the experience of Belarus in organizing efficient work at the national level to implement the Sustainable Development Goals will be interesting and useful for many other UN member states. We are certainly ready to share it during the Summit.
Alexander Lukashenko also stressed the importance of the Summit becoming a source of ideas and initiatives contributing to the elimination of problems on the way to achieving the SDGs: “You quite rightly noted that “the multiple crises of the last three years have dealt a serious blow to the efforts to implement the 2030 Agenda. It is now clear that there can be no sustainable development in the world without peace. I said this back in 2015 when I addressed the UN Summit that adopted the Sustainable Development Goals. You have also repeatedly voiced a similar idea.
The President stressed that the upcoming summit should make clear the relationship between peace and sustainable development and thereby give impetus to the launching of a global dialogue on security.
“A serious challenge to the common cause, the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals, is unilateral coercive measures, or sanctions. These voluntaristic and actions that are contrary to international law imposed by a self-interested and prejudiced group of Western states directly destroy progress toward the SDGs. How, for example, can poverty and hunger be eliminated if sanctions undermine global food security and therefore increase poverty and hunger to entire regions and even continents? Sanctions have become weapons. They are capable of killing!”
The President thanked the UN Secretary General for the invitation to the summit and assured that Belarus will actively contribute to its preparation and will take part in this important event at a worthy level.
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