As of 13 September 2022, 48 countries and the EU have expressed interest in presenting their Voluntary National Reviews (VNRs) to the UN High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF) in July 2023.

Requests to be inscribed on the list of countries participating in the VNRs in 2023 are available as inputs to the Forum on the HLPF website.

The EU would present its first VNR. In March 2022, the SDG Knowledge Hub reported on the Europe Sustainable Development Report by the Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN), which called for an EU-wide VNR ahead of the UN’s SDG Summit in September 2023. Another first-time presenter would be Saint Kitts and Nevis.

Chile, Honduras, Iraq, Kenya, Nigeria, Panama, and Uganda would present their third VNRs. Benin, Guatemala, Niger, and Qatar would be fourth-time presenters.

The rest of the countries intending to conduct VNRs at HLPF 2023 would be doing so for the second time. They are Bahrein, Barbados, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brunei Darussalam, Burkina Faso, Cambodia, Canada, the Central African Republic (CAR), Comoros, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Fiji, France, Guyana, Iceland, Ireland, Kuwait, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Mongolia, Oman, Portugal, Romania, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Slovakia, Syria, Tanzania, Tajikistan, Timor-Leste, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Venezuela, Viet Nam, and Zambia.

Convening under the auspices of the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), the 2023 HLPF will address the theme, ‘Accelerating the recovery from the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) and the full implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development at all levels.’ It will carry out in-depth review of SDGs 6 (clean water and sanitation), 7 (affordable and clean energy), 9 (industry, innovation and infrastructure), 11 (sustainable cities and communities), and 17 (partnerships for the Goals).

The SDG Summit will be held in September 2023. Taking place once every four years, the 2023 Summit will be the second since the adoption of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Along with the Summit of the Future, it is one of the “twin summits” slated for 2023. [HLPF 2023 Website] [Inputs to HLPF 2023] [SDG Knowledge Hub Story on HLPF 2022 Outcomes] [SDG Knowledge Hub Story on the First SDG Summit]