President of the UN General Assembly (UNGA) Philémon Yang and President of the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) Bob Rae held an annual joint briefing to update Member States on their vision for the year ahead. The briefing identified areas of complementarity to promote “constructive cooperation” and advance shared priorities.
Financing for development (FfD), science and innovation, and peace and security emerged as some of the areas of alignment between the two bodies.
In his remarks, the UNGA President underscored that both the UNGA and ECOSOC “have critical roles to play in supporting the implementation of the Pact for the Future,” which, he said, “provides significant momentum toward advancing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.”
Highlighting the Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development (FfD4) as an opportunity to push FfD commitments further, Yang pledged to intensify his advocacy “to ensure that the needs of developing countries are prioritized.” He emphasized the urgent need to make international financial architecture “fairer and more equitable” by improving developing countries’ access to the resources they need for sustainable development and called attention to a meeting he will hold with the Inter-Parliamentary Union on scaling up action on financing for the SDGs.
Yang identified leveraging science, innovation, and digitalization to turbocharge the achievement of the SDGs as another area of alignment, noting the interactive, multi-stakeholder dialogue he will convene to assess the implementation of commitments made towards Africa’s development, with a focus on digitalization, and flagging ECOSOC’s Multi-stakeholder Forum on Science, Technology, and Innovation for the SDGs (STI Forum) as another opportunity for collaboration.
The UNGA President looked forward to promoting and fostering greater engagement on sustainable development by participating in ECOSOC’s Partnership Forum, meetings of the Commission for Social Development, Commission on the Status of Women, and Commission on Population and Development, as well as the Youth Forum.
Among other shared priorities, Yang highlighted actions to conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas, and marine resources for sustainable development (SDG 14), peace and security, and gender equality.
In his address, the ECOSOC President reminded Member States that while “we have five years remaining to achieve the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development,” “[t]he world continues to face interconnected crises, including rising inequalities, poverty, hunger, climate change and conflicts.” He underlined the instrumental role of collaboration between the UNGA and ECOSOC in “helping put the SDGs on a better track.”
Rae said the ECOSOC system will build on the momentum of the Summit of the Future (SoF) and support preparations for: FfD4; the 30th anniversary of the Fourth World Conference on Women and adoption of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action; the Third UN Ocean Conference (UNOC3); and the Second World Summit for Social Development. In this work, he said, they will be guided by the theme of the 2025 session of the UN High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF), ‘Advancing sustainable inclusive, science- and evidence-based solutions for the 2030 Agenda for sustainable development and its Sustainable Development Goals for leaving no one behind,’ and reiterated his priorities:
- Promoting well-managed migration systems and adherence to the international protection of displaced persons;
- Harnessing artificial intelligence (AI) to accelerate implementation of the SDGs in a safe, responsible, inclusive, and human rights-based manner;
- Deepening engagement between the Council and the international financial institutions (IFIs) to address the opportunities and challenges of FfD; and
- Promoting gender equality, the active participation of civil society, and representation of diverse voices, including youth.
The ECOSOC President provided an overview of the Council’s meetings in 2025, including its Partnership Forum, Coordination Segment, Youth Forum, Development Cooperation Forum, Special Meeting on International Cooperation on Tax Matters, and FfD Forum. He further highlighted ECOSOC’s STI Forum, Operational Activities for Development Segment, and Humanitarian Affairs Segment, among other meetings.
Rae stated that HLPF 2025 in July will conduct in-depth reviews of SDG 3 (good health and well-being), SDG 5 (gender equality), SDG 8 (decent work and economic growth), SDG 14 (life below water), and SDG 17 (partnerships for the Goals), with 39 Member States presenting their voluntary national reviews (VNRs). He said negotiations on a ministerial declaration, co-facilitated by Permanent Representatives of the Czech Republic and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, are underway.
Additional meetings on the ECOSOC President’s priorities will be held to address the displacement crisis and AI impacts on the SDGs. A joint meeting of the Council and the Peacebuilding Commission will also be held.
The ECOSOC President also reminded delegations that the next review of ECOSOC will take place at the UNGA’s 80th session, stressing the importance of ensuring coherence between associated processes.
Rae also noted that Permanent Representatives of Botswana and Ireland have been appointed to co-facilitate a process to explore options for revitalizing the Commission on the Status of Women, as called for in the Pact for the Future.
The joint briefing took place on 20 January 2025. [Briefing Announcement] [Recording of the Briefing]
