Remarks by H.E. Annalena Baerbock
President of the 80th Session of the United Nations General Assembly
Closing Press Conference
Second World Summit for Social Development
6 November 2025
Doha, Qatar
(As Delivered)
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Good afternoon and thank you for covering the World Summit for Social Development.
And Welcome to an all female press conference.
Let me start by thanking the host Qatar.
Doha has become an important meeting place for dialogue, mediation, and especially international conferences over the last years, and now at these last days for this extremely important Second World Summit for Social Development.
And thank you so much dear excellency excellency [Ambassador Sheikha Alya bint Ahmed bin Saif Al Thani, Permanent Representative of the State of Qatar to the United Nations] but also the whole government and the Emir of Qatar.
Copenhagen has taught us 30 years ago that social development and inclusion is essential for strong societies.
With the Doha Declaration, now we promise to leave no one behind, end social injustice, and guarantee dignity for everyone.
Because over the years – without question – there has been remarkable progress – however, it has been uneven and unequal.
In too many places around the world a child goes to bed hungry, a young person cannot attend school, and men and women search for employment wondering how they will build a life when there are too few opportunities to earn a living.
It has shown that economic growth alone has been insufficient to pull people in all regions out of poverty.
Today¡¯s hunger crisis stems not from scarcity, but from conflict, inequality, and political failures.
We therefore have to address the structural causes that in a world of plenty still leave so many people with limited prospects in life not because of their efforts, but because of the circumstances in which they were born.
The Second World Summit for Social Development therefore calls for a global financial architecture that is fit for the 21st century, tackles debt burdens, boosts international funds, and removes unnecessary restrictions that stifle innovation, as outlined in the Sevilla Commitment.
Because we know that one of the biggest problems is not the money as such, but rather how and where it is invested.
It also underlines that peace and security is crucial for fighting hunger and poverty, and that the SDGs are all interconnected, yet one of the biggest problems is not money as such. It is rather how it is invested.
And I would like to underline: social development is not a ¡°nice to have¡±, nor an act of charity, but it is in the self-interest of every country, even the strongest economic powers, because it¡¯s on the one hand, ?one of the smartest investments we can make to support peace and security and human rights, and on the other hand, in a globalized world, a crisis in one part of the world will always affect the other parts of the world as well.
In this regard, we need to urgently address the single largest obstacle facing our pursuit of social development¡ªthe climate crisis.
Thirty years after the first Social Summit, countries have recognized that the time for talk is over. This event marks a deliberate shift from looking at the problem to acting on proven solutions and learning from each other. We know what the problems are and what needs to be done – what we lack are effective policies and the political will to implement them.
And this is why this Summit, and this week was so unique, because this Summit focused on concrete solutions that are scalable and that have the potential to lift millions out of poverty and increase social inclusion and integration to leave no one behind.
This means joining forces with civil society and businesses and delivering once and for all on the promise of gender equality because without women there will never be social justice and lasting peace.
This Summit has underlined that women¡¯s representation matters everywhere ¨C not only at AI companies for programming algorithms without biases, but also in politics – as we unfortunately saw from the official family photo of this Summit.
While today is the closing of the Second World Summit for Social Development, this is not an ending. It is the beginning of delivering on the last mile to achieve the SDGs by 2030 and it’s also a handover to the climate conference in Belem, the COP, which is just starting in these hours, underlining that all 17 SDGs are heavily interconnected. And without social justice, there will never be peace and security, but without fighting the climate crisis, there will never be social justice and peace overall.
I thank you.