Friday, 30 January 2026, 10am, GA Hall
[As Delivered]

 

Your Excellency Lok Bahadur Thapa, President of the Economic and Social Council,

Excellencies,

Distinguished Delegates,

 

Eighty years ago, our founders resolved to create a world free from ¡®the scourge of war¡¯.

They understood that the absence of armed conflict alone would not suffice.

For as Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, former President of Liberia, reminded us
¡°peace is built¡­in classrooms where girls learn without fear, in clinics where mothers deliver safely, in markets where young people find dignified work, and in the daily acts of neighbourly coexistence that turn fragile calm into lasting stability.¡±

And not only in conference rooms.

This understanding that peace and security, human rights, and development are inseparable lies at the heart of our Charter.

And shaped the creation of the Economic and Social Council 80 years ago, entrusting it with promotion of international cooperation on economic, social, and related issues as foundations of lasting peace.

Today, however, this understanding seems to be in question by some.

The Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ and its Charter are not merely under pressure but under outright attack.

The core values and principles of our Organization are being deliberately undermined at an unprecedented frequency and scale.

But we need to be unwavering: the three pillars – peace and security, sustainable development and human rights ¨C form the foundation of this Institution.

They are the life insurance for countries around the world.

We cannot and will not compromise on these principles.

We have to step up and stand up for them.

That is why I have called on Member States to come together to build a cross-regional alliance to uphold our Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ Charter including its interconnected three pillars.

Sustainable development is not just a ¡°nice to have¡± or a favor to less developed countries.

Achieving the SDGs is rather in humanity¡¯s collective self-interest.

This was reaffirmed when Member States adopted the Pact for the Future during the 79th Session of the General Assembly ¨C only a bit more than an year ago – in which they committed to accelerate delivery on the SDGS.

Consider that decades of investment in development have expanded global markets, driven unprecedented economic growth, and helped lift over a billion people out of extreme poverty, creating the stability that underpins trade in the interest of all, security in the interest of all, and shared prosperity worldwide.

Where development falters, however, we see the consequences spill across borders, in conflict, forced displacement, food insecurity, and economic shocks that affect every region.

I am committed to supporting President Thapa in driving progress on the Sustainable Development Agenda, including through a series of dialogues I will convene this spring aimed at accelerating delivery of the Pact for the Future.

Building on the understanding of the indispensability of the three pillars of the Charter, I will also host signature events, in the spring, on climate, as well as work with other Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ actors on International Women¡¯s Day to underline again that peace will be only possible if half of the society all around the world is also at the peace negotiation table.

And I am determined to bring that same spirit of cooperation to the follow up on the Doha Political Declaration of the World Social Summit from last Fall.

While Member States entrusted the Commission for Social Development, as a functional commission of ECOSOC, with primary responsibility for follow up, success will require sustained engagement across the wider Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ system ¨C across all of us here in this hall.

I look forward to the joint Special Thematic Meeting of the General Assembly and ECOSOC, which will help inform the High-level midterm review of the Doha Program of Action.

Excellencies,

Dear colleagues,

Let us be frank about the limits of political commitment without financial backing.

The SDGs currently face a financing gap of Four Trillion Dollars.

At the Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development Member States adopted the Compromiso de Sevilla and agreed on steps to begin closing that incredible gap.

Yet financing pressures are compounded by mounting debt.

In 2023 alone, developing countries paid roughly five hundred billion dollars in external debt service.

That is money which is diverted from:

Hospitals that are never built.

That money to pay back debt is diverted from classrooms that never open.

From investments in resilience that are delayed, as scarce public funds are absorbed by debt repayment.

Without meaningful reform of the international financial architecture and sustained action on debt relief, progress on the goals will remain stalled.

I therefore welcome ECOSOC¡¯s engagement with the International Financial Institutions, bringing together Member States and leaders from bodies such as the IMF and the World Bank to address the obstacles holding back development financing.

These conversations sit alongside ongoing efforts within the IMF itself to modernize its governance, including work to ensure that voting power better reflects today¡¯s global economy while safeguarding the voice of the poorest countries.

I look forward to the forthcoming dialogue on debt, with a shared focus on turning discussion into results.

And I would like to add on a personal note, in these times it is very easy to shy away or to hide, to wait for the last person in the room to move.

Because in these times we also realize that this might not happen, especially with regard to the financial discussions and the promises from Seville.

It is also again about those who stand up and are ready to form a new future together.

Taking the first courageous steps even though it may not pay off in the old logic of from the past. But those who believe in Agenda 2030 and the SDGs, they have to move now forward together on the financial promises.

Delivering on the Sustainable Development Goals also requires harnessing the power of innovation, especially at this moment, as technology is advancing at a dizzying pace, including in the rapidly evolving field of Artificial Intelligence.

Used responsibly, these technologies can advance the frontiers of human knowledge; help detect and prevent rare cancers; strengthen search and rescue operations; and support climate resilient agriculture, even under extreme conditions such as those faced in the Sahel.

We can help humanity with the new technologies.

However, we also have seen already, if left unregulated, these same technologies risk deepening divides and entrenching biases, including gender biases we thought we had overcome.

Harnessing innovation responsibly is therefore essential if investment is to translate into productivity, resilience, and inclusive growth.

As mandated by Member States, I will convene a meeting on Science, Technology, and Innovation for development, with a focus on the needs of developing countries and on aligning discussions in the General Assembly with those of the Economic and Social Council¡¯s multistakeholder forum on Science, Technology, and Innovation.

Our work proceeds against a challenging backdrop, as our Organization faces unprecedented political and financial headwinds.

That is why approaching the Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ80 reform process with the right mindset is so crucial.

Yes, it comes at a difficult time.

But as I said now many times before, I see now a new spirit also in this hall to embrace this Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ80 reform.

We must address the proliferation of mandates and reduce costs.

But our objective is not cost-cutting for its own sake, nor bureaucratic reshuffling.

Our objective is to strengthen delivery ¨C for the people we serve.

In this context, the relationship between the General Assembly and ECOSOC is central, as is the need to streamline our work; and this is why, and this is just the start, for in-depth cooperation.

As reflected in our regular meetings between the President of the GA and the President of ECOSOC, I am committed to working together with the President of ECOSOC to strengthen coordination between the General Assembly and ECOSOC, as mandated by General Assembly resolution 79/327.

Member States have raised well-founded concerns about overlap, including between the Second and Third Committees and ECOSOC.

And we are totally aware of it, addressing it monthly in our discussions, but I would also like to encourage you again, you Member States, not only at PR or DPR level but also at the expert level in the committees, and between the committees to revisit recommendations from the agenda alignment exercise undertaken in 2021 and to consider how they can be advanced in the context of Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ80.

At the same time, we must ensure that restructuring and realignment efforts do not weaken the United Nations¡¯ presence or delivery on the ground, especially in developing countries, LDCs, LLDCs, and SIDS.

Stronger alignment between our two bodies remains one of the most direct ways to reduce duplication and ensure that political guidance and system-wide action reinforce one another.

I welcome the upcoming review of ECOSOC and the High-Level Political Forum, and I urge Member States to use this opportunity to propose ideas to make ECOSOC more coherent, agile, and fit for purpose, as you have done, as we have done also in the other workstream processes, especially in Workstream 2.

Excellencies,

Dear colleagues,

The months ahead will test our capacity to deliver at a moment when expectations are high and margins for error are narrow.

I am committed to working closely with the President of ECOSOC to deepen coordination between our bodies, to follow through on reform with discipline and purpose, and to ensure that our efforts translate into concrete results for those we serve.

Through sustained engagement, clearer alignment, and a shared focus on delivery ¨C and yes courage to actually do the steps we propose – the General Assembly and ECOSOC can reinforce one another¡¯s work and strengthen the United Nations at a time when its effectiveness matters more than ever.

I thank you.

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