United Nations (EFE).- The Secretary General of the UN, António Guterres, recalled today at the opening of the summit on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which opened this Monday in New York, that these goals are above all a fight to end inequality in the world, “a promise so that no one is left behind.”
He recognized that, at the halfway point between the formulation of the SDGs and their ideal date to achieve them, 2030, only 15% are on track to be achieved, but they remain just as valid as “the promise of a world of health, progress and opportunity for all.” ”.
He summarized the 17 goals into six major concepts: ending hunger, transition to renewable energies, advancing digitalization so that it reaches everyone, improving education that remains of poor quality in many regions of the world, decent work with social protection and stop the war against nature.
The need for proposals to fight inequality
Guterres said he is creating “a group of champion countries” in achieving the SDGs to design a plan on how to design concrete political and economic reforms that will help implement these goals.
Previously, the president of the General Assembly, Trinidadian Dennis Francis, had taken the floor, putting figures on inequality: 8% of the world’s population – he recalled – will continue to suffer from hunger in 2030. “Can we accept this? Or just because it makes us uncomfortable do we pretend they don’t exist and move on?”
Francis said that this summit that opens today in New York “should not be a forum in which to point the finger at each person’s share of guilt, nor to accept defeat,” which is why he encouraged participants to contribute. concrete proposals.
The main leaders who will speak at the SDG summit will do so in the afternoon session, starting at 3:00 p.m. local time (7:00 p.m. GMT).
