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STORY: UN / POLITICAL FORUM SDG
TRT: 4:27
SOURCE: UNIFEED
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / FRENCH / NATS
DATELINE: 13 JULY 2026, NEW YORK CITY / FILE
FILE – NEW YORK CITY
1. Wide shot, exterior, United Nations Headquarters
13 JULY 2026, NEW YORK CITY
2. Wide shot, General Assembly Hall
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Lok Bahadur Thapa, President of the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC):
“Throughout the high-level political forum and these high-level segments, we bring together evidence, innovations and national experiences and turn them into stronger partnership, practical solutions and political momentum for implementation.”
4. Wide shot, General Assembly Hall
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Lok Bahadur Thapa, President of the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC):
“Hope is not strengthened by words alone. It is strengthened when commitments become actions, when principles become policy, when international corporations deliver tangible results, and when people see progress in their daily lives.”
6. Various shots, General Assembly Hall
7. SOUNDBITE (English) António Guterres, UN Secretary-General:
“The ceasefires in Gaza, Lebanon, and the Gulf region must be fully established and respected. And the exercise of navigational rights and freedoms in accordance with international law must be respected.”
8. Wide shot, General Assembly Hall
9. SOUNDBITE (English) António Guterres, UN Secretary-General:
“Our mission is clear: to accelerate progress at scale and speed. By investing in the proven tools of poverty reduction — from education to universal health coverage, energy security, and adaptive social protection systems. By adopting policies that promote decent work, gender equality and technological access. By grounding progress in human rights. And by protecting our planet through climate action, biodiversity conservation and a just transition to renewable energy.”
10. Wide shot, General Assembly Hall
11. SOUNDBITE (English) António Guterres, UN Secretary-General:
“Governments, the private sector, businesses and communities must work together to fill gaps in finance, innovation, infrastructure, capacities and governance. They must join forces and leverage resources to build accountable, equitable, and inclusive institutions that secure clean water and sanitation for all, manage conflicting demands on water, and address the growing risks stemming from unsustainable water use and climate change.”
12. Med shot, Guterres speaking at the podium
13. SOUNDBITE (English) António Guterres, UN Secretary-General:
“Artificial Intelligence must reduce inequalities and mitigate the environmental impacts — not multiply them.”
14. Wide shot, General Assembly Hall
15. SOUNDBITE (English) António Guterres, UN Secretary-General:
“And on partnerships, we must recognize that governments cannot act alone. Development requires all hands on deck — businesses, development banks, innovators, civil society, community leaders and young people. And it requires south-south cooperation, so countries can benefit from shared development expertise and experience without limiting the need for north-south cooperation to continue.”
16. Various shots, General Assembly Hall
17. SOUNDBITE (English) Annalena Baerbock, President of the United Nations General Assembly:
“Yet, as President of the General Assembly, I am calling on you to keep your optimism in this institution's ability to deliver. To never let cynics weaponize our shortcomings to claim now the SDG’s overall irrelevance.”
18. Wide shot, General Assembly
19. SOUNDBITE (English) Annalena Baerbock, President of the United Nations General Assembly:
And that is why my call to you, echoing the Pact for the Future, is this: keep working together - especially in these fragmented times, share your best practices in advancing the SDGs, the solutions are all out there and they are being implemented and help build the momentum we need to deliver for the peoples we serve.”
20. Wide shot, General Assembly Hall
Opening the High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development, Secretary-General António Guterres said, “our mission is clear: to accelerate progress at scale and speed.”
Guterres addressed the ministerial segment of the Forum today (13 Jul) in New York. The UN chief warned that the world is now entering the toughest stretch of its journey. Conflicts are multiplying.
He reiterated, “the ceasefires in Gaza, Lebanon, and the Gulf region must be fully established and respected. And the exercise of navigational rights and freedoms in accordance with international law must be respected.”
Guterres noted that crisis by crisis, the Sustainable Development Goals are drifting further out of reach. Just 36 per cent of the 139 assessable SDG targets are on track or making moderate progress, and 15 per cent have gone into reverse.
He highlighted that need to accelerate progress at scale and speed, by “investing in the proven tools of poverty reduction — from education to universal health coverage, energy security, and adaptive social protection systems. By adopting policies that promote decent work, gender equality and technological access. By grounding progress in human rights. And by protecting our planet through climate action, biodiversity conservation and a just transition to renewable energy.”
Guterres also said, driven by overconsumption, pollution and climate change, the world is using freshwater faster that it can be replenished, with permanent, irreversible effects on many river basins, lakes, aquifers and freshwater ecosystems.
He said, “governments, the private sector, businesses and communities must work together to fill gaps in finance, innovation, infrastructure, capacities and governance,” adding “they must join forces and leverage resources to build accountable, equitable, and inclusive institutions that secure clean water and sanitation for all, manage conflicting demands on water, and address the growing risks stemming from unsustainable water use and climate change.”
The UN chief also stressed, “Artificial Intelligence must reduce inequalities and mitigate the environmental impacts — not multiply them.”
On partnerships, Guterres reiterated, “we must recognize that governments cannot act alone,” adding “development requires all hands on deck — businesses, development banks, innovators, civil society, community leaders and young people. And it requires south-south cooperation, so countries can benefit from shared development expertise and experience without limiting the need for north-south cooperation to continue.”
For his part, President of the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) Lok Bahadur Thapa said, “throughout the high-level political forum and these high-level segments, we bring together evidence, innovations and national experiences and turn them into stronger partnership, practical solutions and political momentum for implementation.”
Ambassador Thapa reiterated, “hope is not strengthened by words alone. It is strengthened when commitments become actions, when principles become policy, when international corporations deliver tangible results, and when people see progress in their daily lives.”
President of the United Nations General Assembly Annalena Baerbock called on the international community to “keep your optimism in this institution's ability to deliver. To never let cynics weaponize our shortcomings to claim now the SDG’s overall irrelevance.”
Echoing the Pact for the Future, Baerbock told the General Assembly, “Keep working together - especially in these fragmented times, share your best practices in advancing the SDGs, the solutions are all out there and they are being implemented and help build the momentum we need to deliver for the peoples we serve.”
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