Opening Statement by H.E. Mr. Mher Margaryan, Chair of the Integration Segment, Vice President of ECOSOC, Permanent Representative of Armenia to the UN, at the ECOSOC Integration Segment

06 July, 2020

Excellencies,

Distinguished Delegates and Participants,

I am pleased to welcome you to the 2020 ECOSOC Integration Segment. I would like to express my solidarity to all those who have been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic and to extend my deepest condolences to the families, communities and countries that have been devastated by the loss of lives due to the pandemic.

In light of the limitations imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic on in-person meetings and international travel, and as per guidance of the UN Medical Director, the Integration Segment meets in virtual format.

The Integration Segment will feature heads of specialized agencies and UN funds and programmes, as well as subsidiary bodies’ chairs. Member States will be invited as lead discussants. Brief presentations/case studies of UN system success stories in integrated approaches to support countries in preparedness, response and recovery will be addressed. These together with inputs received by the ECOSOC subsidiary bodies, as well as a compilation of key messages from these bodies will be posted on the ECOSOC Integration Segment website.

We are going through extraordinary times, and the ECOSOC Integration Segment programme has been adjusted to reflect our realities today. It is a scaled-down programme with a strong focus on overcoming the human crisis and recovering better from the COVID-19 pandemic. The Segment will address the theme of ECOSOC and the High-level Political Forum on “Accelerated action and transformative pathways: realizing the decade of action and delivery for sustainable development”. To do this, we will bring together the expertise and analysis of the ECOSOC and the broader United Nations system.

The implications of the COVID-19 pandemic have gone beyond the health sector, affecting all the Sustainable Development Goals. Realizing the decade of action and delivery for sustainable development, as envisioned in the Political Declaration of the 2019 SDG Summit, will depend on our policy choices today and our resolve to act together in solidarity. We need immediate collective action to respond to the devastating socio-economic consequences of the pandemic. The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its 17 goals are more important than ever to guide our recovery efforts and make our countries and communities more inclusive, equal and resilient.

We must keep in mind that the Political Declaration of the 2019 SDG Summit identified ten priority areas where we need urgent action to accelerate the implementation of the 2030 Agenda. These priority areas, in particular leaving no one behind and strengthening institutions for more integrated solutions, are highly pertinent to our discussions today. We must also explore ways to unleash the transformative potential of the 2030 Agenda through the six entry points identified in the 2019 Global Sustainable Development Report – namely human well-being and capabilities; sustainable and just economies; food systems and nutrition patterns; energy decarbonization with universal access; urban and peri-urban development; and global environmental commons.

On this basis, together, we will explore integrated solutions and actions for preparedness, response and recovery in the context of COVID-19 pandemic. I look forward to all contributions on how we can overcome the silo approaches and address the trade-offs involved as we explore accelerated actions and transformative pathways to put our countries back on track to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.

Our discussions will help prepare the thematic reviews of the high-level political forum on sustainable development, whose meeting is starting tomorrow. They will also provide messages from ECOSOC that will help increase the coherence and coordination of the subsidiary bodies the UN system at large.

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