National statement by the Republic of Latvia at the United Nations High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development, General Debate
16 July 2024, New York
Mr. President, Distinguished colleagues,
We are building a very important bridge – from the SDG Summit last year to the Summit of the Future this year. To achieve progress and to solidify our commitment to the 2030 Agenda and multilateralism, we need a resilient and forward-looking approach.
Current geopolitical context, profound uncertainty and progressive destabilization of the security landscape, are all exacerbating pre-existing vulnerabilities and creating new ones. Russia's unprovoked and illegal military aggression against Ukraine, conflict in Gaza, crises in other parts of the world slow down our achievements.
We cannot talk about sustainable development without full, equal and meaningful involvement of women and girls. This includes all stages of peace processes, conflict prevention, conflict resolution and peacebuilding. Latvia has been a long-standing champion of gender equality and women’s empowerment, including here at the UN where Latvia plays an active role in the CSW and UN Women. We must step up our efforts and recommit to fully achieving SDG5.
Mr. President,
This year is an important milestone to renew and strengthen our joint commitments towards countries in special situations, particularly African countries, LDCs, LLDCs, and SIDS. Latvia took an active part in making SIDS4 Conference in Antigua and Barbuda a success. We are also looking forward to the LLDC3 conference in Botswana later this year and are glad to contribute additional financial means to support it.
The transition towards climate neutral, resilient and nature-positive development must put people first and pay particular attention to supporting those who face the greatest challenges. The existential threats posed by the sea level rise warrants our unified response. The UN Loss and Damage Fund is a crucial instrument to support vulnerable states and should be operationalized before COP29 in Azerbaijan. We intend to contribute to the Fund.
Latvia is pleased with its steady progress of the SDGs. It is ranked the 13th top-performing country. We stand ready to share our best practices, for instance in the area of digital solutions for public administration and civic dialogue. Latvia will continue to champion initiatives that promote digital skills and universal safeguards for digitization.
Distinguished colleagues,
The year 2030 is approaching very fast. Let me underline that Latvia remains committed to work together with other UN Member States in the spirit of solidarity and multilateral cooperation to turbocharge the implementation of 2030 Agenda and its SDGs.
I thank you.