Виступ делегації України в рамках загальних дебатів Четвертого Комітету ГА ООН

2 жовтня 2023

Mr. Chairman,

At the outset, let me congratulate you, as well as the other members of the Bureau on your election and assure you of our full support.

Today's global environment, dominated by conflicts, pandemics and climate change, poses serious concerns for the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The combination of crises creates side effects for food and energy security, health care, education, the environment, global peace and security, and negatively affects the process of achieving almost all the Sustainable Development Goals.

The war that Ukraine is facing, significantly undermined progress in the implementation of the SDGs at both the national and global levels. This triggered a global cost-of-living crisis at a time when most economies were still trying to recover from the pandemic. Acute supply disruptions caused by the Russian war significantly raised food and energy prices, which affected the most vulnerable sections of the population, primarily in the poorest and developing countries of the Global South.

In other words, just as the Sustainable Development Goals cover all areas of our lives, so war affects all of these areas.

In the past year and a half since the start of the full-scale invasion, millions of Ukrainians have been forced to leave their homes to escape Russian shelling. Hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians currently do not have their permanent home. Studying at school requires a bomb shelter for children. The humanitarian crisis, the destruction of energy and other civilian infrastructure, catastrophic environmental losses – all of this is the face of the war against Ukraine. And all of this at the same time is the face of the lack of progress or regression in the implementation of the Agenda for Sustainable Development caused by this war.

An alarming trend is that many countries are changing their investment policies against the background of war, which forces them to direct more funds to national security and the military sector instead of directing these funds to finance the SDGs, measures to address climate change and other pressing issues.

Let me emphasize that the sooner this war ends and the respect for international law and the UN Charter is restored, the sooner the international community can focus more efforts on funding and promoting the SDGs. The cessation of this war, in which Ukraine is most interested of all countries, will significantly contribute to the stabilization of the situation in the world, make the world safer and significantly bring us closer to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals adopted in 2015.

Today, the reconstruction of the country is the urgent task of the Government of Ukraine, and we are doing this without waiting for the end of the war. The restoration of Ukraine, without exaggeration, is a global world project and requires a complex and long-term approach. At the same time, we consider the restoration of Ukraine not only from the point of view of rebuilding destroyed objects, but rather as a complete transformation of the country according to the principle of "build back better".

Despite the catastrophic consequences of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Ukrainian government continues to carry out reforms in the economic, social and environmental spheres.

We are grateful to our partners for their joint efforts to attract investments for recovery and to initiate medium-term planning for financing the needs for the reconstruction of Ukraine, and we also call on everyone to join in the implementation of these ambitious and vital projects.

Ukraine has been and continues to be firmly committed to the implementation of SDGs at both the national and global levels. We also fully share the concern of international community, in particular the countries of Global South, regarding the need for global economic recovery, and we support efforts to secure and raise financing for sustainable development.

Thank you

Виступи