Conference call: An inside look at UNGA 75

NEW YORK — The United Nations General Assembly’s 75th session officially kicked off this week, with less visible political drama in the virtual format but just as much at stake during the high-level events and speeches. With the coronavirus pandemic looming over the mostly online proceedings, the growing risks of climate change, fractured multilateralism, and worsening development trends guided many of the high-level conversations throughout the week, explained Devex reporters Amy Lieberman and Michael Igoe in a conference call for Devex Pro subscribers about the highlights of the week. The Sustainable Development Goals, already unsteady before the pandemic, have fallen further off track as a result of COVID-19 — but by how much, exactly, remains unknown. And the global campaign to upgrade the U.N., making it fit for purpose for the next several decades, has taken on new urgency but also new challenges. While U.S. President Donald Trump played the blame game with China over the spread of COVID-19, Chinese President Xi Jinping and other world leaders stressed the need for more international collaboration. U.N. chief António Guterres, one of the only speakers to deliver his address in person, offered an “apocalyptic” view of geostrategic tensions and other threats, according to Igoe. “Hearing from a secretary-general who’s willing to describe the broken state of international cooperation — at the same time that he is supposed to be the person who’s leading those efforts — has been striking, and it’s something that’s continued throughout the week as well,” Igoe said in the call. “High-level speeches that we followed reinforced that status quo.” Highlights from this conference call include: • A look inside the United Nations’ 75th anniversary. • Takeaway messages from world leaders’ annual speeches to the GA. • Understanding progress and setbacks on the SDGs. • Development financing and the pandemic’s impact on new funding trends. • How going virtual impacted UNGA week. Speakers: • Amy Lieberman, U.N. correspondent, Devex. • Michael Igoe, senior reporter, Devex. Moderator: • Deborah Charles, managing editor, Devex. Have follow-up questions? Send them to webinars@devex.com.