Deputy Secretary-General, at Partnership Forum, Urges Concrete Action, Clearer Accountability, Less Duplication to Realize 2030 Agenda

Following are UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed's remarks, as prepared for delivery, at the 2026 Economic and Social Council Partnership Forum, in New York today:

It is an honour to join you for the opening of the 2026 Economic and Social Council Partnership Forum.

We are here for a simple reason: because the 2030 Agenda cannot be delivered by Governments alone, or civil society alone, or the private sector alone.

The scale of what we face demands something different: partnerships that pool resources, expertise and political will to deliver results. This forum exists because the Economic and Social Council understood the necessity of partnership from its inception, and for 80 years, this Council has advanced progress by bringing the right actors together.

Last week, we marked that anniversary and we reflected on eight decades of achievement: drafting the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and championing its fulfilment, driving the Millennium Development Goals and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, fostering inclusive dialogue across Governments, civil society, academia, the private sector and communities.

Nearly 6,500 non-governmental organizations (NGOs) now hold Economic and Social Council accreditation. That represents decades of work to ensure diverse voices shape the decisions that affect us all.

This legacy matters now because of the tests we will be facing over the next five years. You have heard us say time and again that progress on the 2030 Agenda is alarmingly off track. You have also heard the numbers that underpin that alarm, let me remind you of just a few: 2.2 billion people still lack safe drinking water; poverty reduction has largely stalled as extreme poverty today remains close to its 2015 level; global hunger levels today exceed those of 2015; Africa carries 85 per cent of the global electricity deficit.

Goal 5 on gender equality is likely to be missed. About 3 billion people cannot afford adequate housing, while more than 1 billion live in slums without basic services. The bottom line is that developing countries face an annual Sustainable Development Goal financing gap of more than $4 trillion.

But, we have wind at our backs. Recent months brought us the Sevilla Commitment on Financing for Development and the Doha Political Declaration from the World Social Summit. Both are clear on one point: closing these gaps will not happen through statements. It will happen through country-led partnerships that are transparent about who is doing what, financed at scale and held to results.

Partnerships are the practical engine for that work. They are how financing reaches projects and how delivery is coordinated. We know this works because we have seen it work. Since 2015, electricity has reached 92 per cent of the global population. AIDS-related deaths have been cut in half. More than 100 million children and youth have gained access to education. These gains happened because the right actors converged around shared goals with shared purpose.

At last year's high-level political forum, 37 countries presented voluntary national reviews. They showed how implementation is accelerating, increasingly through consultations with civil society, youth, academia, Indigenous groups and local communities.

Today, you will focus on four goals under review at this year's high-level political forum: partnerships for the goals, clean water and sanitation, affordable energy, industry and innovation, and sustainable cities. Think of these as infrastructure for everything else - health, education, jobs, climate action all depend on getting these fundamentals right.

The partnerships you form here, the insights you share, will feed directly into the Economic and Social Council Coordination Segment tomorrow and the high-level forum political forum in July.

As you know, you are meeting at a moment when Member States are preparing to review the Economic and Social Council and the high-level political forum, in parallel to the UN80 Initiative, two closely connected tracks both in purpose and direction.

Use what you hear today to be specific about what needs to improve: clearer accountability for partnerships, less duplication, better data on what is working and faster pathways from commitment to financing and implementation.

The United Nations is already putting these principles into practice. Our resident coordinators and country teams are leveraging their convening power to align sectors, partners and resources behind coherent national priorities, strengthening national partnership capacities and delivering coordinated support across sectors.

The Economic and Social Council has spent 80 years proving that partnerships generate both capacity and momentum. What you share here should not stay in this room. Countries and communities know what they need. Our role is to support that knowledge, amplify it, and help sustain it.

We have five years. That is enough time to show real movement if we are clear about roles, honest about constraints and serious about follow-through. I look forward to the concrete actions that will emerge from your discussions today.