Summit of the Future Action Day (21 September 2024)
The UN Global Compact Network India (UN GCNI) had the honour of participating in the Summit of the Future: Action Days at the United Nations Headquarters in New York. Convened by the UN Secretary-General, this pivotal event brought together global actors—including Member States, civil society, business leaders, youth, and academia—to shape the next phase of the Pact for the Future. Mr. Ratnesh, Executive Director represented UN GCNI, engaging in critical discussions on themes such as A Digital Future for All, A Peaceful Future for All, and A Sustainable Future for All, marking a significant step forward in collaborative global action. To generate additional opportunities for the engagement of all, The Summit of the Future Action Days was organised at the Nations Headquarters in New York.
Day-2
21 September 2024
Secretary-General António Guterres addresses the opening of Summit of the Future Action Day Two.
“The world belongs to us all. People want a say in the decisions that affect them,” said the Secretary-General, and continued: “We have now three milestone texts that are on the table. […] The Pact for the Future must lay the ground for reform. […] The Declaration on Future Generations must commit leaders to take tomorrow into account as they make decisions today. And gender equality and human rights must weave through every aspect of those texts. Reflecting the fact that they are fundamental to every area of life.”
Action Day 2, which coincides with International Day of Peace, focuses on multistakeholder partnership and action – paving a way towards a next chapter of multilateralism that is more inclusive and networked. To achieve this, the Action Day 2 will address three priority themes: A Digital Future for All; A Peaceful Future for All; and A Sustainable Future for All.
The Summit offers a once-in-a-generation opportunity for change. It will pave a way to a better tomorrow that we can only shape together. In support of this vision and objectives, the Secretary-General of the United Nations is convening the Summit of the Future Action Days on 20 and 21 September 2024 to generate additional opportunities for the engagement of all actors.
SESSIONS:
Session 1: Sustainable development in a time of global transformation 10:30-11:25
In the first session of the event, the UN Deputy Secretary-General Ms. Amina Mohammed asserted that the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are “slipping from our grasp” amid cascading global crises, highlighting the need to reform the global financial system. The panelists focused on how we can shift the focus from short-term gains to long-term sustainable development progress, for current and future generations.
Session 2: International Tax Cooperation – A new frontier for inequality reduction 11:25-12:35
The session explored the role of taxation as an instrument to mitigate inequalities to close the financing gaps. Proposals including carbon taxes, levies on fossil fuels, taxing the super-rich, corporate taxation etc. were discussed to address contemporary manifestations of inequality, including post-pandemic economic divergence, climate injustice, rising conflict, and gender inequality.
Session 3: Addressing debt challenges for sustainable development 12:35-13:30
Debt levels in developing countries have risen sharply compounded by high debt servicing and refinancing costs, narrowing the fiscal space for SDG implementation. Ms. Rebeca Grynspan, Costa Rican economist and the Secretary-General of the UN Trade and Development (UNCTAD) was the Keynote speaker outlining the international financial architecture asserted that “more than half of developing countries are spending an all-important portion of their export earnings on debt servicing. This is not just a statistic—it’s a development crisis affecting billions. It means less funding for essential services like health, education & clean water.” The session advocated bolder, multilateral solutions for addressing this problem. It was also highlighted that instead of knee jerk and often adhoc ex post measures a systematic rule based debt relief framework needs to evolve.
Session 4: Scaling up development and climate financing 15:00-16:00 discussed concrete actions to radically scale up development and climate finance to meet the SDG investment needs of developing countries to counteract the highly volatile financial landscape while emphasizing that the most vulnerable are at the heart of financing considerations.
Session 5: International Financial Architecture for the 21st Century 16:00-17:00 addressed how leading multilateral institutions are preparing for the future, the need for an international financial architecture that supports sustainable development, and the risks they must overcome to fulfil the expectations of global citizens, for 2030 and beyond.
