Circular
27/2023
Barcelona, 28 July 2023
 
To the members of the World Council
To the Secretaries General
To the Vice-Presidents of United Cities and Local Governments
To the Chairs of UCLG Committees, Working Groups, Communities of Practice and Fora

For information: To the Presidency


SDG Summit: Latest up-dates 
New York, 16-19 September 2023

 

Dear members,

We are writing to you to provide you with up-dates on the 2023 SDG Summit.
 
As you know, the 2023 SDG Summit will be held on Monday 18 September and Tuesday 19 September in New York at the United Nations Headquarters with the Summit’s SDG Action Weekend including special events and initiatives taking placing on Saturday 16 September, Mobilization Day, and Sunday 17 September, Acceleration Day.
 
 
LOCAL AND REGIONAL GOVERNMENTS FORUM - 16 September - New York
 
As in previous years, UCLG, on behalf of the Global Taskforce of Local and Regional Governments (GTF), is coordinating the participation of our constituency within the SDG Summit and HLPF held under the auspices of the General Assembly in September 2023. 
 
As you know, a Local and Regional Governments Forum will be taking place within the SDG Summit’s Mobilization Day at the United Nations Headquarters on Saturday 16 September, organized fully in-person.
 
The SDG Summit is set to mark the beginning of a new phase of acceleration in the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals placing a strong focus on closing the gap to implementation through High-Impact Initiatives, which facilitate transformative progress and mobilize partnerships, leadership and investment in the SDGs. With this in mind, the Local and Regional Government Forum, organized by the GTF, UN-DESA, UN-Habitat, UNDP and Local 2030, will focus on announcing new commitments towards bringing SDG implementation back on track, as well as highlighting high-impact localization policies, coalitions and partnerships for the goals currently in place and localization needs and challenges. You can find the concept note and program for reference here.


 
HIGH-IMPACT LOCALIZATION INITIATIVES
 
Within this context, we reiterate our invitation for you to collaborate with us and feed into the High-Impact Localization Platform to ensure that our constituency’s commitments mark our global strategies towards the SDG Summit by identifying a flagship public policy from your local government, regional government or association and define how it contributes to one of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals. The proposed policy should be forward-looking and transformative.
 
Please also be informed and save the date of an event organized by the Local2030 Coalition focusing on High-Impact Initiatives held on Sunday 17 September.
 
 
REGISTRATION
 
As is usually the case, UCLG will act as an umbrella organization for the constituency for the registration to the SDG Summit.
 
The UN has informed that registration for the SDG Action Weekend (16 and 17 September), including for the Local and Regional Governments Forum, is expected to open in mid-August and close the first week of September. As is usually the case, space remains limited and accreditation through your national government is highly recommended.
 
The UN has also informed that a separate, more restricted, registration process will be put in place for the formal sessions of the SDG Summit on 18 and 19 September. Once we have further details, we will inform you.
 
 
COMMUNICATION CAMPAIGN #ACT4SDGs
 
Every September, our partner UN SDG Action Campaign and other key partners mobilize millions of people around the world to take action on the SDGs. We encourage you to join the campaign #Act4SDGs. We have worked on a Trello board that you can access here, where you can produce communication materials with an identity that articulates #Listen2Cities with #Act4SDGs. Please also don't forget to register your High-Impact Localization Policies to Close the Gap and ensure you are part of the global strategy towards the SDG Summit!
 
 
FOR ACTION
 
Please inform the World Secretariat if you plan on traveling to New York and participating within the 2023 SDG Summit and UN High-Level Political Forum in September.
 
As a reminder, please also note that the situation regarding accommodation and hotels in New York will be very complicated during these dates and that for this reason, offering group bookings will not be possible. We therefore suggest that you start to arrange your hotel reservations as soon as possible.
 
 
We will follow up with more information once available. We remain at your disposal for any questions you might have. Do not hesitate writing to us at policy@uclg.org.

Sincerely,

The UCLG World Secretariat