The Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, today announced that he will travel to New York City, United States of America, from September 19 to 21, 2023, to participate in the 78th Session of the United Nations (UN) General Assembly. He will work closely with our global partners to build a better world for everyone, including by advocating for ambitious climate action, global security, democracy, human rights, and access to health care.
As Co-Chair of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Advocates group, the Prime Minister will speak at the SDG Summit, where he will reiterate Canada’s leadership and commitment to implementing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development – the global framework for achieving an equal, peaceful, and prosperous future – at home and abroad.
To drive global action on climate change and build a clean, healthy world for future generations, the Prime Minister will convene leaders at a Global Carbon Pricing Challenge event to demonstrate the powerful role that pollution pricing can play in helping achieve our climate goals, while making life more affordable for people. The Prime Minister will also advance ocean-based climate action and ocean protection that supports sustainable livelihoods for coastal and Indigenous communities at the Ocean Panel leaders’ meeting.
Prime Minister Trudeau will also continue to position Canada as a reliable and consistent advocate for developing countries’ needs and priorities during his participation in the High-level Dialogue on Financing for Development to assess progress on the Addis Ababa Action Agenda. He will emphasize the importance of working together to reform the financial architecture and improve access to financing for emerging economies and developing countries in the wake of the pandemic and in the face of concurrent global crises like the impacts of climate change.
While in New York, the Prime Minister will host a discussion to identify ways in which the international community can provide concrete support for Haitian-led solutions to the ongoing crisis and help foster sustainable development. The event will be an important platform to strengthen and enhance international coordination efforts in Haiti as political instability, high levels of insecurity and armed violence, extreme inflation, and the cholera outbreak continue to worsen the ongoing crisis in the country.
The Prime Minister will meet with partners from around the world to strengthen ties, advance key shared priorities, and reiterate support for Ukraine as it defends its sovereignty and territorial integrity in the face of Russia’s illegal and unjustifiable war of aggression.
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“When it comes to addressing the global challenges of our time, like climate change and conflict that is driving up inflation and the cost of living, it is critical that we work together. I look forward making real progress with international partners at the United Nations to build a better world, fight climate change, protect our oceans, and defend democracy now and into the future.”
Quick Facts
- The Canadian delegation to the United Nations (UN) General Assembly will include Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mélanie Joly, Minister of International Development, Ahmed Hussen, and Minister of Environment and Climate Change, Steven Guilbeault.
- Canada has been active at the UN since its creation in 1945 and played a key role in drafting the UN Charter, an international treaty that sets out basic principles of international relations.
- Today, Canada continues to support the UN by actively participating in the organization’s activities and providing financial support.
- Canada is the eighth-largest contributor to the UN with an annual assessed contribution to the UN system of CAD $370 million, including CAD $199 million for peacekeeping.
- In May 2020, the Prime Ministers of Canada and Jamaica, alongside the Secretary-General of the United Nations, launched the Financing for Development in the Era of COVID-19 and Beyond Initiative, a series of leader-level meetings to develop concrete solutions for developing countries facing challenges accessing financing to respond to situations like climate-related disasters.
- In 2015, Canada joined all UN Member States in adopting ambitious goals for sustainable development, as outlined in Transforming our World: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The 2030 Agenda centres on a set of 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), encompassing the social, economic, and environmental dimensions of sustainable development. Taken together, the SDGs aim to improve the lives of all people, while protecting the planet.
- Moving Forward Together: Canada’s 2030 Agenda National Strategy, builds upon 30 actions and 5 core principles to create and foster an enabling environment for ongoing dialogue and participation to encourage Canadians to take action to realize the SDGs for everyone.
- In 2021, Canada launched the Global Carbon Pricing Challenge to expand the use of pollution pricing by strengthening existing systems and supporting emerging ones. The Challenge also serves as a forum for dialogue and coordination to make pricing systems more effective and compatible and to support other countries in adopting carbon pricing and cutting emissions on the path to net-zero by 2050.
- The High-level Debate (HLD) on Financing for Development takes place every four years to assess progress on the Addis Ababa Action Agenda (2015) and provide leadership on how to accelerate implementation of the 2030 Agenda and the SDGs. In September 2019, Canada and Ghana co-facilitated the UN’s first HLD on Financing for Development.
- Over the past decade, Canada has been at the forefront of financing for development discussions at the UN. Canada has co-chaired the UN Group of Friends of SDG Financing since 2016. In May 2020, the Prime Ministers of Canada and Jamaica, alongside the Secretary-General of the United Nations, launched the Financing for Development in the Era of COVID-19 and Beyond Initiative.
- In 2022, Prime Minister Trudeau was named co-chair of the UN SDG Advocates group by UN Secretary-General António Guterres, with Prime Minister of Barbados, Mia Mottley. SDG Advocates work to raise global awareness of the SDGs and the need for accelerated action by using their respective platforms. Advocates include academics, politicians, artists, musicians and more, from around the world.