Your Majesty Queen Mathilde,
Distinguished Deputy Prime Minister,
Minister of Kingdom of Morocco,
Excellencies,
Distinguished delegates,
Ladies and gentlemen,
Thank you for the invitation to participate in this Ministerial Meeting of the Group of Friends of Decent Work for Sustainable Development.
Decent work is at the heart of social cohesion and an engine of progress towards many SDGs.
Yet, progress on SDG 8 is way off track. In fact, the ILO has said that we are almost as far from the target today as we were in 2015.
But world leaders and stakeholders have acknowledged this gap and have pledged to do better.
So far, at the SDG Summit, leaders have given strong acknowledgement of the role that decent work must play in shaping the inclusive, resilient and sustainable future we want.
We must turn these acknowledgements into action, linking key energy, economic and digital transitions to skills development and job creation, and transforming education to build the innovative and socially minded thinkers and doers that will power our world tomorrow.
Your Majesty,
Excellencies,
Ladies and gentlemen,
The Secretary-General has proposed the convening of a World Social Summit in 2025, which many Member States have welcomed.
A 2025 Social Summit would coincide with the 30th anniversary of the 1995 World Summit for Social Development held in Copenhagen, an important milestone in the history of sustainable development.
Decent work is at the core of the Copenhagen Declaration and Programme of Action - along with poverty eradication and social inclusion – a framework that continues to guide our vision of sustainable development on the road to 2030.
The UN Secretariat is committed to accelerate the implementation of 2023 Agenda and will continue to be guided by the deliberations of the General Assembly on a World Social Summit and follow the lead of Member States on next steps.
Thank you for your attention.