Meeting on ECFA’s contribution to the upcoming Summit of the Future on the sidelines of the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly

On April 16, 2024, and in connection with the previous meeting held by ECFA on February 28, 2024, ECFA organized another meeting with a number of its members to discuss the Summit of the Future scheduled to be held on September 22 and 23, on the sidelines of the 79th annual session of the United Nations General Assembly. This meeting comes within ECFA’s ongoing efforts to effectively participate in this Summit, through its civil society, alongside the concerned official state agencies.

ECFA prepared a paper as part of its contribution to this summit within the framework of the vision of Secretary-General Antonio Guterres “Our Common Agenda”, in order to adopt multilateral solutions for a better future for humanity. Accordingly, the meeting discussed this paper, building on it, and coming up with recommendations that can be presented at the conference which the United Nations invited non-governmental organizations to participate in, which was held in Nairobi on May 9-10, 2023, in order to exchange views and ideas regarding this summit.

The meeting discussed the stages of preparation for the Summit, as it was noted that negotiations are being held on the summit regarding many controversial issues such as human rights and unilateral coercive measures, gender, youth, peace and security, technology, and the principle of shared responsibility, clarifying that developing countries are concerned with various issues such as financing, debt and financial facilitations and justice, and the growing rejection of peacekeeping and peacebuilding forces in the African continent. In this context, it was noted that it is important to address issues such as the blue and green economy for sustainable development, key terrorism issues in the African continent, and ethnic and ideological issues.

As for “Our Common Agenda”, the importance of the role of youth in the public sphere, environmental, climate and outer space issues, and the UN 2.0 Quintet of Change on innovation, digital transformation and sustainable development, were emphasized. In addition to the importance of investing in the opportunity of appointing a Special Envoy for Future Generations.

In this context, the Summit’s success  requires commitment to its objectives, timetable, political will and trust among states and between states and the United Nations, strengthening non-selective collective security, supporting non-parallel multilateralism, focusing attention on sustainable development goals and funding them adequately to achieve the desired outcomes. During the meeting, the participants stressed the importance of highlighting the role of Egyptian civil society in this regard, similarly to the intensive activity of civil society organizations in other countries, especially South Africa.