NEW YORK, 25 JULY – After 23 years Italy returns to the ECOSOC Bureau as Vice President of the third largest body of the United Nations. The election by acclamation of Ambassador Maurizio Massari is the second important recognition in a week, after the appointment to the United Nations Peacebuilding Commission on 21 July.
Chile, Indonesia, Zimbabwe also elected
After the Security Council and the General Assembly, ECOSOC is the third largest body of the United Nations, and the main intergovernmental platform for sustainable development. Italy entered the Bureau for the last time in 1999, when Ambassador Francesco Paolo Fulci was elected President. Massari will hold office until July 2023. It will be a crucial year, preparing the September 2023 Heads of State and Government “Summit on the SDGs”. Chile, Indonesia, and Zimbabwe will sit in the ECOSOC Bureau, together with Italy, under the presidency of Bulgaria. In June 2021, Italy was re-elected to ECOSOC for the period 2022-2024 with 175 preferences obtained (the most voted among Western countries). This is its tenth mandate since the establishment of the Council in 1946.
“High capital of trust”
According to Ambassador Massari, it is a “confirmation of the solid reputation and high capital of trust gained by our country in the field of multilateral diplomacy, of which the recent success of the negotiation between 195 countries led by Italy at the High Level Political Forum for Sustainable Development of the ECOSOC and the important joint work of the Italian Presidency of the G20 with the UN system are emblematic”.
Urgent relaunch of the 2030 Agenda
The Italian vice-presidency’s agenda aims at building on the commitments made in the Ministerial Declaration on the 2030 Agenda’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted by ECOSOC on 18 July: “The relaunch of global action for the Agenda is an urgent priority. We identified the multi-dimensional challenges to be addressed, including the impact of conflict, pandemic and climate change on the SDGs. Food security is one of the most urgent interconnected crises to be faced in light of the war in Ukraine, together with the global economic and energy impact”, in the words of the Ambassador.
Among the priorities of Italy’s work during its vice-presidency will also be the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic, strengthening of global health and access and distribution of vaccines, inclusive and sustainable post-pandemic recovery, climate action, biodiversity, the policies for gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls, education, support for an increased participation of young people, the financing of development and international cooperation, the relaunching of multilateralism. (@OnuItalia)
