Guterres names Turkey’s Hamdi Ulugaya as ‘advocate’ for SDGs

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Wednesday announced the appointment of Turkish businessman Hamdi Ulukaya as an “advocate” for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

In a statement, Guterres said he was pleased to welcome Ulugaya to the group of advocates for the SDGs, which are a “global blueprint” for building a healthy, green and sustainable future by 2030.

“With time running out and many crises derailing us further, we must do everything we can to achieve the SDGs,” the UN chief stressed.

The Sustainable Development Goals Advocates Group was officially launched on January 21, 2016 at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. It was created by 17 individuals who assist the UN SG in its campaign to achieve the SDGs.

For his part, Ulugaya said he was honored to join the United Nations SDG Advocates, a “distinguished group of leaders, thinkers and activists” who “expressed his commitment to shaping the future and working towards a healthy, safe and prosperous world for our children.”

Hamdi Ulugaya is an entrepreneur, activist and philanthropist with a commitment to the global integration of refugees and access to good quality food for all, the UN. His foundation, the Tent Partnership for Refugees, is mobilizing the private sector. 25 million refugees worldwide.

At the annual High-Level Policy Forum on Sustainable Development held in New York last week, Guterres acknowledged that the SDGs are going through a “rough patch” because of the crises and uncertainty that have rocked many parts of the world.

Achieving the SDGs requires $4.3 billion a year, “more money than ever,” he said, explaining that the international community is simply not keeping the commitments it has made.

To tackle these crises, Antonio Guterres stressed the need to ensure universal and equitable access to anti-Covid vaccines, to address the current food, energy and financial crisis, and to invest in human capital. He added that it would accelerate efforts for ambitious climate action.

17 Sustainable Development Goals were adopted by world leaders at the historic Sustainable Development Summit in September 2015. These goals mobilize efforts to combat all forms of poverty, inequality and poverty around the world, and to ensure that by 2030, climate change, no one. left behind.