HLPF Ministerial Declaration 2026: CANZ Explanation of Position
Statement by H.E. Ms. Beth Delaney, Ambassador and Chargé d'affaires of Australia to the United Nations
15 July 2026
I am honoured to speak on behalf of Canada, New Zealand and my own country Australia.
We thank the co-facilitators, the Permanent Representatives of Albania and Sierra Leone – and the Secretariat, for their dedication over a long and challenging negotiation.
At a high level the Declaration includes important messages on sustainable development, retains support for countries in special situations, including SIDS, and reflects a shared commitment to the 2030 Agenda.
That said, CANZ is disappointed by aspects of the process and the outcome.
CANZ consistently advocated for a concise, focused and impactful declaration – one that was accessible and understood by our communities, and our political leaders.
Frankly, we have not achieved this.
We are disappointed with negotiations that were too long, marked by disruptive and poor-faith practices.
These actions made sustained engagement and bridge-building difficult.
CANZ worked constructively to propose and defend meaningful language on gender equality and climate change, recognising that neither issue is peripheral to sustainable development – they are fundamental to it.
We are disappointed that, over the course of three months of negotiations, and six full readings, ambition across these important cross cutting issues was gradually and consistently weakened.
This weakening has unfortunately continued today – with the amendment to delete reference to the UAE Consensus. The UAE Consensus represents the most recent globally agreed commitments to accelerate the energy transition and improve energy efficiency. These are directly relevant to achieving SDG targets 7.2 and 7.3 and should be in today’s Declaration.
We also wish to put on record that we view the Rio Principles as a package, with no single principle taking precedence over others, and that we do not regard the formula in paragraph 17 as setting a precedent for other UN processes.
We hope that as 2030 draws near we can genuinely reflect on how we negotiate this document in the final three years to 2030 – we owe it to our Ministers, to our publics and to the most vulnerable – for whom the SDGs are so very critical - to be future looking, ambitious, and impactful.
We regret that this document did not achieve that this year.
I thank you.