New York 17 June, 2026
Statement by His Excellency the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Edmondo Cirielli
Excellencies,
Distinguished Delegates,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
It is a great honor for me to open the SDG 16 Conference 2026, on behalf of Italy.
Italy is proud to co-organize this Conference with UN DESA and IDLO. Since 2019, this partnership has helped keep peace, justice and strong institutions at the center of the international debate on sustainable development.
I also wish to warmly welcome all participants: Member States, international organizations, institutions and civil society.
Your presence is especially meaningful at a time when peace, justice and trust in institutions are under pressure, and when multilateralism must prove its ability to deliver.
The SDGs have improved millions of lives, but the current pace is not enough. Only 35 per cent of the targets are on track or show moderate progress.
This should lead us to a more concrete and pragmatic way of working. With only four years left before 2030, principles remain essential, but they must be followed by implementation.
This year’s theme, “Driving Transformation, and Coordinated Action for Sustainable Development,” responds directly to this challenge.
SDG 16 must be a practical driver of transformation. Justice, transparency, the rule of law, are not simple principles, but concrete enablers.
Strong and inclusive institutions are the very infrastructure on which all development goals are built on.
Predictable legal systems, well-trained civil servants, and transparent tax systems, build trust and civic engagement, strengthen the business climate, mobilize domestic resources for development.
Italy strongly believes in this vision.
This is the second time I have the honor to open this Conference: the first having been in Rome, in 2023. In 2024, the President of the Italian Republic, Sergio Mattarella, opened the following edition of the Conference, the first here in New York. I also had the honor to accompany him on that occasion.
In these years, we have been working to translate this vision into concrete initiatives all around the world. In the perspective of the Mattei Plan for Africa, launched by Prime Minister Meloni, our National School of Administration is training more than 1300 civil servants from Cote d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, Kenya, and Tunisia.
Beyond Africa, our commitment to SDG16 is global. We work closely with key partners such as IDLO, UNDP, and UNIDROIT, to strengthen judicial systems and train experts in the Middle East, the Western Balkans, and Central Asia.
I could also mention what we do in Latin America, Central America, and the Caribbean, including through UNICRI, on the resilience of criminal justice institutions, with recent work in Mexico and Guatemala; or the Falcone and Borsellino Programme, with the Italo-Latin American International Organization.
Finally, Italy’s financial police, the Guardia di Finanza, hosts the OECD Tax Academy to strengthen capacity-building on financial investigations, asset recovery and illicit financial flows.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
with only four years left before 2030, the question is whether we can afford not to invest in peace, justice and strong institutions.
The answer is clear: we cannot. Italy, will continue to do its part
I wish you all a productive and successful Conference. Thank you.
Welcoming remarks by H.E. Amb. Giorgio Marrapodi
Excellencies, Distinguished Delegates, Ladies and Gentlemen,
It is my distinct honor to welcome you to the high-level opening session of the seventh edition of the SDG 16 Conference, organized together with UN DESA and IDLO.
I am particularly pleased to have with us the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of my country, Italy, Edmondo Cirielli.
I am equally honored by the participation today of the President of the General Assembly; the President of the Economic and Social Council, the Deputy Secretary-General, and the UNPD Administrator.
Allow me also to express Italy’s appreciation to our longstanding partners, Under-Secretary-General Li Junhua and the Director-General Jan Beagle, for the outstanding joint work with DESA and IDLO and the commitment through the years in the preparation of this important annual event.
Excellencies,
when the first edition of the Conference was inaugurated in Rome in 2019, I was serving as Director General for Development Cooperation of the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Since the outset, this process was inspired by Italy’s firm belief that peace, justice and strong institutions are crucial enablers of progress across the entire 2030 Agenda. Witnessing how far it has come since then is, for me, a source of great hope for the future.
Indeed, over the years, from Rome to New York, this Conference has grown into the leading global platform on SDG 16.
This year, the legacy of the Rome 2019 Conference has also been reaffirmed by a dedicated Civil Society Forum convened yesterday at the UN HQs – further highlighting the key role of inclusive, multi-stakeholder dialogue in supporting our common goal.
As we move towards 2030 and the implementation of the Pact for the Future and its call for reinvigorating multilateralism, we remain committed to delivering, cognizant of the fact that – as President Mattarella reminded us when he opened the first edition here in New York in 2024 – “peace, inclusion and justice are the cornerstones of sustainable development for every country and every society”.
In this spirit, I wish us all a fruitful and inspiring Conference.
I thank you.
