“The Sustainable Development Goals will not be achieved in conference rooms alone. They will be achieved - or not - in our neighbourhoods, our towns, our cities and our regions. Every Sustainable Development Goal ultimately has a local address,” underlined Congress President Gunn Marit Helgesen during her meeting with UN Secretary General António Guterres in New York on 14 July 2026. They both agreed on the importance of including the local dimension in the agenda 2030 and beyond 2030.
The Congress President stressed that sustainable development begins with the local and regional authorities who provide housing, public transport, water and sanitation, public spaces, energy-efficient buildings and the many essential services that determine whether people enjoy a good quality of life. “These ambitions can only be realised through effective multilevel governance and empowered local and regional authorities. Sustainable development is a shared responsibility that requires genuine national-local partnership; local action succeeds when supported by coherent multilevel governance,” she said.
“Sustainable development is not simply about policies. It depends on the quality of the institutions that implement them, the trust citizens place in them, and the democratic legitimacy that allows them to endure. In short, sustainable development requires democratic security to endure,” pointed out Congress Secretary General Mathieu Mori addressing Local and Regional Governments Day in New York. He highlighted the need to make sure that the agenda beyond 2030 is not only more ambitious, but also more democratic: “An agenda that recognises that resilient societies begin with resilient local communities; an agenda that understands that democracy is not an outcome of sustainable development—it is one of its preconditions”.
During the visit to New York on 14-16 July, on the occasion of UN High Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development, the Congress delegation met other UN officials, as well representatives of different international organisations.
