The General Debate of the 78th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) is scheduled to kick off on Tuesday at the UN headquarters in New York.

Heads of state and government, as well as high-level representatives from 193 member states of the UN will express their positions and propose solutions on key issues such as advancing Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), responding to the climate crisis, and easing the deteriorating security situation.

Here are three main focuses of the general debate and its related high-level events.

SDGs call for new impetus

According to the SDGs Report 2023: Special Edition, among the 169 specific goals, only 12 percent are making progress as expected. About half of the goals are making insufficient progress, and more than 30 percent of the goals have stagnated or regressed.

Poor progress on the SDGs is a global concern. In recent years, many countries have encountered severe development challenges, especially after the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, including heavy debt burdens, poverty and surge in hunger.

The 2023 SDG Summit will be held on Monday and Tuesday, where the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its 17 SDGs will be reviewed, aiming to provide high-level political guidance for relevant actions taken to achieve the goals.

"The SDG Summit must become a moment of global unity and inject new impetus into achieving the SDGs," UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres once said.

Achieving the SDGs faces multiple complex and interrelated challenges, including climate disasters, political instability and conflict, global economic recession, insufficient finance, inequality, inadequate technology and insufficient global cooperation.

During this general debate of the UNGA, leaders and high-level representatives from various countries will share their views and propose solutions on issues such as financial system reform, debt relief, and development financing.

Climate crisis is a pressing concern

The climate crisis is an urgent global issue involving climate change and its wide-ranging environmental, social and economic impacts, including increasing temperatures and heat waves, rising sea levels, extreme weather, loss of biodiversity and impacts on health.

Since taking office as the UN secretary-general, Guterres has frequently issued warnings about the climate crisis.

Climate impacts threaten to reverse many of the achievements made in improving quality of life over the past few decades, he has said, adding that the climate crisis represents the most typical global governance problem of the era, and most powerful and urgent action is necessary.

From June to October last year, Pakistan experienced unprecedentedly heavy monsoon rains, with historic floods covering nearly one-third of the country. The disaster again reminds the international community of the pressing need to combat climate change.

Although global leaders have proposed a slew of solutions to address climate change over the years, the crisis has not yet been significantly alleviated.

At a time when high temperature records are being broken in many parts of the world and climate disasters are becoming more frequent, it is expected that leaders of more countries will express stronger and clearer positions on this issue that is directly related to human survival.

Restoring peace is urgent

Increasingly fierce geopolitical competition, ideological opposition, and competition for resources have made the international security situation fragile over the years.

"As we look around the globe today, 27 armed conflicts continue to devastate lives. The number of conflict-related deaths has reached a 28-year high and over 100 million people have been forcibly displaced," Csaba Korosi, president of the 77th session of the UNGA, told a joint debate on the UN Peacebuilding Commission and the Peacebuilding Fund, on July 24, 2023.

How to ease geopolitical tensions and stop conflicts will be the focus of leaders of various countries at this general debate.

In a world rife with grave crisis and divisions, cooperation is the only option, Guterres once said.