Devex: How off track are the SDGs, exactly? We don’t know, but it might not matter
“The pandemic has set the ambitious, but shaky, Sustainable Development Goals even further off track for completion by 2030. But exactly how badly has COVID-19 derailed progress? As the U.N. General Assembly meets for its 75th session, delegates will be taking stock at a number of forums and high-level meetings looking at how the pandemic has impacted the 17 goals and their 169 targets, which measure indicators on gender equality, education, food insecurity, poverty, health, climate action, and more…” (Lieberman, 9/18).

Devex: ODA influx needed to prevent ‘terrifying’ SDG backslide in fragile states
“With elusive progress on the Sustainable Development Goals in fragile contexts drastically compromised by COVID-19, there is a critical need for effective aid spending, according to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development’s ‘States of Fragility 2020’ report…” (Welsh, 9/18).

U.S. News & World Report: A New World Disorder
“…The U.N. had planned this year’s General Assembly, which began this week and lasts into early October, as an occasion to honor the 75 years since the Allied victors of World War II founded the organization in an effort to avoid the mass destruction of war and spread economic prosperity. But the global coronavirus pandemic has shuttered the U.N.’s midtown headquarters and reduced this year’s General Assembly to a series of online meetings. The muted U.N. celebrations are a telling symbol of how the pandemic and inward-looking domestic politics are threatening to change a long-standing world order defined by increasing global cooperation — with the United States as its standard-bearer…” (Drew, 9/18).

VOA News: Trump Will Not Attend U.N. General Assembly
“White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows said President Donald Trump will not attend the United Nations General Assembly next week. … Many heads of state are sending recorded messages for the virtual gathering, but it was not immediately clear whether Trump would submit a message for the annual event or if he would participate virtually…” (9/18).

Additional coverage of Trump’s decision to not attend the General Assembly meeting in-person is available from POLITICO and USA TODAY.