Engagement Opportunities in the lead up to WSSD2 2025

The meeting will be held during the 86th session of the Committee on Urban Development, Housing and Land Management (Geneva, 8-10 October 2025) and will address challenges related to housing affordability and other topical issues such as sustainability, and energy-efficiency of housing. Ministers will be invited to agree on pledges or practical commitments in this regard.

This meeting brings together city leaders from all the UN regions for facilitating dialogue among cities, member States and international organizations. UNECE had transmitted to the UN Secretary General the outcome statement adopted by the Forum of Mayors at its 4th meeting, « the Cities Summit for the Future » (Geneva, 30 September-1 October 2024), which highlighted the essential role and concrete commitments of local and regional governments in implementing the Pact of the Future, including its action 6. The City leaders recalled inter alia that local and regional governments are guardians of public trust and in the position to ensure equity and resilience through the provision of public services and social protection systems.

The meeting is being programed as moment to analyze a position paper prepared by ECLAC on the evolution of inclusive social development in LAC since Copenhagen and to exchange the preparatory documents of the WSSD2 and complement the views among Social Development Ministries as a contribution to the countries' presentations at the Summit

Organized by the League of Arab States in collaboration with ESCWA and other UN partners.
Ministerial discussion that will focus on the priorities of the Arab region within the framework of WSSD2, and on the most pressing social development issues facing the region in light of the geopolitical developments

Organized by ESCWA with a focus on social protection and its impact on the SDGs in the context of lead-up to WSS2. Multiple preparatory meetings of the Arab working group on social protection will be engaged on WSS2 preparations (February in Riyadh and June in Algiers).

Regional seminar to discuss poverty, hunger and inequality issues in LAC to be considered for the Summit discussion. Two special sessions are scheduled for high level discussions among representatives of groups on countries and among DESA and the RC Executive Secretaries.

Organized by ESCWA and UNRISD, the meeting will bring together a wide range of stakeholders such as experts, activists, researchers, and academics to present Arab perspectives on inclusive development, justice, poverty eradication, decent work, climate adaptation, digital transformations, social contract renewal, and other pressing development issues. The outcomes of this dialogue will contribute to the Summit through a policy brief summarizing regional insights and proposals, in line with similar consultations in other world regions.

Regional seminar to analyze the multiple dimensions of social inequality in LAC, as an interinstitutional discussion to feed the regional proposals on inclusive social development to be considered in the WSSD2.

Organized by ESCWA in collaboration with partner UN agencies and the League of Arab States . The Forum will include a high-level ministerial discussion “On the road to WSSD2”, actionable recommendations for the region will derive from the session

Organized by the Arab NGO Network for Development, Engaging CSOs and youth in WSSD2 regional preparations

Multistakeholder meeting to review SDG progress in the UNECE region (Europe, North America, Central Asia, Israel) and exchange on acceleration actions; civil society consultation (1 April): self-organized and inclusive consultation coordinated by the regional civil society engagement mechanism. Both the RFSD and the preparatory civil society consultation will discuss issues closely related to the Second World Summit for Social Development, such as social and economic inclusion as part of the in-depth review of SDGs 3, 5 and 8. Inputs could feed into the summit through various channels, including inputs by member States, UN system and civil society.

In the context of the Sustainable Development Forum of LAC, this panel is proposed as a moment to share the views and proposals from LAC countries, represented by Chile and Brazil (current and upcoming Presidents of the RCSDLAC) with the DSG Amina Mohammed and the USG Li Junhua, and the ECLAC Executive Secretary, Jose Manuel Salazar Xirinachs.

The objective of the meeting is to discuss the final draft of the countries' report sharing views and proposals from social development ministries of the region , which will be presented to the World Summit for Social Development.

Organized by the Executive Bureau of the Council of Ministers of Labor and Social Affairs of the GCC States in cooperation with ESCWA. Meeting among representatives from ministries of labour, social development and foreign affairs of the GCC countries to discuss the Food for Thought paper.

ESCWA’s Executive Secretary briefed Arab Permanent Representatives on the various regional preparatory processes for WSSD2 during CsocD63.

The forthcoming policy brief will include a conceptual discussion and policy proposals on inclusive social development, prepared by ECLAC to feed the views and discussions of the Summit (internal discussions)