Georgian First Deputy Foreign Minister David Zalkaliani took part in the Ministerial meeting of the United Nations High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development, held under the ECOSOC aegis, on 18-20 July 2016, in New York. On 18 July, David Zalkaliani delivered a speech at the HLPF general debates.  

It should be noted that the High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development is United Nations central platform for the follow-up and review of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Sustainable Development Goals. The theme of the 2016 HLPF is “Ensuring that no one is left behind”, which is also a central promise of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

In his speech, David Zalkaliani focused on the need to protect all groups of the population and highlighted Georgia’s efforts directed towards the integration of minorities. The First Deputy Foreign Minister underlined that when implementing the sustainable development goals one should remember the internally displaced persons, who are not able to return to their homes. David Zalkaliani also spoke about the needs of the IDPs and refuges from Georgia’s occupied regions and about the continued violations of the fundamental human rights of people living in the occupied territories, including, restrictions on access to education in the native language and free movement.   Davit Zalkaliani paid special attention to the murder of Giga Otkhozoria in the village of Khurcha.
 
On 19 July, in the frames of the High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development, David Zalkaliani presented the first National Voluntary Review on the steps Georgia has been taking in terms of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.