Jamaica’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade Kamina Johnson Smith and François-Philippe Champagne, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Canada, on Tuesday co-chaired a meeting of the United Nations Group of Friends of Sustainable Development Goals Financing.

The meeting brought together ambassadors from across the membership of the United Nations and featured presentations on the climate finance and COVID-19 challenges from Mark Carney, the UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for Climate Action and Finance, and Mahmoud Mohieldin, the UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy on Financing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

It served as a timely push to rally the multilateral system to meet the devastating socio-economic impact that the COVID-19 pandemic is having on countries large and small.

The foreign ministers committed to continue working together to strengthen the multilateral system and to review progress on the COVID19 financing challenge.

The Group of Friends on SDG Financing comprises over 80 UN member states established and led by Jamaica and Canada, focused on mobilising public and private financial resources to support achievement of UN's 2030 Sustainable Development Goals.