The theme of this year's HLPF was "Accelerating recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic and the full implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development at all levels". In his report, UN Secretary-General António Guterres states that the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals is now in serious jeopardy. His report also calls for the upcoming SDG Summit ( 18-19 September 2023) to be truly groundbreaking, to mobilize political commitment and to contribute to addressing the historical injustice against developing countries. The SDG Summit should adopt the so-called Rescue Plan for People and Planet.

DM Radim Sršeň, HLPF UN, NY, July 2023

The Secretary General also called on Member States to declare ambitious plans and commitments during the upcoming SDG Summit. The President of the 77th session of the UN General Assembly, Csaba Kőrösi, then called for the identification of risk factors and the proposal of truly transformative measures based on scientific evidence. Hoesung Lee, Chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), pointed to the close link between the impacts of climate change to sustainable development, arguing that the Sustainable Development Goals cannot be achieved without meeting climate commitments. UN Secretary-General's Climate Change Advisory Group representative Jevanic Henry and SDG 7 Youth Advisory Group representative Asma Rouabhia as youth representatives then called for meaningful youth participation in decision-making processes in the implementation of the 2030 Agenda.

The Czech Republic's delegation to HLPF 2023 was formed by representatives of the Ministry of Regional Development, the Ministry of Environment and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The head of the delegation was Radim Sršeň, Deputy Minister for Regional Development, who presented a keynote speech on the thematic review of SDG11  during the general debate and actively participated in a number of side events.