World leaders have gathered in New York,United States of America for the 78th United Nations General Assembly.Malawi’s Head of State, Lazarus McCarthy Chakwera is one of the 193 world leaders attending this annual event.

Alot has been said about President Chakwera’s trip to New York let alone attending the UN General Assembly.Some quarters in this country have been critical of the whole trip, some have even described the UN General Assembly a “meet and greet” session-insinuating that although member states have been to the UN almost every year except the Covid- 19 year, there is nothing to show for it.

However, it appears that some of those naysayers are speaking from a point of ignorance.In any case, the UN has been helpful to member countries since its formation.

One of the notable feature particularly in the Sub Saharan Africa is the timely peacekeeping intervention whenever conflicts emerge.

In recent years, the UN troops have been to the Democratic Republic of Congo, Sierra Leone and Ivory Coast.The UN through the World Health Organisation has been handy in responding to different pandemics.At the height of Covid-19 pandemic, the UN helped African countries with vaccines to avert further spread of the pandemic. All these interventions would not have been possible if not for the these sessions of the UN General Assemblies that prepare countries for eventualities.

So, every UN General Assembly is uniquely important but some meetings are more important than others. The 78th session in particular is set to tackle issues to do with the Sustainable Developmemt Goals SDG’s.

Developed in 2012 in Rio de Janeiro by the United Nations, the SDGs care sets of goals related to environment, political and economic challenges facing Humanity.

There are 17 goals in total.

In 2015, General Assembly set 2030 as the year most of these SDGs are to be achieved.Over the past decade, member countries have been working towards achieving these goals.

Now, seven years away from 2030, the UN General assembly has decided to review the progress made in the implementation of the goals so far.

Now, how does Malawi come in as an important part of the UN family?

How will Malawi benefit from this year’s UNGA meeting?

Much as the some of the SDGs such as climate change and adaptation,disaster preparedness,universal health and innovation are global challenges,there are goals that are specifically for the Least Developed Countries like Malawi.

Goals like Water and Sanitation Food security (zero hunger).Coincidentally, these are also key thematic areas contained in the Malawi 2063 Agenda.

So, while the focus is the MW 2063, Malawi must be part of the UN family and the immediate term goal must be achieved first before the long term.The SDGs 2030 must be seen as the sprinboard for the MW 2063.

This UN General Assembly was a must for President Chakwera to attend due to the reasons cited.