Prime ministers from Denmark, Norway, Finland, Sweden, and Iceland launched their initiative this week to help accomplish the Sustainable Development Goals, or SDGs, designed by the UN to help the world conquer extreme poverty once and for all.
PM Stefan Löfven of Sweden, PM Lars Løkke Rasmussen of Denmark, PM Erna Solberg of Norway, PM Juha Sipilä of Finland, and PM Bjarni Benediktsson, of Iceland met in Bergen in Norway Monday and Tuesday of this week.
“The initiative – Nordic Solutions to Global Challenges — will be an effective tool in Nordic work to achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals 2030,” said Erna Solberg, Prime Minister of Norway and chair of the Nordic Council of Ministers2017.
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They are working along three themes, the group said in a statement today: Nordic Green, which focuses on sustainable cities, energy solutions, and climate change; the Nordic Gender Effect, aimed at gender equality; and Nordic Food and Welfare, aimed at nutrition, food waste, and sustainable food practices.
“There is great demand to learn from the Nordic countries about investing in gender equality. The region has proven that equal rights for women and men at work generate prosperity, productivity and economic development,” said Julia Fäldt-Wahengo, who came up with the idea for the project, in a statement.
Read More: Everything You Need to Know About the SDGs
While the group has some very serious work ahead of itself, it also found time to have a bit of fun, which many on Twitter took to be a jab at US President Donald Trump.
Five Nordic prime ministers - one vision to reach the #SDGs before the year 2030. https://t.co/SOm5AFaA3F#TheNordics#NordicSolutionspic.twitter.com/r8BtP85oIG
— Nordic Co-operation (@nordenen) May 30, 2017
The prime ministers posed for a photo clutching a Global Goals soccer ball, an apparent reference to a photo of Trump with leaders in Egypt, where they each clasped a glowing orb.
Candidate Trump: I pledge to never touch The Orb of Darkness.
— ian bremmer (@ianbremmer) May 21, 2017
President Trump: pic.twitter.com/j4PIbkM1hJ
A rep from the organization denied the photo was intended to reference the photo of Trump.
"The aim of the photo is to illustrate that Nordic PMs have a joint vision to reach the SDGs before the year 2030," Mary Gestrin, a spokesperson for the group, said in an email. "There was no intentional reference to the picture with President Trump and no intended parody either. The football the ministers are holding has commonly been used in connection with the campaign for the UN 2030 agenda, which was a topic on the prime minister's meeting today."
Regardless, the photo went viral after being shared by a journalist who was at the meetings, which quickly wracked up nearly 10K retweets, and 20K likes on Twitter.
When the Nordic prime ministers are openly mocking #PresidentTrump and the #Saudis .. pic.twitter.com/6G1iOlf2qK
— Steffen (@TVMaury) May 29, 2017
The Sustainable Development Goals were created by the UN to provide a framework to help lift the world’s most vulnerable people out of poverty by the year 2030. They touch on everything from gender equality to climate change, food and hunger to global health. Global Citizen campaigns on the Global Goals year-round.