ExcellenciesDistinguished participants,Ladies and Gentlemen,
It is my great pleasure to welcome you to today’s event on “Connecting All towards the Sustainable Development Goals: Optimizing the Development Impacts of the Belt and Road Initiative”. We are thankful to our co-host, the Government of Georgia. Our sincere gratitude also goes to the distinguished panelists from Azerbaijan, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, and Bangladesh.
Excellencies,
The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development is our common vision for all of humanity. Its 17 universal and integrated goals commit to shared prosperity on a healthy planet that leaves no one, or no country, behind.
The 2030 Agenda underscores the importance of infrastructure connectivity. This is not only critical to integrating countries and communities into the global value chain. It is also a means to enhancing access to quality public services like health and education, and helps in reducing inequality, both within and across countries.
In line with the 2030 Agenda, the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) has emerged as one of the important platforms for development cooperation. Since its inception in 2013, the BRI has evolved to cover five priorities for international cooperation, namely:
However, to harness the opportunities brought by major regional initiatives like the BRI, Member States need to better assess the potential impacts of such initiatives. It will be important to explore and develop integrated policies to optimize their impacts, while managing the potential risks. This will require enhancing the capacity of national policymakers and experts in data collection and analysis. Indeed, evidence-based policy making is critical. But it remains rather limited in most developing countries.
In response to the needs of Member States, the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs has partnered with selected governments to undertake a multi-country project to assess the socio-economic impact of BRI. Funded by the 2030 Agenda Sub-Fund of the UN 国产AV and Development Trust Fund, the project has covered 14 countries across Asia and Europe, in the period of 2018 to 2020.
I am delighted to see that today’s event has brought together representatives from four beneficiary governments of this project. We look forward to hearing your experiences on how data collection and analysis on the impacts of BRI, can inform sustainable development at the national level. By aligning current national planning efforts and development cooperation methodologies with the 2030 Agenda, countries can scale up the means and resources in their pursuit of inclusive, equitable and sustainable development.
Ladies and gentlemen,
The theme of the 2019 High-level Political Forum focuses on "Empowering people and ensuring inclusiveness and equality". It looks into SDG 8 on economic growth and decent work; SDG 10 on reducing inequality, and SDG17 on revitalizing global partnership, among others.
The discussion today will resonate well with this theme and these goals. And it will enhance appreciation of the fundamental requirements of the 2030 Agenda and the means to achieve it.
As we work collectively to implement the 2030 Agenda, let us use this occasion to learn from each other’s innovation. Let us commit once more to delivering on the Sustainable Development Goals and leaving no one behind.
Wish you a fruitful discussion today.
Thank you.
It is my great pleasure to welcome you to today’s event on “Connecting All towards the Sustainable Development Goals: Optimizing the Development Impacts of the Belt and Road Initiative”. We are thankful to our co-host, the Government of Georgia. Our sincere gratitude also goes to the distinguished panelists from Azerbaijan, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, and Bangladesh.
Excellencies,
The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development is our common vision for all of humanity. Its 17 universal and integrated goals commit to shared prosperity on a healthy planet that leaves no one, or no country, behind.
The 2030 Agenda underscores the importance of infrastructure connectivity. This is not only critical to integrating countries and communities into the global value chain. It is also a means to enhancing access to quality public services like health and education, and helps in reducing inequality, both within and across countries.
In line with the 2030 Agenda, the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) has emerged as one of the important platforms for development cooperation. Since its inception in 2013, the BRI has evolved to cover five priorities for international cooperation, namely:
- policy coordination,
- facilities connectivity,
- unimpeded trade,
- financial integration, and
- people-to-people bond.
However, to harness the opportunities brought by major regional initiatives like the BRI, Member States need to better assess the potential impacts of such initiatives. It will be important to explore and develop integrated policies to optimize their impacts, while managing the potential risks. This will require enhancing the capacity of national policymakers and experts in data collection and analysis. Indeed, evidence-based policy making is critical. But it remains rather limited in most developing countries.
In response to the needs of Member States, the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs has partnered with selected governments to undertake a multi-country project to assess the socio-economic impact of BRI. Funded by the 2030 Agenda Sub-Fund of the UN 国产AV and Development Trust Fund, the project has covered 14 countries across Asia and Europe, in the period of 2018 to 2020.
I am delighted to see that today’s event has brought together representatives from four beneficiary governments of this project. We look forward to hearing your experiences on how data collection and analysis on the impacts of BRI, can inform sustainable development at the national level. By aligning current national planning efforts and development cooperation methodologies with the 2030 Agenda, countries can scale up the means and resources in their pursuit of inclusive, equitable and sustainable development.
Ladies and gentlemen,
The theme of the 2019 High-level Political Forum focuses on "Empowering people and ensuring inclusiveness and equality". It looks into SDG 8 on economic growth and decent work; SDG 10 on reducing inequality, and SDG17 on revitalizing global partnership, among others.
The discussion today will resonate well with this theme and these goals. And it will enhance appreciation of the fundamental requirements of the 2030 Agenda and the means to achieve it.
As we work collectively to implement the 2030 Agenda, let us use this occasion to learn from each other’s innovation. Let us commit once more to delivering on the Sustainable Development Goals and leaving no one behind.
Wish you a fruitful discussion today.
Thank you.
File date:
Friday, July 19, 2019