Excellencies,
Distinguished guests,
Ladies and gentlemen,
It is an honour to address the first High-Level Meeting of the Forum on Global Action for Shared Development.
In the two years since President Xi put forward the Global Development Initiative (GDI) at the 76th session of the General Assembly, UN Member States and UN agencies have welcomed the Initiative as a timely contribution to the aspirations of the 2030 Agenda and its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
The Forum today is a welcome step in the implementation of the GDI and in providing the SDGs a much-needed push.
At the halfway mark of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, only about 12 per cent of SDG targets are on track to be achieved by 2030. Shockingly, the world is back at hunger levels not seen since 2005. Some 670 million people remain in extreme poverty. And gender gaps remain vast across multiple spheres.
Likewise, despite commitments under the Paris Agreement, carbon dioxide levels continue to rise – to a level not seen in 2 million years. Vast numbers of species worldwide are threatened with extinction. The war against nature rages on.
The cascading cycle of conflict and crises of the last three years has made matters worse.
Battered by a series of global shocks, most developing economies have been unable to invest in recovery, climate action, and sustainable development. They were constrained by limited fiscal space and high borrowing costs.
That is why the United Nations Secretary-General has urged Member States to make the SDG Summit in September a turning point – a moment of breakthrough that delivers a Rescue Plan for People and Planet. One of such breakthroughs is the Secretary-General’s call for a global SDG Stimulus of at least $500 billion a year to scale-up affordable long-term financing for countries in need.
The SDG Stimulus sets out the immediate actions in three dimensions.
First, innovative steps should be considered to help countries in untenable debt situations, including private sector debt.
Second, we must massively scale up affordable long-term financing for development. We need to strengthen Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs) with much larger capital bases and improve their terms of lending. The recent Paris Summit convened by President Macron has put capital increases of the MDBs on the agenda, which is a step in the right direction.
Third, to expand contingency financing to countries in need. There has been good progress in reaching the commitment to re-channel $100 billion through IMF Trusts. But more will be needed, including to explore how SDRs can be re-channelled through the MDBs to finance longer-term investments.
The proposals in the SDG Stimulus are ambitious, but attainable.
Indeed, in the last several weeks, we have seen several important breakthroughs, at the Paris Summit, and in discussions at the G20 and international financial institutions. But much more needs to be done.
Ultimately, we will need structural reforms to address deep and longstanding inequities in the international financial architecture.
The UN will continue to advocate for policy change in these areas in the upcoming SDG Summit, High-Level Dialogue on Financing for Development, the G20 Leaders’ Summit, and COP28.
United Nations supports the Global Development Initiative and believes that this initiative will help ensure the world keep the promise of “leaving no one behind”.
UN highly appreciates China’s commitment to working closely with the UN to align the GDI towards the 2030 agenda. Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed just concluded her visit to China, reiterating that the United Nations is looking forward to China’s contribution to the SDG Summit as well as accelerating the achievement of the 2030 agenda.
As the custodian Secretariat of the SDGs, UN DESA is ready to work closely with China, with the Group of Friends of the Global Development Initiative, with UN family, and with all stakeholders, toward the achievement of the shared vision of the SDGs.
I thank you.