Distinguished Delegates,Colleagues,Ladies and Gentlemen,
It is my distinct pleasure to greet you all at this first-ever VNR Lab.
As you know, the voluntary national reviews have been a great success story, and they have become one of the corner stones of the High-level political forum on sustainable development. On this third year of the reviews, we have 47 countries presenting their work towards the 2030 Agenda and the SDGs. Already 35 countries have volunteered to present in 2019.
Preparing a rigorous voluntary national review is not an easy task, especially considering the breadth of the 2030 Agenda. Yet countries have taken up this challenge. And while the reviews require a lot of work, they also provide benefits. For example, many countries have noted that the VNR process itself has allowed them to review existing institutional mechanisms for coordination and to update them, and to engage more fully with national Stakeholders.
The process has also allowed them to take stock of their current policies towards the SDGs, and to map out required means of implementation for further work. Benefits of the VNR process are as diverse and numerous as the group of countries conducting them.
Indeed, the VNR process has not only been embraced by Member States and national stakeholders, but also by the international community.
For example, the United Nations Committee for Development Policy started analyzing the VNRs with the purpose of supporting countries in improving their effectiveness. Hence, I am pleased that Mr. José Antonio Ocampo, the Chair of the CDP, is here with us this morning.
This year, DESA decided to add VNR Labs as a new innovative type of event to the High-level political forum. The aim of these 8 VNR Labs is to provide additional space and time to continue the discussion on the VNRs, and to build on the good foundation countries have laid. The VNR Labs thus respond to the call by Member States and other stakeholders that 30 minutes per country is not enough to share their experiences on ways to accelerate SDG implementation. The Labs also provide an informal platform to reflect on further strengthening the VNR process and presentations at the Forum.
To achieve these aims, and true to their name, these Labs also provide a space to experiment with different formats and forms for VNR discussions, in an informal setting. We hope that you will actively engage in these meetings.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Today’s topic, interlinkages, is at the core of the Sustainable Development Goals. Since the adoption of the SDGs, there has been much progress achieved in thinking about interlinkages across goals and targets in a more integrated and holistic way. While this kind of conceptualization is an essential first step, action must now move towards more systematic policy design, implementation and multi-stakeholder collaboration. This is the way to bring about concrete results on the ground.
To address this issue, DESA has also organized an expert group meeting in preparation for the HLPF. The meeting took place in January here at the Headquarters, and produced useful recommendations that you can find online.
I hope that these VNR Labs provide a constructive space where we can openly share our success stories and the challenges we grapple with. Let us all keep up the good momentum and make the voluntary national reviews even more effective and useful in the years to come.
Thank you.
It is my distinct pleasure to greet you all at this first-ever VNR Lab.
As you know, the voluntary national reviews have been a great success story, and they have become one of the corner stones of the High-level political forum on sustainable development. On this third year of the reviews, we have 47 countries presenting their work towards the 2030 Agenda and the SDGs. Already 35 countries have volunteered to present in 2019.
Preparing a rigorous voluntary national review is not an easy task, especially considering the breadth of the 2030 Agenda. Yet countries have taken up this challenge. And while the reviews require a lot of work, they also provide benefits. For example, many countries have noted that the VNR process itself has allowed them to review existing institutional mechanisms for coordination and to update them, and to engage more fully with national Stakeholders.
The process has also allowed them to take stock of their current policies towards the SDGs, and to map out required means of implementation for further work. Benefits of the VNR process are as diverse and numerous as the group of countries conducting them.
Indeed, the VNR process has not only been embraced by Member States and national stakeholders, but also by the international community.
For example, the United Nations Committee for Development Policy started analyzing the VNRs with the purpose of supporting countries in improving their effectiveness. Hence, I am pleased that Mr. José Antonio Ocampo, the Chair of the CDP, is here with us this morning.
This year, DESA decided to add VNR Labs as a new innovative type of event to the High-level political forum. The aim of these 8 VNR Labs is to provide additional space and time to continue the discussion on the VNRs, and to build on the good foundation countries have laid. The VNR Labs thus respond to the call by Member States and other stakeholders that 30 minutes per country is not enough to share their experiences on ways to accelerate SDG implementation. The Labs also provide an informal platform to reflect on further strengthening the VNR process and presentations at the Forum.
To achieve these aims, and true to their name, these Labs also provide a space to experiment with different formats and forms for VNR discussions, in an informal setting. We hope that you will actively engage in these meetings.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Today’s topic, interlinkages, is at the core of the Sustainable Development Goals. Since the adoption of the SDGs, there has been much progress achieved in thinking about interlinkages across goals and targets in a more integrated and holistic way. While this kind of conceptualization is an essential first step, action must now move towards more systematic policy design, implementation and multi-stakeholder collaboration. This is the way to bring about concrete results on the ground.
To address this issue, DESA has also organized an expert group meeting in preparation for the HLPF. The meeting took place in January here at the Headquarters, and produced useful recommendations that you can find online.
I hope that these VNR Labs provide a constructive space where we can openly share our success stories and the challenges we grapple with. Let us all keep up the good momentum and make the voluntary national reviews even more effective and useful in the years to come.
Thank you.
File date:
Monday, July 16, 2018