Ambassador Oh Joon, President of ECOSOC,Mr. Elliot Harris, Assistant Secretary-General of UNEP,Distinguished Experts,Dear Colleagues,
It is a pleasure to welcome you today, on behalf of Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon.
I want to thank Ambassador Oh for addressing the opening of this meeting. Ambassador Oh has been a strong advocate of the Science, Technology and Innovation initiative from the very beginning.
I am also welcoming you as co-convener of the UN Inter-Agency Task Team on science, technology and innovation for the SDGs, also known as the IATT, which UN-DESA currently co-chairs with UNEP.
My colleague Elliott Harris, Assistant Secretary-General of UNEP, is also here with us today.
Let me also warmly welcome colleagues from the IATT. I thank you for your support to the IATT and for the amount of work that has already been done by this task team.
Distinguished Experts,
I had the pleasure to interact with you one month ago, on the occasion of the first virtual meeting of the group.
I read the summary of the virtual meeting with great interest and I appreciate your enthusiasm and insights.
Today’s meeting is very timely. In three months, the first session of the UN Multi-stakeholder Forum on Science, Technology and Innovation for the SDGs -- what we now call the STI Forum – will take place.
The forum is a key component of the Technology Facilitation Mechanism, created by Member States at the Addis Ababa conference and adopted at the UN Sustainable Development Summit in September 2015.
It is envisioned as a venue for facilitating interaction, matchmaking and the establishment of networks.
It is a forum for identifying and examining technology needs and gaps.
It seeks to help facilitate development, transfer and dissemination of relevant technologies for the SDGs.
Developed and developing countries alike have very high expectations for this Technology Facilitation Mechanism.
They have emphasized repeatedly that the STI forum needs to be innovative and interactive, and should focus on practical, win-win solutions for the SDGs, engaging all stakeholders.
The mandate in the 2030 Agenda is very clear. The preparation of the STI Forum is your remit.
The main purpose of this meeting is to come up with a strong, actionable proposal for the STI Forum, which you can present to the Forum’s co-chairs.
Specifically, some of the questions you will have to address during the next two days are the following:
Consultations led by the President of ECOSOC are underway on the appointment of the co-chairs of the forum. We expect the announcement to be made in the coming weeks.
There will need to be sustained interaction between the co-chairs and this group. The Secretariat of the TFM will make its best efforts to facilitate this.
I know that you will also need to discuss another important component of the Technology Facilitation Mechanism, the online platform.
On this too, we will need your input and guidance. This will be an essential tool to help translate the TFM into tangible benefits for Member States.
Dear Colleagues,
Together, we have embarked on an important and difficult mission.
Going forward, I hope that this meeting opens up a fruitful, continuing conversation among us.
We need your input and guidance.
We hope that this new institutional arrangement in support of technology will be a great success. I am sure that you will all do your utmost to make the best of it.
Once again, I would like to join the ECOSOC President in thanking you, and I look forward to seeing the results of this meeting.
It is a pleasure to welcome you today, on behalf of Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon.
I want to thank Ambassador Oh for addressing the opening of this meeting. Ambassador Oh has been a strong advocate of the Science, Technology and Innovation initiative from the very beginning.
I am also welcoming you as co-convener of the UN Inter-Agency Task Team on science, technology and innovation for the SDGs, also known as the IATT, which UN-DESA currently co-chairs with UNEP.
My colleague Elliott Harris, Assistant Secretary-General of UNEP, is also here with us today.
Let me also warmly welcome colleagues from the IATT. I thank you for your support to the IATT and for the amount of work that has already been done by this task team.
Distinguished Experts,
I had the pleasure to interact with you one month ago, on the occasion of the first virtual meeting of the group.
I read the summary of the virtual meeting with great interest and I appreciate your enthusiasm and insights.
Today’s meeting is very timely. In three months, the first session of the UN Multi-stakeholder Forum on Science, Technology and Innovation for the SDGs -- what we now call the STI Forum – will take place.
The forum is a key component of the Technology Facilitation Mechanism, created by Member States at the Addis Ababa conference and adopted at the UN Sustainable Development Summit in September 2015.
It is envisioned as a venue for facilitating interaction, matchmaking and the establishment of networks.
It is a forum for identifying and examining technology needs and gaps.
It seeks to help facilitate development, transfer and dissemination of relevant technologies for the SDGs.
Developed and developing countries alike have very high expectations for this Technology Facilitation Mechanism.
They have emphasized repeatedly that the STI forum needs to be innovative and interactive, and should focus on practical, win-win solutions for the SDGs, engaging all stakeholders.
The mandate in the 2030 Agenda is very clear. The preparation of the STI Forum is your remit.
The main purpose of this meeting is to come up with a strong, actionable proposal for the STI Forum, which you can present to the Forum’s co-chairs.
Specifically, some of the questions you will have to address during the next two days are the following:
- How can all of you mobilize your communities around the forum to make it an innovative event?
- What are your ideas to really create a venue for facilitating interaction, matchmaking and the establishment of networks between relevant stakeholders around technology issues for the Sustainable Development Goals?
- How can we create real, interactive dialogue at the forum? What outstanding innovators, speakers, should we invite?
Consultations led by the President of ECOSOC are underway on the appointment of the co-chairs of the forum. We expect the announcement to be made in the coming weeks.
There will need to be sustained interaction between the co-chairs and this group. The Secretariat of the TFM will make its best efforts to facilitate this.
I know that you will also need to discuss another important component of the Technology Facilitation Mechanism, the online platform.
On this too, we will need your input and guidance. This will be an essential tool to help translate the TFM into tangible benefits for Member States.
Dear Colleagues,
Together, we have embarked on an important and difficult mission.
Going forward, I hope that this meeting opens up a fruitful, continuing conversation among us.
We need your input and guidance.
We hope that this new institutional arrangement in support of technology will be a great success. I am sure that you will all do your utmost to make the best of it.
Once again, I would like to join the ECOSOC President in thanking you, and I look forward to seeing the results of this meeting.
File date:
Thursday, March 3, 2016