Welcome remarks by H.E. Mogens Lykketoft, President of the UN General Assembly at UNILEVER High level dinner ‘Better Growth through sustainable development’
24 September 2015
Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, friends of sustainable development, good evening to you all.
You are gathering on the eve of one of the most important events in UN history. Tomorrow, Heads of State and Government arrive and gavel the 2030 Agenda. A spirit of partnership has brought us this far – an open and democratic process with great participation from not only governments, but civil society and business community.
But an even stronger partnership will be needed to move from lofty goals to real action.
Together we must communicate the Goals to the entire world and bring together the diverse range of actors needed. The private sector must be actively involved in realising the new goals, from micro businesses to giants such as Unilever.
Unilever is one such actor. And I wish to thank, in particular Mr Paul Polman for his active and personal engagement on this entire agenda.
Among his other responsibilities, Paul of course served on the high-level panel on the post-2015 development agenda and has therefore been involved in the process for longer than many others.
Thanks to the efforts of Paul and others, the role of the private sector is clearly recognised in the 2030 agenda as an essential partner in sustainable development. And not only for financing but also in creating multi stakeholder partnerships which can leverage resources, spur innovation and encourage governments to necessary improvements in the regulatory environments.
Because in order for private actors to play their important role, we need a stable legal framework for the market that encourages the sustainable investment and makes it obvious that green investment is the best investment – not only for the common good in the long term perspective, but for private investors here and now.
I wish you all a very pleasant evening.