Excellencies,Colleagues,Ladies and gentlemen,
Thank you for the invitation to address this important Retreat. First of all, I would like to emphasize our appreciation for your support and collaboration with the Secretariat.
I also take this opportunity to thank you for your active role in the preparations for the Addis Ababa Conference and the Sustainable Development Summit, especially during the negotiations of both the Addis Ababa Action Agenda and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The special needs and challenges of LLDCs are well reflected in these two historical agreements. The 2030 Agenda makes clear that the special challenges and needs of countries in special situations have to continue to receive special attention. Agenda 2030 makes a number of references to LLDCS in relation to various topics. LLDCs are also mentioned in several targets of the SDGs. It also states that the implementation of the Vienna Programme of Action (VPoA) and other strategies and programmes of action relevant to countries in special situations are an integral to the new Agenda.
VPoA goes deeper than Agenda 2030 on issues relating in particular to SDGs 7, 9 and 11, including on transport infrastructure, energy and information and communication technology infrastructure, international trade and trade facilitation, and regional integration, reflecting the challenges that LLDCs face in relation to these issues. Going forward, it will be important to find synergies in the specific objectives, goals and targets of the two agendas, in order to ensure that LLDCs are in a position to both.
Among the many policy actions agreed in Addis, some of the key deliverables on trade, transport and infrastructure are critical for LLDCs. Together with our colleagues at the World Bank, WTO, UNCTAD, UNDP, UNIDO and ICC, we are working to convert these important agreements into concrete actions and progress on the ground. The Infrastructure Forum, for example, provides an important platform to address the infrastructure gap of LLDCs. We therefore encourage your active participation in the work of the forum to ensure that your voices are heard.
The implementation of our shared vision and high ambitions for sustainable development requires a strong follow-up, review and monitoring framework. Agenda 2030 recognized the need for effective linkages to be made between the follow-up and review process for Agenda 2030 and the follow-up and review arrangements of all relevant United Nations conferences and processes, including on landlocked developing countries. It will be particularly important to find synergies between the two processes, in order to promote integration and avoid duplication of reporting efforts. This may be a question that you want to address at the high-level political forum (HLPF) next July. There is no time for complacency. Your strong engagement and support will be crucial to ensure a successful follow-up process that leaves no one behind.
One of the concrete deliverables of Addis was the decision to put in place a dedicated and strengthened FFD follow-up process to review the financing for development outcomes, as well as all the means of implementation of the 2030 Agenda.
The new ECOSOC Forum on Financing for Development will be the centrepiece of the intergovernmental follow-up process. Its inaugural session under the current cycle of ECOSOC will set the stage for a strong and inclusive follow-up to the commitments made in Addis.
The adoption of the dates of the Forum has now become a matter of urgency. As you know, the preparatory process, including the negotiations on the outcome document, cannot start until Member States adopt the dates of the Forum. Any further delay would seriously threaten the outcomes of the Forum this year and therefore undermine the important agreements reached in Addis. We count on your continued collaboration and support in this process.
Meanwhile, the President of ECOSOC has nominated the Ambassadors of Benin and Croatia as co-facilitators of the negotiations on the intergovernmentally agreed conclusions and recommendations of the Forum. Consultations should start immediately after the adoption of the dates of the Forum. We encourage high-level attendance from capitals to ensure the Forum’s success, especially from Ministers of Finance, Foreign Affairs and from your Central Banks. Your strong representation will be essential to ensure that the Forum addresses the special needs and challenges of LLDCs.
Fulfilling the Addis mandate, the Secretary-General has convened an inter-agency task force to report on progress in implementing the Addis Agenda and the means of implementation of the SDGs. The report will serve as the main substantive input to the FfD Forum.
Almost 50 agencies are contributing to the inaugural report, which will focus on options for monitoring the Addis commitments, without adding to the reporting burden of developing countries. It will build on the indicators for the Means of Implementation targets of the SDGs, but will go further by using additional data sources, case studies and examples to give a richer understanding of implementation, and to report on the broad Addis Agenda, including areas not included in the SDG MoIs.
I thank you again for your support and collaboration during what is an exciting and promising time. I wish you a fruitful discussion.
Thank you for the invitation to address this important Retreat. First of all, I would like to emphasize our appreciation for your support and collaboration with the Secretariat.
I also take this opportunity to thank you for your active role in the preparations for the Addis Ababa Conference and the Sustainable Development Summit, especially during the negotiations of both the Addis Ababa Action Agenda and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The special needs and challenges of LLDCs are well reflected in these two historical agreements. The 2030 Agenda makes clear that the special challenges and needs of countries in special situations have to continue to receive special attention. Agenda 2030 makes a number of references to LLDCS in relation to various topics. LLDCs are also mentioned in several targets of the SDGs. It also states that the implementation of the Vienna Programme of Action (VPoA) and other strategies and programmes of action relevant to countries in special situations are an integral to the new Agenda.
VPoA goes deeper than Agenda 2030 on issues relating in particular to SDGs 7, 9 and 11, including on transport infrastructure, energy and information and communication technology infrastructure, international trade and trade facilitation, and regional integration, reflecting the challenges that LLDCs face in relation to these issues. Going forward, it will be important to find synergies in the specific objectives, goals and targets of the two agendas, in order to ensure that LLDCs are in a position to both.
Among the many policy actions agreed in Addis, some of the key deliverables on trade, transport and infrastructure are critical for LLDCs. Together with our colleagues at the World Bank, WTO, UNCTAD, UNDP, UNIDO and ICC, we are working to convert these important agreements into concrete actions and progress on the ground. The Infrastructure Forum, for example, provides an important platform to address the infrastructure gap of LLDCs. We therefore encourage your active participation in the work of the forum to ensure that your voices are heard.
The implementation of our shared vision and high ambitions for sustainable development requires a strong follow-up, review and monitoring framework. Agenda 2030 recognized the need for effective linkages to be made between the follow-up and review process for Agenda 2030 and the follow-up and review arrangements of all relevant United Nations conferences and processes, including on landlocked developing countries. It will be particularly important to find synergies between the two processes, in order to promote integration and avoid duplication of reporting efforts. This may be a question that you want to address at the high-level political forum (HLPF) next July. There is no time for complacency. Your strong engagement and support will be crucial to ensure a successful follow-up process that leaves no one behind.
One of the concrete deliverables of Addis was the decision to put in place a dedicated and strengthened FFD follow-up process to review the financing for development outcomes, as well as all the means of implementation of the 2030 Agenda.
The new ECOSOC Forum on Financing for Development will be the centrepiece of the intergovernmental follow-up process. Its inaugural session under the current cycle of ECOSOC will set the stage for a strong and inclusive follow-up to the commitments made in Addis.
The adoption of the dates of the Forum has now become a matter of urgency. As you know, the preparatory process, including the negotiations on the outcome document, cannot start until Member States adopt the dates of the Forum. Any further delay would seriously threaten the outcomes of the Forum this year and therefore undermine the important agreements reached in Addis. We count on your continued collaboration and support in this process.
Meanwhile, the President of ECOSOC has nominated the Ambassadors of Benin and Croatia as co-facilitators of the negotiations on the intergovernmentally agreed conclusions and recommendations of the Forum. Consultations should start immediately after the adoption of the dates of the Forum. We encourage high-level attendance from capitals to ensure the Forum’s success, especially from Ministers of Finance, Foreign Affairs and from your Central Banks. Your strong representation will be essential to ensure that the Forum addresses the special needs and challenges of LLDCs.
Fulfilling the Addis mandate, the Secretary-General has convened an inter-agency task force to report on progress in implementing the Addis Agenda and the means of implementation of the SDGs. The report will serve as the main substantive input to the FfD Forum.
Almost 50 agencies are contributing to the inaugural report, which will focus on options for monitoring the Addis commitments, without adding to the reporting burden of developing countries. It will build on the indicators for the Means of Implementation targets of the SDGs, but will go further by using additional data sources, case studies and examples to give a richer understanding of implementation, and to report on the broad Addis Agenda, including areas not included in the SDG MoIs.
I thank you again for your support and collaboration during what is an exciting and promising time. I wish you a fruitful discussion.
File date:
Monday, February 29, 2016