Your Excellency Mr. Taavi Rõivas, Prime Minister of Estonia,
Your Excellency Mr. Sven Jurgenson, Vice-President of ECOSOC,
Distinguished delegates,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

I am pleased to take part in the 2016 Integration Segment of the Economic and Social Council.

This is the first such gathering since the adoption of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development last year. It also follows other landmark conferences and agreements on disaster risk reduction, financing for development, and climate change.

We now have a set of goals and targets that form the basis for a coherent, integrated and indivisible approach to eradicating poverty and achieving sustainable development. We must pursue the goals with their complementarity and interlinkages in mind, and with the aim of breaking down silos and avoiding one-size-fits-all solutions.

Now is the time for implementation. The inaugural ECOSOC Forum on Financing for Development two weeks ago was the first major global follow-up event to the historic agreements we made last year.

The financing requirements to achieve the SDGs are enormous, and mobilizing these resources will be a significant challenge, particularly at a time of continued economic uncertainty and financial constraints. The Forum sent a clear message that the full realization of the Addis Ababa Action Agenda remains a matter of urgency.

Excellencies,

This Integration Segment focuses on the importance of implementation through policy innovation and integration. It is a reminder that we will have to be creative in linking the three dimensions of sustainable development.

In this regard, I would like to welcome our guests from Costa Rica, Estonia, India, Uganda, and the United Kingdom, who are featured in the BBC programme “My Perfect Country.”

I know their leadership and fresh thinking on tackling real-world problems will inspire us all.

We must strive to continually assess challenges of integration – whether they are policy and institutional questions, capacity or technological gaps or questions in programming and financing.

Mr. Vice President,

I assure you the United Nations System will do its utmost to fully support Member States in transitioning to a sustainable development path – in setting priorities, planning, implementing and assessing progress.

We must ensure that actions at every level are concerted and coherent. In doing so, we have to work with all partners towards common country support objectives. Our aim to ‘deliver as one’ is finding broader translation in the way we work with all partners.

We must also reposition the UN system in the new development setting. The Quadrennial Comprehensive Policy Review can provide relevant guidance.

Excellencies,

The SDGs can only be reached through national ownership and local initiative. That is why we look forward to hearing your experiences in the days ahead.

Let us learn from each other’s experiences and innovations, so we can all grow closer to the dream of a “Perfect Country”, and, indeed, a better world.

I wish you successful deliberations.

Thank you.