Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg, co-chair of the SDG Advocates, promoted the Goals during her visit to China.
On April 10 the Prime Minister spoke at Peking University in Beijing, where she emphasized that the SDGs are the roadmap for achieving the future we want. “The 17 SDGs are interlinked. This means that progress on one Goal will have positive effects on several other Goals,” the Prime Minister said during her speech. Prime Minister Solberg stressed the need for increased innovation and innovative partnerships as a way to manage globalization and achieve the SDGs, saying “innovation made globalisation possible. And innovation will help us manage globalisation in a good way.”
Finally, Prime Minister Solberg also encouraged the students to hold political leaders, including herself, accountable to the pledges they made in adopting the SDGs in 2015 – namely, to achieve the 17 SDGs by 2030 and leave no one behind.
The full text of Prime Minister Solberg’s speech can be found here.
Following her speech, on April 10 the Prime Minister also met with Chinese President Xi Jinping. Among other topics, the two leaders discussed their efforts to combat climate change, and their work to achieve the SDGs. As a gift, the Prime Minister presented President Xi with a football featuring the SDG icons.