What will it take to realise sustainable development – high-level UN meeting April 2015 | Incheon Korea
As the world prepares for the adoption of a global sustainable development agenda for the next fifteen years, leaders from government, the private sector, academia and civil society held a three-day high-level symposium in Incheon, Republic of Korea, to grapple with the topic ‘Development cooperation for people and planet: What will it take?’.
Korean Minister of Foreign Affairs Yun Byung-se, President of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) Martin Sajdik and Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs Wu Hongbo kicked off the proceedings, emphasizing that to build on the success of the Millennium Development Goals and deliver sustainable development for all, strategies must be found to mobilize significant ‘means of implementation’ – including private and public financial resources from both national and international sources.
Co-hosted by the Government of the Republic of Korea and ECOSOC, event generated concrete ideas and policy recommendations that will explore how to deliver ‘the future we want’ – an economically, socially and environmentally sustainable future for our planet and for present and future generations.
Ahead of the symposium, Mr Sajdik said “Development cooperation is a vital part of the broader global partnership for sustainable development needed to bring about the systemic policy changes for all partners to come closer together and make progress, to leave no one behind, to tackle common global problems and take up opportunities to put the world on a firm path toward sustainable development for all”.
USG Wu pointed out that “The delivery on ODA commitments will remain the foundation stone for a renewed global partnership for sustainable development. Official Development Assistance can be even better targeted across the three dimensions of sustainable development, to address the needs of the poorest and most vulnerable people. Yet, as the DCF High-level Symposium discussed, we must understand and advocate for development cooperation in all its forms, from financial transfer to capacity support and policy change”.
Foreign Minister Yun said: “Marking the 70th anniversary of the United Nations, the UN should enhance synergies among discourses on resources and goals for sustainable development beyond 2015 and a global regime for responding to climate change beyond 2020. To this end, better alignment of various development commitments and modalities and strengthened global solidary are essential.”
Through a series of interactive dialogues and workshops, the symposium in Incheon promised to ask “tough, timely questions”, including: What is the future of Official Development Assistance?, How can robust monitoring of development progress help achieve better results? and What implications a universal development agenda has for development cooperation?
The symposium comes as countries are gearing up for the Financing for Development Conference in Addis Ababa this July, the Sustainable Development Summit in New York, and climate negotiations in Paris. The DCF high-level symposium is geared to produce new ideas and policy recommendations into the preparations of the summits.
For more information visit: http://www.un.org/en/ecosoc/newfunct/dcfrok.shtml
