Deputy Secretary-General, at Paris Meeting, Urges Strong Partnerships, Broad Financing to Implement, Monitor Sustainable Development Agenda

Following is UN Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson’s keynote address on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Development Assistance Committee high-level meeting, in Paris today:

D'abord quelques mots en français.

C’est un grand plaisir pour moi d’être ici, à Paris.  J’ai commencé ma carrière comme jeune diplomate auprès de l’OCDE.  Je me souviens en particulier des négociations sur l’avenir de la construction navale dans la zone OCDE. J’ai depuis navigué les eaux tumultueuses de la diplomatie internationale.  J’ai l’honneur de revenir aujourd’hui en tant que représentant de l’Organisation des Nations Unies, cette organisation globale qui appartient à nous tous et qui est un partenaire étroit à l’OECD.

Looking at the world around us, it is natural to feel that we are living through an exceptionally uncertain, troubled and difficult period.  More people — 60 million — are displaced than any time since the end of the Second World War.  An arc of instability stretches from the Sahel, across the Maghreb and into the wider Middle East.  The war in Syria has caused unspeakable suffering, huge burdens on neighbouring countries and ramifications far beyond its borders, primarily in Europe.

Violent extremism has become an international plague often constituting threats to peace and security.  The peril of terrorism remains significant, as Paris so tragically witnessed only some months ago and Ankara experienced in a horrific way yesterday.  We offer our deepest condolences to the Turkish Government and people for their losses from the hands of violent extremists.

And around the world, too many people still struggle to feed, keep healthy or educate their children, to find decent work and to live a life of dignity.  Further, the migration and refugee flows stemming from unsolved conflicts and horrific living conditions is a dramatic sign of the times, testing the resilience of our societies and institutions.

But, there are also reasons for hope and new determination.  Last year, we saw the historic adoptions of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change.  These agreements constitute a transformative plan of action for the people of the world and for our planet.

United Nations Member States coming together like this, at a time of turmoil, sends a powerful message of a common pursuit of a new course for the road ahead.  I commend you all for having contributed substantially to these historic achievements.

The world today is more interdependent and interconnected than ever before.  The two landmark agreements in New York and Paris could, in fact, be seen as a conceptual Declaration of Interdependence, as a parallel to many of our countries’ Declarations of Independence.

The line between national and international has become blurred.  Almost any issue being dealt with at the domestic level — migration, health, energy, terrorism — also has an international dimension.  The world is growingly recognizing that good international solutions are in the national self-interest.

We are now in the second month of the implementation of the ambitious 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.  I am glad we are already discussing how Governments and other actors can translate this Agenda into action at the regional, national and local levels.

The Agenda for Sustainable Development is universal.  It belongs to everyone and commits everyone both to internal and external efforts.  It is an agenda for eradicating poverty and for ensuring that no-one is left behind.  It aims to build peaceful and inclusive societies, where institutions are transparent and effective.  To do this in a sustainable way, we must protect our planet and its natural habitat and natural resources.  We may have a Plan B in our life or in our societies, but we have no Planet B.

Yes, the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are ambitious.  They are not just about poverty.  They address areas like health, education, women’s empowerment, sustainable economic growth, employment, inequality and climate change.  These are issues of concern to us all, no matter where we live.  Again, they need to be addressed, both internationally and nationally.

I urge you all to penetrate, operationalize and become advocates of the Sustainable Development Goals.  The OECD countries play a key role in building a close partnership with developing countries, while respecting their ownership of their development paths.  Your continued effective development concepts and cooperation are of fundamental importance even if the 2030 Agenda requires broadened cooperation and action.  This spirit of solidarity, this partnership, is enshrined in the SDGs and reflects the enlightened self-interest of all concerned.

The Sustainable Development Goals are indivisible and interrelated.  They are not for picking and choosing.  Advancing on one goal is to trigger progress in others.  Some interventions, for example on gender equality or climate change, provide multiple benefits.  When educated girls go on to take up jobs and increase female participation in the labour market, we see increased economic growth.

And ensuring safe water and decent sanitation in schools, for example, is a major factor in keeping teenage girls in school.  Here, let me pay tribute to [OECD] Secretary-General Gurria for his persistent efforts to emphasize water and sanitation as key drivers for development.

In the area of climate change, large sections of the business community have already recognized that low-carbon and sustainable production and consumption can be both profitable and be the right thing to do for people and the planet.

The Sustainable Development Goals are a truly virtuous circle — as compared to the many vicious circles we see in other policy areas.  However, an integrated Agenda can only be achieved through integrated efforts.  People do not live their lives in silos.  Nor should we work in silos.  We need to adopt a horizontal, not vertical, approach of thinking and working, placing the problem and the challenges in the centre.

The 2030 Agenda calls for a whole-of-society, whole-of-government strategy, involving all levels of government, as well as other partners.  To make this a reality, key institutions, such as ministries, agencies and parliaments, need to take a fresh look at policies, organization of work and legislation to ensure alignment with the Sustainable Development Goals. 

Coordination and sound division of labour and developing new ways of operating across sectors will be necessary if we are to have an impact on the ground and effectively reach the poorest and most vulnerable.

The 2030 Agenda also calls for a unified approach which brings together development and humanitarian work.  It calls for the pursuit of peaceful societies, strong institutions, and rights-based development policies.  It calls for reacting effectively to humanitarian crises and at the same time building resilient societies.  And we need to weave together the Sustainable Development Goals, and climate change implementation.

We can no longer approach peace and security, development and human rights in isolation.  Development can no longer have a place in the waiting room, until conflict and strife ends and it is safe to start planning.  Even small steps to restart social progress and development can galvanize peace building and reconciliation efforts.

Let us also recall that each of the goals has a clear human rights perspective, whether it is about economic, social, civil or political rights.  In the most fragile countries, we must help find effective and innovative ways to mobilize communities.  We must help strengthen their institutions and their Sustainable Development Goals implementation paths, reflecting their national conditions. I am heartened that the G7+ countries have rallied around the Sustainable Development Goals as catalysts for action.

Effective multilateralism and partnerships will be central to the Agenda for Sustainable Development.  This goes not least for financing the Sustainable Development Goals.  The Addis Ababa Action Agenda is a strong framework for a broad coalition of actors, leveraging all financing sources - domestic and international, public and private.

Effective partnerships between the public and private sectors, as well as with civil society, will be critical for implementing this ambitious agenda.  We can build on existing partnerships and scale them up, particularly in areas such as health and education.  But, we should also foster new partnerships in, for example, technology and other forward-looking capacity-building areas.

In Addis, countries agreed to develop policies and regulatory frameworks which can unlock the transformative potential of the private sector.  They also proposed structural changes in consumption, production and investment patterns. 

Let us also remember that official development assistance (ODA) is a vital part of the financing package.  It remains crucial to create the conditions to better leverage resources.  We have reached all-time highs in terms of the amount of ODA provided. And this, despite difficult economic conditions in donor countries and dramatically pressing needs for humanitarian assistance.  Under these conditions, we must make sure that ODA goes where it is most needed.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon and I were especially encouraged by the commitments made in Addis to reverse the recent decline in ODA to least developed countries and to meet long-established ODA targets.  As we are to implement the ambitious 2030 Agenda, it is critical to meet these commitments.

In this pursuit, the OECD countries have a central role also for accountability and monitoring.  For instance, there is a need for transparency and consensus on how development finance is counted and measured.  Here, the world is clearly watching the Development Assistance Committee.

We must ascertain that our use of ODA remains in line with the spirit and intention of development assistance.  The Secretary-General has already expressed his concern that dealing with one pressing issue — responding to the current large-scale movement of migrants and refugees — should not substantially affect other development programmes.  Such programmes, in fact, often address the root causes of the largely involuntary movement of people.

In the same vein, we should ensure that climate funding is additional to traditional development cooperation, as we move towards mobilizing the agreed $100 billion annually for mitigation and adaptation in developing countries.

All in all, I want to commend the many countries, many of them present here today, which have begun to implement the Sustainable Development Goals.  The Sustainable Development Goals are now being discussed in cabinet meetings and parliamentary committees.  Multi-stakeholder fora are convened to chart the course towards 2030.  New coordination structures are created or revamped.  Development plans and sustainable development policies are scrutinized and updated in view of the Sustainable Development Goals.

The United Nations system will do its part in this work.  We are focused on and galvanized by the new sustainable development agenda.  The Sustainable Development Goals give new impetus to our efforts to work together, horizontally and in a more coherent and effective way.

The Secretary-General has called for the United Nations system to “work across the Charter”.  We are pulling together our capacities and are developing integrated planning frameworks across peace and security, development and human rights. We are seeing a cultural and operational change, both at Headquarters and in the field.

The approach which the United Nations development system has developed calls for Mainstreaming, Acceleration and Policy Support — MAPS for short — to help countries and communities achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.

If we are to accelerate the Sustainable Development Goals, we all must target resources in a smart and creative way.  The United Nations development system is to make sure that the skills and expertise are there for policy support as countries map out their national programmes for Agenda 2030. 

In closing, with the SDGs, we have — together — a unique chance to make poverty history, to tangibly improve peoples’ lives and to stop the degradation of our environment.  In spite of many troubling trends in the world, we must make the next 15 years a turning point in human history.  Each and every one of us has a responsibility to translate the Sustainable Development Goals into realities.  I count on the wholehearted support of OECD and the Development Assistance Committee and on your impressive expertise to help create opportunity and a life of dignity for all.

By doing so, we will develop a much needed, more hopeful and more positive narrative in a world where people today are waiting to see a horizon of hope and of change.  You, the OECD Development Assistance Committee countries can play a key role in making such a narrative possible and in charting the road ahead.