Build on Respective Strengths, Forge New Partnerships to Turn 2030 Agenda into Reality, Secretary-General Urges Stakeholders at High-Level Event

Following is UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s message, delivered by Oscar Fernandez-Taranco, Assistant Secretary-General for Peacebuilding Support, to the high-level event on “Achieving Peaceful, Just and Inclusive Societies for Sustainable Development”, in New York today:

I am pleased to send greetings to this valuable high-level event, and I thank the organizers for making it possible.

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development was the result of the most inclusive consultative processes ever undertaken by the United Nations, with inputs from civil society, the private sector, a range of other stakeholders and ordinary citizens from around the world.  It sets out ambitious new goals which were not part of the Millennium Development Goals, making them an integral part of a new, universal agenda.

The mutually reinforcing relationship between peace and development, and the commitment to delivering peaceful, just and inclusive societies, is a defining characteristic of the 2030 Agenda.  To make it a reality, all stakeholders must join forces to build on their respective strengths and forge new partnerships for collective action.

Recent resolutions on sustaining peace stress the need for dedicated action to address root causes of violent conflicts.  They emphasize that sustaining peace is a shared task and responsibility that needs to be fulfilled by Governments and other national stakeholders, along with civil society and the private sector.

The resolutions also make clear that at the heart of sustaining peace is a commitment to promoting poverty reduction, the rule of law, access to justice and good governance.  These priorities are common to all countries, and their achievement will require dedicated action from stakeholders around the world.

Initiatives like this new Global Alliance, which emphasize the importance of effective reporting to capture positive progress across the world in delivering these priorities, will be essential to the achievement of the peaceful, just and inclusive societies we all deserve — and to the successful implementation of the 2030 Agenda as a whole.

I wish the Global Alliance the best possible results in bringing this positive experience to light while linking people and institutions, within and among countries, to find solutions to common problems so we can advance towards a more just and inclusive future.