Act Now to Ensure All Countries Can Invest in People, Resilience, Deputy Secretary-General Tells Arab Sustainable Development Week

Following is the text of UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed’s video message to the League of Arab States for Arab Sustainable Development Week, in Cairo today:

Excellencies, distinguished delegates,

I am pleased to join you for the launch of the report on Financing Sustainable Development in Egypt.  The world remains mired in the COVID-19 and climate crises, with persistent conflicts threatening our ability to deliver a better future for people and planet.  For the Arab region, although 2021 saw signs of economic recovery, it remains uneven between and within countries.  To reverse course, we must act now to ensure all countries can invest in people and resilience.

At the global level, this requires a strengthened multilateral system that can effectively tackle systemic global issues — including an international financial system that favours money markets over people.  The Secretary‑General, in his Our Common Agenda report, has called for a biennial summit between the G20, the Economic and Social Council and heads of the international financial institutions to help forge renewed global solidarity towards a more sustainable, inclusive and resilient global economy.

At the regional level, we must continue to advance the Addis Ababa Action Agenda.  The framework for Arab priorities and positions on financing for sustainable development, endorsed last October, provides sound policy recommendations and guidance for the region.

These include:  curbing illicit financial flows; facilitating intra-Arab trade; and exploring innovative debt‑relief instruments.

At the national level, anchoring budgets and plans with the SDGs [Sustainable Development Goals] is also essential.  I commend Egypt for becoming one of more than 70 countries now designing and implementing an integrated national financing framework.

These frameworks are crucial tools to ensure finance is invested in vital sectors to achieve the SDGs, including social protection and green jobs.  Ahead of COP27 [twenty-seventh Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change], efforts like these will be indispensable in realizing a sustainable future that works for all.

I commend the Government of Egypt for this Initiative and look forward to a successful Arab Sustainable Development Week.  Thank you.