Representatives of the 33 countries of Latin America and the Caribbean agreed today on the urgency of promoting bold and transformative actions to accelerate and correct the course towards the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) of the 2030 Agenda, during the inauguration of the Sixth Meeting of the Forum of the Countries of Latin America and the Caribbean on Sustainable Developmentwhich will be held until Friday, April 28 at the headquarters of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) in Santiago, Chile.
The opening of the meeting was attended by Santiago Cafiero, Minister of Foreign Affairs, International Trade and Worship of Argentina, the country that holds the presidency of ECLAC in the 2022-2024 biennium; Amina Mohammed, Deputy Secretary General of the United Nations; Paula Narváez, Permanent Representative of Chile to the United Nations, in her capacity as Vice President of the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations, and José Manuel Salazar-Xirinachs, Executive Secretary of ECLAC.
The Sixth Meeting of the Forum of the Countries of Latin America and the Caribbean on Sustainable Development brings together in this version more than 1,000 participants, including government delegates and representatives of international organizations and the United Nations System, the private sector, academia and civil society, which are convened under the motto “Accelerate the recovery after the COVID-19 pandemic and the full implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development at all levels”.
“We face a colossal challenge. Despite the fact that technological advances dazzle us day by day, providing us in many cases with greater tools and instruments to face the multiple crises, we are going through a sustained process of degradation and social, economic and environmental deterioration that has never been seen before”, stated the Foreign Minister of Argentina, Santiago Cafero.
He added that a new reorganization is necessary that places human rights at the center in all sectors, at all levels, in the design of policies and in all dimensions of sustainable development.
“The SDG Summit in September, which will mark the halfway point towards the year 2030, represents a key moment to design a global plan to accelerate the implementation of these goals. The commitment to carry out this agenda must continue to be an unyielding commitment for all of us and we must carry it forward without leaving anyone behind”, he highlighted.
Amina Mohammed, Deputy Secretary General of the United Nations, urged promoting cooperation and accelerating the course for the fulfillment of the SDGs, and stressed the importance of investing in sustainable development.
“We must achieve transformative change. World leaders will have a choice to make: follow through on their commitment to a better future or let it fall by the wayside. The first step is here, at the Sixth Meeting of the Forum of the Countries of Latin America and the Caribbean on Sustainable Development”, affirmed the high authority of the United Nations.
Paula Narváez, Vice President of the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations, meanwhile, urged the countries of the region to be able to define priorities and commitments to work together and identify the cooperation that the region can achieve to accelerate the implementation of the Agenda 2030 and its Goals.
“Seven years from the horizon of 2030, the path to follow is as important as the result to be achieved, since it will lay the foundations for the paradigm shift that is required to build the world that we will inherit to our sons and daughters. The 2030 Agenda offers the conditions to advance in the great common goals and Latin America and the Caribbean is an opportunity for the world”, she expressed.
In his opening remarks, José Manuel Salazar-Xirinachs, Executive Secretary of ECLAC, appreciated the great commitment of the region to the 2030 Agenda as a roadmap to build a better future that leaves no one behind. However, in the mid-term to 2030, only a quarter of the goals have been met or are expected to be met, he warned.
ECLAC estimates that only 25% of the goals for which information is available show a behavior that makes it possible to anticipate their fulfillment in 2030. On the other hand, it is estimated that 48% of these reveal a correct trend but insufficient to achieve the goal respective, while the remaining 27% exhibits a regressive trend. Therefore, 75% of the goals are at risk of not being met, unless decisive actions are taken to recover the correct path.
“This situation urgently calls on the countries of the region to strengthen their commitment to the SDGs. Bold, innovative, inspiring and, especially, transformative actions are required; Otherwise, we will be going through a new lost decade”, he expressed.
José Manuel Salazar-Xirinachs stressed the need to reinforce public strategies, policies and programs, accompanied by initiatives and alliances with the private sector, civil society and international cooperation, to resume the path towards full compliance with the SDGs in 2030. Likewise, he called on countries to focus on the “how” of policies and on the implementation of high-impact transformative initiatives with multiplier effects that can accelerate and correct the course towards achieving the SDGs.
After the inauguration, Volker Türk, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, delivered a video greeting in which he highlighted the interrelationship between the 2030 Agenda and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which this year commemorates 75 years since his adoption.
“Without human rights there can be no sustainable development. It is urgent to integrate human rights into countries’ plans to implement the Sustainable Development Goals,” he stated.
On the opening day of the intergovernmental meeting, the Executive Secretary of ECLAC, José Manuel Salazar-Xirinachs, presented the document Latin America and the Caribbean in the middle of the road to 2030: advances and proposals for acceleration, which constitutes the sixth report on regional progress and challenges of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The report examines overall progress towards achieving all the SDGs and then, in more depth, progress towards achieving five of them that will be reviewed at the High-Level Political Forum, to be held from July 10-19 in UN headquarters in New York. These are: clean water and sanitation (SDG 6); affordable and clean energy (SDG 7); industry, innovation and infrastructure (SDG 9); sustainable cities and communities (SDG 11), and partnerships to achieve the Goals (SDG 17).