The countries of Latin America and the Caribbean today urged to revitalize the commitment to the 2030 Agenda for sustainable development and promote renewed and bold policies and actions to accelerate the pace towards compliance with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), during the inauguration of the seventh meeting of the Forum of Latin American and Caribbean Countries on Sustainable Developmentwhich will be held until Thursday the 18th at the ECLAC headquarters in Santiago, Chile.
At the opening of the meeting – which brings together representatives of the 33 countries in the region, United Nations agencies and regional, multilateral and civil society organizations – the participants welcomed the call of the UN Secretary General, António Guterres , who urged redoubling efforts towards compliance with the SDGs through increased collaboration and more effective multilateralism.
The seventh meeting of the Forum was opened by Amina Mohammed, Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations; José Manuel Salazar-Xirinachs, Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), and Laura Fernández Delgado, Minister of National Planning and Economic Policy of Costa Rica, in her capacity as Vice President of the Forum of the Countries of America Latin America and the Caribbean on Sustainable Development.
“Latin America and the Caribbean is on track to achieve only 22% of the SDG goals, a trend that we see in the world. But the SDGs were born in this region, and with clear focus, commitment and catalytic action, the region can rise stronger than ever and fulfill the vision of the SDGs,” said the UN Deputy Secretary-General.
Minister Laura Fernández Delgado, meanwhile, stressed that since the first meeting of the Forum, held in 2017, the region has made enormous progress, however, it is very clear that there remain pending challenges and the obligation to redouble efforts to advance faster. .
“It is up to all of us to make a greater effort to strengthen multilateralism. The Future Summit will be an opportunity for this,” he stated.
In his opening speech, the Executive Secretary of ECLAC, José Manuel Salazar-Xirinachs, warned that, with only six years to go until 2030, the target year to achieve the SDGs, “progress towards their fulfillment has not maintained the same speed as the relentless passage of days on the calendar. On the contrary, we observe a strong misalignment in the monitoring indicators between the trajectories necessary to comply and those observed. This highlights the urgency of accelerating the pace,” he stated.
ECLAC estimates that 22% of the goals have been achieved or will be achieved by 2030, while in the case of 46% of them progress is being made in a favorable direction but not at the speed necessary to meet them and the remaining 32% would not reach them. to be fulfilled.
“I trust that in these three days of dialogue, exchange of experiences, good practices and learning among all actors, the motto of the next Future Summit 'multilateral solutions for a better tomorrow' will mobilize us to revitalize our commitment to the 2030 Agenda, as well as to promote renewed and bold policies and actions to accelerate the pace and reach 2030 in better conditions to continue working for a more productive, inclusive and sustainable future for the region,” said José Manuel Salazar-Xirinachs.
After the inauguration, different personalities and authorities from the region exchanged perspectives with a view to the Future Summitwhich will be held on September 22 and 23 at the UN headquarters in New York.
During the Interactive session on the Future Summit: multilateral solutions for a better tomorrow, participants shared their visions and priorities, as well as their expectations about action-oriented results. They also urged taking advantage of the positioning of several Latin American and Caribbean countries in international negotiation processes to guarantee that the needs of the region are taken into account.
Later, the Executive Secretary of ECLAC presented the document to the countries “Latin America and the Caribbean face the challenge of accelerating the pace towards compliance with the 2030 Agenda: transitions towards sustainability”which constitutes the seventh report on regional progress and challenges of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
The document maintains that, in the face of the development crisis and the relative delay in the progress towards compliance with the SDGs, the region requires a change of direction in the conduct of public policies, the promotion of new strategic areas that lead the process, the implementation of transformative initiatives, a new governance of the ways of making public policy, effective participation and new functions of social actors, strengthening the capacities of institutions and the use of new tools, such as strategic planning and the prospective.
He adds that progress is also required in the six key transitions proposed by the United Nations Sustainable Development Group, which can have catalytic and multiplier effects in relation to all the SDGs and a determining impact on achieving them. These are: i) food systems, ii) access to energy and its affordability, iii) digital connectivity, iv) education, v) employment and social protection and vi) climate change, loss of biodiversity and pollution.
The seventh meeting of the Forum of Latin American and Caribbean Countries on Sustainable Development It includes various sessions where participants will be able to discuss the urgency of reinforcing the 2030 Agenda and eradicating poverty in times of multiple crises. They will also address key issues related to the progress of the implementation of the 2030 Agenda in the Caribbean subregion.
The meeting considers the holding of five dialogue tables that will especially analyze SDGs 1 (End of poverty), 2 (Zero hunger), 13 (Climate action), 16 (Peace, justice and solid institutions) and 17 (Alliances to achieve the Objectives).
