Meeting of the Group of 77 and China
The Deputy Secretary-General of UNCTAD, Joakim Reiter, addressed the Geneva Chapter of the Group of 77 on 30 March 2016, and described the activities of UNCTAD in relation with the Agenda 2030 and the Addis Ababa Action Agenda. These are the key messages expressed at the briefing.
UNCTAD and the twin Agendas: Agenda 2030 and the Addis Ababa Action Agenda (AAAA)
With the critical decision last year on the two new twin global development Agendas, which implies a new, ambitious, universal and comprehensive development "blueprint" for the next 15 years, we now need to expeditious turn "from decisions to actions" in 2016. It is no accident that this is the theme of our UNCTAD14 Conference, the first major United Nations ministerial of the post-2015 era.
The new Agendas correspond closely with the founding vision of UNCTAD. UNCTAD is well placed to shoulder its responsibility to assist member States to fulfill the new Agendas: through its integrated approach to trade and development and the inter-related issues of finance, investment and technology (all of which are key to AAAA follow-up and also for means of implementation of all Sustainable Development Goals); with its synergetic combination of intergovernmental deliberations, research and analysis, and technical assistance; and with its coherent focus on fostering enabling environments at national, regional and global levels.
In contrast with the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the new Agendas recognize and explicitly tackle the root causes of poverty, rather than just its symptoms. The SDGs explicitly articulate the central role, which trade and related development issues must play in eradicating poverty and attaining sustainable development in all its dimensions - economic, social and environmental.
The means of implementation spelled out in the 2030 Agenda and the commitments made in the AAAA therefore correspond closely with UNCTAD's existing mandate. UNCTAD has also conducted a mapping of its activities and how they contribute to the achievement of SDGs and related targets, to the AAAA follow-up and to the monitoring of progress, including responses envisaged by UN system as a whole.
For all of these reasons, UNCTAD14 will be a milestone in implementation of the new twin global development agendas - Agenda 2030 & the AAAA - and member States' support and constructive engagement will be key in mobilizing the needed goodwill to make UNCTAD14 a resounding success.
Means of implementation and prosperity for all
UNCTAD's work directly supports two of the five areas of critical importance to the 2030 Agenda, namely Partnership (Goal 17 and the means of implementation targets) and Prosperity (Goal 8 on growth and employment, Goal 9 on innovation, industrialization and infrastructure and Goal 10 on reducing inequality within and between countries) . It is noteworthy that UNCTAD is the only UN entity, indeed international organization at large, that has mandated work on all of the targets of Goal 17. This being said, to ensure effective delivery and service to member States, UNCTAD is identifying and working to forge close partnership with other UN entities and other organizations that may be have specialized mandates in one or a few of the targets in which UNCTAD is also involved.
UNCTAD's work is also highly relevant to Goals 1 (poverty), 2 (hunger), 5 (gender), 12 (sustainable consumption and production), 14 (oceans) and 15 (biosystems). Indeed, due to the inter-related nature of the SDG targets, by working on at least three goals, and playing a key role for the means of implementation, UNCTAD indirectly supports ALL the goals.
UNCTAD has already done a mapping of its activities, including each of its technical assistance tools, in relation to SDGs and also contributed to the ongoing exercise led by UNOG on SDG-mapping of Geneva based organizations. We would be happy to make a presentation to all member States on the findings of the mapping.
Financing for development follow-up process
Each of the six action areas of the AAAA mirrors the core agenda of UNCTAD. This includes domestic resource mobilization, private finance, international development cooperation, international trade, debt and debt sustainability, technology for development, and addressing systemic issues.
As one of the five major institutional stakeholders of the FfD follow-up process, together with the WBG, IMF, WTO and UNDP, UNCTAD is already working hard on substantive follow-up to the new AAAA commitments. Recognizing that AAAA stipulates that UNCTAD should "be strengthened" (paragraph 88), we are preparing ourselves to shoulder the full responsibility for FfD follow-up commensurate to our special status as only UN Secretariat entity, and only UN entity together with UNDP, as major institutional stakeholder. We are also paying particular attention to maintaining continuity between Monterrey and Doha and the new Addis commitments, and with ensuring that the FfD process maintains its specific identity, apart from the SDGs, including its focus on systemic issues.
As a consequence of our status as major institutional stakeholder, we will participate in the upcoming FfD forum in New York from 18 to 20 April. In preparation for the forum, UNCTAD co-led the substantive drafting of five chapters of the recently released report from the Inter-Agency Task Force on Financing for Development follow-up: namely, the IATF chapters on debt, trade, private finance, systemic issues and technology.
Monitoring progress and follow-up
UNCTAD co-coordinated (w/ UNCDF) the inter-agency submission of indicators for Goal 17 targets. We consulted a wide group of agencies (ITU, ITC, WTO, WIPO, IOM, ILO, GEF, OHCHR, UNEP, UNFPA, CBD) and submitted a set of indicators, which after some minor adjustments have been adopted among the final set of 230 global indicators endorsed two weeks ago by the UN Statistical Commission in New York.
We continue to contribute to the work of the Intra-Agency and Expert Group on SDG indicators, and we expect UNCTAD data on trade, FDI and investment agreements to serve as the globally recognized data source for the relevant SDG indicators and targets.
UN system as a whole
The two Agendas will be transformative for the UN system as a whole, as well. Specifically the new Agendas recognize the important role and comparative advantages of an adequately resourced, relevant, coherent, efficient and effective UN system in supporting achievement of the SDGs and sustainable development. UNCTAD is actively contributing to the system-wide efforts in this regard, and is playing its role in the broader system as an organ of the General Assembly and an integral part of the UN Secretariat.