The United Nations General Assembly has adopted a political declaration acknowledging that the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) are in peril and recommitting to bold, ambitious, and accelerated actions to meet the 2030 development agenda. The declaration expressed deep concern at the SDG financing gap and recognised the urgency of providing predictable and sufficient development finance to developing countries from all sources.
Opening the Summit, U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres explained that the SDGs were not merely a list of goals but a set of ideals that carry the hopes, dreams, aspirations, and expectations of people everywhere. Adopted through consensus, it was a Political Declaration reaffirming the commitment of all 193-member states to effectively implement the 2030 Agenda and its SDGs and to uphold all principles enshrined therein.
U.N. Chief Antonio Guterres says, “The SDGs need a global rescue plan. I am deeply encouraged by the detailed and wide-ranging political declaration under discussion here today, especially its commitment to improving developing countries’ access to the fuel required for SDG progress: finance.
This includes your clear support for an SDG stimulus of at least $500 billion a year as well as an effective debt-relief mechanism that supports payment suspensions, longer lending terms, and lower rates. It includes your call to re-capitalize and change the business model of Multilateral Development Banks so they can massively leverage private finance at affordable rates to benefit developing countries. And it includes your endorsement of reforming today’s outdated, dysfunctional and unfair international financial architecture. This can be a game-changer in accelerating SDG progress.
Source: SABC
In other news – Lasizwe crowned winner of ‘The Perfect Picture’ season 2
Outshooting six other contestants, Lasizwe Dambuza, Jonathan Boyton-Lee, and Nomvelo Makhanya were crowned the top three in the last episode and Ivan Roux was sadly sent home.
The contestants used every bit of knowledge they learned during the competition to clinch the grand prize of R150,000 in cash and R100,000 worth of Canon photographic equipment. Read more
