July 17, 2024 | 1:15–2:30 p.m. (ET)
UNHQ, Conference Room E
The unprecedented polycrisis facing our world, including intertwining geopolitical tensions, inequality, poverty, climate change, the pandemic, financial instability, and supply chain disruptions, underscore the crucial role of effective international development cooperation in advancing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. These obstacles have significantly impeded progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Halfway to the 2030 deadline, the United Nations (UN) Secretary-General António Guterres in 2023 has warned us that more than half of the world is at risk of being left behind. The UN Secretary-General’s Progress Report on the SDGs (2023) shows that progress on 50 percent of the SDG targets is insufficient and weak, and 30 percent have stalled or reversed. Transformative measures, including enhanced international development cooperation founded on equitable global relationships, are essential for reversing these dire trends.
Furthermore, at the SDG Summit held in New York in September 2023, the UN Secretary-General also alerted that only 15 percent of the SDG targets are on track, with many others going in reverse. Under current trends, it is estimated that only about one third of countries will meet the target of halving poverty levels by 2030, and 600 million people will still be facing hunger, especially in developing countries. The UN’s SDGs Report 2023 has also noted that the COVID-19 has caused the largest increase between-country inequality in three decades, according to World Bank estimates. Demographic shifts, with population growth increasingly concentrated in developing nations (UNCTAD, 2022), emphasize the need to address global inequalities. In reversing these situations ,transformative measures need to be done, and this includes enhancing international development cooperation. Such measures require systemic transformation of the international order that creates the foundation for equal relations between developed and developing countries. These relations must be built upon principles of country ownership, results-orientation, inclusive partnerships, and mutual accountability, leading to transformative Multi-Stakeholder Partnerships (MSP). Transformative MSP, involving national governments, intergovernmental bodies, multilateral organizations, epistemic communities, private sectors and civil society groups, is crucial for addressing contemporary systemic challenges, promoting long-term sustainable change. Building upon the momentum towards the 2030 Agenda, the side event provides a platform for various multi- stakeholders to exchange ideas and innovations aimed at generating global solutions.
The side event at the High-Level Political Forum 2024 will bring forward the theme of “Strengthening Multi-Stakeholder Partnerships for Development: Towards a Transformative Change” and will specifically delve into the topics of transformative solutions in: 1) South-South Cooperation to narrow the gap between the Global North and South; 2) innovative financing; 3) sustainable Economy, particularly on sustainable trade.
Recommendations identified in the forum may serve as inputs to the discussions at the High-Level Forum on Multi-Stakeholder Partnerships to be held on 1-3 September 2024, Bali, Indonesia
Opening Remarks: H.E. Arrmanatha C.Nasir, Permanent Representative of Indonesia
Closing Remarks: H.E. Ms. Rebeca Grynspan, Secretary General UNCTAD
Moderator: Ms. Johanna Fajardo-Gonzalez, Economist of the World Bank’s Poverty and Equity Team, in East Asia and Pacific
Panelists
- Ms. Tania Strauss, Supervisory Board of the Sustainable Trade Initiative/ Initiatief Duurzame Handel (IDH)
- Ms. Dima Al-Khatib, Director of the United Nations Office for South- South Cooperation (UNOSSC)
Discussants
- Ambassador Yojna Patel, Deputy Permanent Representative of India
- Ms. Rebekah Chew, Team Lead of Policy and Programme Support, UNDP, OECD-UNDP Joint Support Team of Global Partnership for Effective Development Cooperation(GPEDC)
- Ms. Roshni Menon, Senior Program Officer, Inequality and Exclusion in Pathfinders, New York University Center on International Cooperation
- Mr. Pungkas Bahjuri Ali, Expert Staff to the Minister for Social Welfare and Poverty Reduction, Head of the National Secretariat for SDGs
Organized by the Government of the Republic of Indonesia and the UN Trade and Development (UNCTAD)
