Session 2: Integrating Sustainable Development Goals and Targets into the post-2015 Development Agenda

 

Co-Facilitators,

Maldives has the honour to speak on behalf of the Alliance of Small Island States, a coalition of 39 small island and coastal communities.

We have spent much time and energy getting to where we are in this process today. We appreciate you, Co-Facilitarors, for leading the transparent and inclusive discussions and we believe where we stand reflects the interests of us all and should be the basis for integrating SDGs into the final post-2015 development agenda.

The SAMOA Pathway is the SIDS contribution to the post-2015 development agenda and must be fully integrated into the future discussions. The SAMOA Pathway reflects our priorities and our needs at best.

We reiterate that the Report of the OWG on the Sustainable Development Goals, as highlighted in GA Resolution 68/309 shall serve as the basis for integrating sustainable development goals into the post-2015 development agenda. These goals have been formulated through a rigorous inter-governmental process. We recgonise it as a compromise and believe that it sets out an ambitious agenda for sustainable development over the coming decades and reflect the common consensus of the Member States.

We therefore do not believe it would be productive to reopen, reorganize, or renegotiate this text and ask all parties to respect the party-driven process that has gotten us this far and now focus on shifting to implementation.

However, we noted in December, that some targets, in the way they are articulated, prioritises the needs of one particular group of countries over others. This is a wholly inadequate reflection of the previously agreed language on how we balance the varying needs and vulnerabilities of countries. We note that this oversight has not yet been corrected, and hope they will be, through technical proofing of the targets, to reflect in addition to the LDCs, that the SIDS is also a vulnerable group of countries that require targeted and unique assistance.

Thank you.