Statement by:
The Republic of Maldives
on behalf of the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS)
at the Session on SDGs and targets for the Intergovernmental Negotiations on the post-2015 development agenda
Targets
25 March 2015
Co-Facilitators,
I have the honour to speak on behalf of the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS). We align ourselves with the statement delivered by the distinguished delegate of South Africa on behalf of G77 and China, and would like to reiterate the following points.
1. You have acknowledged the sensible political equilibrium that these 17 goals and 169 targets represent. We managed through intense yet constructive negotiations to make great progress and reach this razor delicate balance. This is why we have firmly rejected any attempt to re-open the discussion on these goals and targets. We are concerned that any attempt to re-open the SDGs would upset the delicate political balance. This is why we have also cautioned against tweaking or technically proofing the targets.
2. At the last session, there was a general sense, to which you have alluded, that the idea of technical proofing of targets lacked support. You can then imagine our surprise at this list of proposed changes to 19 targets that you presented to us on Monday with no prior notice. We humbly request that in the future, supporting documents be shared sufficiently in advance of the session, to allow enough time for our small delegations to effectively prepare, engage and have our voices heard.
3. We cannot reiterate enough that any technical proofing of targets bears the high risk of re-opening all 169 targets. The time we have to finalise our development agenda is short. We need to move forward. We should therefore refrain from any actions that could undermine the process and make it difficult to finalise the new development framework by September 2015. AOSIS wishes to reiterate that, we should focus on indicators, the elaboration of which should be politically guided by the report of the OWG of SDGs.
I thank you.
