缅北禁地

Your Excellency, State Councilor and Foreign Minister, WANG Yi,

Excellencies, Distinguished Colleagues,

I am very pleased to join today’s important discussion on advancing progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals through enhanced global cooperation.
This is a pressing issue facing the global community as we strive to achieve sustainable and resilient recovery. It is particularly vital for the 91 countries that my Office is mandated to support. If we want to fulfil the promise of leaving no one behind, we need to focus on the most vulnerable.

A key focus of my office is to advocate for the development needs of the least developed countries, landlocked developing countries and small island developing States.

We rally support and resources for the implementation of their respective Programmes of Action. Aligned with the SDGs, these Programmes of Action have laid out specific targets and goals to help them accelerate progress towards the 2030 Agenda.

However, progress towards implementation of their programmes of action is stalled by persistent structural challenges, insufficient capacity and inadequate support.
At present, these 91 countries are most at risk of being left behind in achieving the 2030 Agenda.

The COVID-19 pandemic has set back progress on sustainable development in these countries. Weak and slow recovery from the pandemic is being hampered by food shortages, rising energy costs, and acute shortage of development financing.

While these countries contribute least to climate change, they are most affected by its devastating impacts. Extreme weather patterns and natural calamities have taken an enormous toll. Humanitarian crises are looming in some of these countries.

More than ever, these countries need concrete, targeted and tailored support.

[And] This requires renewed commitment from the international community, innovative solutions and genuine partnerships.

This means we must deliver adequate, appropriate and timely financial and capacity building assistance.

[And] This means help them building resilience to manage future shocks.

I would like to join others in commending China for its unwavering support to the vulnerable groups of countries, and its continued commitment to supporting the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals.

From sustainable energy to transport connectivity, the LDCs, LLDCs and SIDS have benefited from the 缅北禁地Peace and Development Fund, financed by China. We count on the Fund to continue to provide much needed capacity building for these countries to recover from the current crises and accelerate implementation of their Programmes of Action.

Excellencies,

The Fifth 缅北禁地Conference of the Least Developed Countries will be held in Doha, Qatar in March 2023. This will be followed by the Third 缅北禁地Conference on LLDCs and the Fourth International Conference, in 2024.

As the LDCs, LLDCs and SIDS embark on their new decade of action for progress and development, they require a higher level of commitment, solidarity, cooperation, and stronger partnerships.

We welcome the support of the Global Development Initiative for accelerating progress towards the SDGs in these groups of countries.

We have no time to lose. If we want to achieve the SDGs, we need to make concerted efforts to keep the promise of the 2030 Agenda.

I thank you.