Asia-Pacific showing โdecisive leadershipโ on road to 2030 Sustainable Development Goals, deputy UN chief tells key forum
ยฉESCAP/Diego Montemayor
Nations across Asia and the Pacific need to take bold action to ensure empowerment, inclusiveness and equality if the region is to realize the ambitious 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, a major UN conference has heard.
Speaking at the opening of the Asia-Pacific Forum on Sustainable Development (APFSD) in Bangkok, UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed expressed her admiration for the development progress made within the vast region so far.
โYour governments have taken on the challenge of the 2030 Agenda with decisive leadershipโฆmaking significant investments to enhance data and statistical coverage, take partnerships to scale and promote people-centred policies, strategies and programmes,โ she said in a keynote address.
Such efforts to reach the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), however, are facing โmajor obstaclesโ she added, pointing to rising inequalities.
โInequality of wealth, of access to basic services, and inequality in the ability to withstand setbacks and respond to the ravages wrought by climate change, are all on the rise,โ said Ms. Mohammed.โ
According to the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) โ which organized the Forum โ the regionโs women and girls have been the worst impacted, more than half of whom remain excluded from critical decision-making, and in some countries, close to a third of all young people lack jobs, education or training.
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