{"id":251433,"date":"2023-02-28T22:33:34","date_gmt":"2023-02-28T20:33:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-newsroom.com\/press\/solidarity-leadership-and-commitment-needed-to-reach-2030-development-goals-mohammed?lang=en"},"modified":"2023-02-28T22:33:34","modified_gmt":"2023-02-28T20:33:34","slug":"solidarity-leadership-and-commitment-needed-to-reach-2030-development-goals-mohammed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/solidarity-leadership-and-commitment-needed-to-reach-2030-development-goals-mohammed\/","title":{"rendered":"Solidarity, leadership and commitment needed to reach 2030 development goals: Mohammed"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"image_wrap\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.africa-newsroom.com\/files\/thumb\/ca0caa6d8b012de\/600\/418\" alt=\"UN News\" \/><\/div>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.africa-newsroom.com\/africarc\/loganalytics?press_id=242347&amp;press_source=UN News\" width=\"1\" height=\"1\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>Although cascading global crises are undermining hard fought development gains, &ldquo;now is not the time for despair&#8221;, UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed told African ministers and policy makers meeting in Niamey, Niger, on Tuesday.&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p>As the continent weathers the full impact of fallouts from the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.un.org\/coronavirus\">COVID-19<\/a>&nbsp;pandemic, climate change and the war in Ukraine, she underscored the need for greater action to achieve UN and African Union roadmaps that promise an inclusive and sustainable future for all.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Countries off track&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;At the mid-point of the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.un.org\/sustainabledevelopment\/sustainable-development-goals\/\">Sustainable Development Goals<\/a>&nbsp;(SDGs) and Agenda 2063&nbsp;<strong>we are far from where we need to be<\/strong>,&rdquo; Ms. Mohammed&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.un.org\/sg\/en\/content\/dsg\/statement\/2023-02-28\/deputy-secretary-generals-remarks-the-ninth-african-regional-forum-for-sustainable-development-2023-prepared-for-delivery\">said<\/a>&nbsp;in remarks to the opening of the&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.uneca.org\/eca-events\/arfsd2023\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Ninth African Regional Forum for Sustainable Development<\/a>.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;But now is not the time to despair. &nbsp;On the contrary, now is the time for solidarity, leadership, and for commitment to the actions that we need to take to implement the agendas.&rdquo;&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>She said countries can change course and rise to the challenge through &ldquo;African-led solutions, born on African soil&rdquo;, noting that the Continental Free-Trade Agreement has the potential to lift&nbsp;<strong>30 million people<\/strong>&nbsp;out of extreme poverty. &nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Energy transformation key&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Leaders have also endorsed an action plan on sustainable industrialization and economic diversification.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;We must ensure that the emerging green and digital economies&nbsp;<strong>better serve Africa&rsquo;s people and natural environment<\/strong>. And key to implementation will be the&nbsp;<strong>inclusion of our young population<\/strong>,&rdquo; she added.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Africa&rsquo;s energy transformation is at the heart of these efforts, she said, citing promising developments such as the Congo Basin Carbon Credit registry and the Great Green Wall initiative.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Invest in solutions&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Ms. Mohammed said world leaders meeting at the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.un.org\/en\/conferences\/SDGSummit2023\">SDG Summit<\/a>&nbsp;in September&nbsp;<strong>must support and invest in these types of solutions<\/strong>. Furthermore, the meeting must deliver on three key areas, starting with re-energizing national SDG promises.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;At the Summit, world leaders must set out clear ambitions to&nbsp;<strong>reduce poverty and inequality<\/strong>&nbsp;by 2027 and 2030. And they must do so by making investments in Africa, investment in our economy, and investment in our people,&nbsp;<strong>especially women and youth<\/strong>,&rdquo; she said.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed met with young women entrepreneurs in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in February 2022 (file).<\/p>\n<p><strong>Financing the SDGs&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Tangible progress on SDG financing must also be another Summit outcome as &ldquo;the financing gap to achieve the SDGs and deliver climate resilience continues to widen&rdquo;, she said.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Ms. Mohammed reported that&nbsp;<strong>43 per cent of African nations&nbsp;<\/strong>are in or near debt distress, largely due to external factors beyond their control &#8211; a situation she described as &ldquo;not acceptable&rdquo;.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;The Secretary-General has called on the G20 to&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/news.un.org\/en\/story\/2023\/02\/1133637\">unlock an SDG Stimulus of at least $500 billion dollars annually&nbsp;<\/a>to developing countries, especially in Africa,&rdquo; she recalled.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;More broadly, we also need&nbsp;<strong>systemic reforms<\/strong>&nbsp;to a global financial architecture that today is not fit for purpose &ndash; and that remains too short-term oriented, crisis-prone, and fundamentally&nbsp;<strong>skewed towards the interests of the rich<\/strong>.&rdquo;&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Prioritize partnerships&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The Summit must also &ldquo;reinvigorate the concept of genuine partnership&rdquo;, she continued, highlighting the need for engaging with&nbsp;<strong>young people, civil society<\/strong>&nbsp;<strong>and the global public<\/strong>. &nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;It means securing more ambitious and&nbsp;<strong>more credible SDG ambition<\/strong>&nbsp;from business, the private sector &#8211; while expanding the engagement of local authorities, our traditional fathers and mothers, and investing in the science-policy interface,&rdquo; she added. &nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Ms. Mohammed said over the coming months, the UN will work with Governments and other partners to advance these three areas, including through work already being carried out by its&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/un-dco.org\/resident-coordinators-their-offices\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Resident Coordinators<\/a>, country teams and regional entities.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>UN Resident Coordinators lead teams servicing more than 160 countries and territories who support Government efforts to achieve sustainable development.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p><i>Distributed by APO Group on behalf of UN News.<\/i><\/p>\n<div class=\"well well-sm\"><b>Media files<\/b><br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-newsroom.com\/files\/large\/ffe41a2e362442b\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.africa-newsroom.com\/files\/large\/ffe41a2e362442b\" alt=\"UN News\" style=\"max-width:500px\" \/><\/a><br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-newsroom.com\/files\/download\/ffe41a2e362442b\">Download logo<\/a><\/div>\n<p> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-newsroom.com\/\">Source: Africa Newsroom &#8211; APO<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Although cascading global crises are undermining hard fought development gains, &ldquo;now is not the time for despair&#8221;, UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed told African ministers and policy makers meeting in Niamey, Niger, on Tuesday.&nbsp; As the continent weathers the full impact of fallouts from the&nbsp;COVID-19&nbsp;pandemic, climate change and the war in Ukraine, she underscored the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":251434,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4584],"tags":[4585],"class_list":{"0":"post-251433","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-africa-news-2","8":"tag-apo","9":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/solidarity-leadership-and-commitment-needed-to-reach-2030-development-goals-mohammed.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/251433","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=251433"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/251433\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/251434"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=251433"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=251433"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=251433"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}