Three development agencies in the Asia-Pacific region – the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the UN Development Programme (UNDP) – renewed their partnership to support and monitor the transition towards sustainable development, agreeing to boost financing of technology and innovation.
30 September 2015: Three development agencies in the Asia-Pacific region – the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the UN Development Programme (UNDP) – renewed their partnership to support and monitor the transition towards sustainable development, agreeing to boost financing of technology and innovation.
The signing ceremony took place ahead of a high-level forum on the theme, ‘Making it Happen: Transitioning from the MDGs to SDGs in Asia and the Pacific,’ and alongside the 70th UN General Assembly (UNGA) high-level debate in New York, US, on 30 September 2015.
The three organizations announced they will: facilitate further high-level policy dialogues; support capacity building; deliver knowledge products; and promote development cooperation in the region.
ESCAP, ADB and UNDP have jointly produced a series of Asia-Pacific Regional Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) Reports since 2004. The 2014-2015 report notes that technology will play a key role in the post-2015 era. It calls for developed countries to provide easy access to new technologies, and stresses the importance of developing and adapting technologies available in the region.
Shamshad Akhtar, ESCAP Executive Secretary, said the region’s relative success in achieving the MDGs has set the stage for implementing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and called for a focus on financing, science, technology and innovation. Haoliang Xu, UNDP, also emphasized the importance of technology and innovation in achieving the SDGs. Stephen Groff, ADB, pledged that the Bank will increase its lending by up to 50% from 2017 to around US$20 billion a year, and will double its climate financing to US$6 billion a year by 2020.
At the high-level forum following the signing, Emomali Rahmon, President of Tajikistan, highlighted his country’s interest in regional cooperation for infrastructure development, including construction of gas pipelines, railroads and highways. Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi, Prime Minister of Samoa, called for a coordinated UN system that can meet the needs of Pacific small island developing States (P-SIDS). [ESCAP Press Release] [Publication: Asia-Pacific Regional MDGs Report 2014/15: Making it Happen: Technology, Finance and Statistics for Sustainable Development in Asia and the Pacific]