The Ministers for Foreign Affairs of the Group of 77 and China reaffirmed the report of the Open Working Group (OWG) on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as the basis for integrating the SDGs into the post-2015 development agenda, at the 38th Annual Meeting of Ministers.
They also discussed poverty eradication, means of implementation (MOI) for the post-2015 agenda, South-South cooperation, climate change, trade, and terrorism and occupation, among other issues.
The 38th Annual Meeting of Ministers took place on 26 September 2014, in New York, US, under Bolivia's chairship.
26 September 2014: The Ministers for Foreign Affairs of the Group of 77 and China reaffirmed the report of the Open Working Group (OWG) on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as the basis for integrating the SDGs into the post-2015 development agenda, at the 38th Annual Meeting of Ministers. They also discussed poverty eradication, means of implementation (MOI) for the post-2015 agenda, South-South cooperation, climate change, trade, and terrorism and occupation, among other issues. The 38th Annual Meeting of Ministers took place on 26 September 2014, in New York, US, and was chaired by Bolivia.
The G77/China Ministers supported poverty eradication as the central, overarching objective of the post-2015 development agenda, and stressed that it should promote inclusive, rapid and sustained economic growth to eradicate poverty and hunger and reduce inequalities. They reaffirmed the following strategic objective for the post-2015 agenda: “developing an international enabling environment for sustainable development, by addressing the questions of trade, reform of the international financial system, global economic governance, debt, repatriation of illicit funds, cooperation in the fields of finance and technology, in order to support the efforts of developing countries to achieve sustainable development.”
Ministers also: called for coherence among relevant processes; underscored the importance of strengthening the global partnership for development, with North-South cooperation at its core and South-South and triangular cooperation as a complement; urged fulfillment of official development assistance (ODA) commitments; reaffirmed the need for a strong preparatory process leading to the Third International Conference on Financing for Development (FfD); affirmed technology as a key MOI; and welcomed the convening of the UN General Assembly dialogues on arrangements for a facilitation mechanism to promote the development, transfer and dissemination of clean and environmentally sound technologies, and supported continued consultations on this topic.
Climate change is “one of the most serious global challenges of our times,” the Ministers agreed. They called for developed countries to take the lead on responding to climate change within the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) principles and provisions, particularly CBDR, equity, respective capabilities (RC) and financial and technical support for developing countries. Ministers stressed that the extent to which developing countries will implement their UNFCCC commitments will depend on developed country implementation of financial and technological commitments, and said economic and social development and poverty eradication are developing countries’ first priorities. They also discussed: the 20th Conference of the Parties (COP) to the UNFCCC; the Ad hoc Working Group on the Durban Platform (ADP); the ambition gap; and disaster risk reduction (DRR).
Ministers also recalled the special needs of Africa, small island developing States (SIDS) and landlocked developing countries (LLDCs) and called for continued support to these countries. [Ministerial Declaration]