Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade spokesperson Anna Nagy has said that Hungary’s role in completing the package of proposals on UN sustainable development objectives for 2030 has proved a great success. Csaba Kőrösi, Hungary’s ambassador to the UN, spoke of the joint achievement of UN member states in preparing the development goals, with the negotiations being led by Hungary and Kenya.
Ms. Nagy said that when the package of proposals was finalised, "The participants gave the Hungarian leadership delegation a standing ovation [...] this result is extremely important for Hungary."
In 2000 the United Nations agreed on the so-called Millennium Development Goals, to be achieved by 2015; following on from these the UN has set itself a new development agenda up to 2030. To formulate new goals, a thirty-member working group was established, which was co-chaired by Hungary and Kenya.
The resulting seventeen sustainable development goals will be subject to a year-long analytical phase – involving the participation of scientists, civil society organisations and business players – which will come to an end in the autumn of 2015.
Mr. Kőrösi said that the only way to move from the current unsustainable path of development to a sustainable one is with the active cooperation of civil society, scientific and economic players.
He said that in formulating goals great emphasis had been laid on industrialization, on the protection of families and support for family farming, on quality education and lifelong learning, and on appropriate water management.
The Hungarian ambassador said that in relation to the latter Hungary plays an important role in the UN Friends of Water group. The Budapest Water Summit last autumn was a great success, and now the task is to assist in the implementation of development goals related to water management, he said.
Mr. Kőrösi said that Hungary considers it important to take account of the regional aspects of sustainable development, as many issues can be solved at national or regional level. Creation of a Central European forum would therefore be a great advantage in this work. He added that this autumn will see the first attempt at identifying what sustainable development tasks face the region’s countries, and who can what in this regard.
(MTI)