Indonesia pushes for downstreaming, Global South rights at UN SDGs summit
Last Updated on September 20, 2023 1:04 pm
New York : With much of its long-term development plan hindered by international trade laws, the current global order has been labeled “unfit” by Indonesian delegates at the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Summit, who also urged for the end of “discriminatory” trade policies.
These repeated calls from Indonesia came as the country tries to escape from what has been described as the middle-income trap, and amid a bid to enter the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).
Ahead of the 78th UN General Assembly (UNGA) opening ceremony on Tuesday, global representatives kick-started the week’s flurry of meetings at the SDGs Summit, where they deliberated over the sluggish progress in advancing the global sustainable goals that were meant to be achieved by 2030. UN Secretary-General António Guterres called for a “global rescue plan” on the 17 SDG targets at the summit, as he acknowledged that only about 15 percent were on track to be met and that metrics on some were backtracking.
The 17 SGDs must be achieved by 2030 and include, among other things, inclusive and sustainable economic growth and resilient infrastructure.
The UN has warned that the failure to reach the SDG targets before the set date may exacerbate political instability and enable irreversible damage to the environment. Speaking on behalf of Indonesia, Foreign Minister Retno LP Marsudi said that the SDGs’ lackluster progress was rooted in the unjust global order, under which developing countries are being discriminated against.
“We need to put an end to trade discrimination,” she said on Monday. “The Global South must have the opportunities to develop downstream industries.”