Review of SDGs implementation: SDG 17 – Strengthening the means of implementation and revitalize the global partnership for sustainable development
Friday, 13 July 2018
2:30 PM - 4:30 PM
Conference Room 4, UNHQ
Official meeting
Statements
Statements
Presentations
SDG 17 seeks to strengthen global partnerships to support and achieve the ambitious targets of the 2030 Agenda, bringing together national governments, the international community, civil society, the private sector, and other actors. Despite some advances in certain areas in 2017, more needs to be done to accelerate progress. All stakeholders will have to intensify and focus their efforts on the areas where progress has been slow.
SDG 17 reflects a holistic approach to the means of implementation for the 2030 Agenda, including 19
targets that span finance, technology, capacity-building, trade and systemic issues. In addition, the
means of implementation are integrated acrossthe other Goals, underlining their cross-cutting nature.
The concrete policies and actions of the Addis Ababa Action Agenda on financing for development
provide a strong foundation to support the achievement of the SDGs.
The session will discuss the main challenges and opportunities for strengthening global partnerships
and enhancing the means of implementation. Specific attention will be given to exploring the existing
mechanisms and potential innovations for mobilizing resources for the SDGs – including: (i) financing
at both domestic and international levels, from public and private sources; (ii) best practice and
experience in scaling up technology solutions; (iii) trends in South-South cooperation for building
capacitiesfor SDG implementation and investment; and (iv) overcoming challengesin the international
trade and financial system. Views, suggestions and current achievements are expected to be shared
by practitioners, policymakers and experts based on their most recent experiences and research.
The purpose of the session is to advance progress on SDG 17 by dedicating a focused discussion to
national, regional and global trends in the key means of implementation and global partnership for
sustainable development. It will also build on the inter-governmentally agreed conclusions and
recommendations of the ECOSOC Forum on Financing for Development in 2018 (A/RES/70/1, §86) and
consider the findings and ideas emerging from other related processes, including the Development
Cooperation Forum (DCF); Multistakeholder Forum on Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) forthe
SDGs; World Investment Forum; and UN World Data Forum.
Proposed guiding questions:
- What are the main hurdles to investing in, and financing, the SDGs, using all sources: public
and private, domestic and international? Which policies, approaches and institutional
solutions have worked best in specific country contexts and how can they be scaled up?
- What kind of partnership or collaboration is needed between the public and private sectors to
achieve the goal of financing the SDGs? What should be done to achieve that?
- How can the benefits of collaboration between researchers/scientists, investors, and
practitioners, more effectively apply cutting-edge technology in development endeavours in a
timely manner? What are the main recommendations for high-impact actions in this area?
- How can capacity building interventions in technology be applied at the national level to
ensure transformation towards sustainable and resilient societies?
- What are some innovations in South-South cooperation that are complementing efforts by
other actors to support national plans and mobilize resources for the SDGs?
- Which policy actions are needed to address both long-standing concerns and near-term
challenges in the international trade and financial system?
- Who are the furthest behind and who is at risk of being left behind for this SDG?
- How do we ensure that sufficient resources are geared at improving the lives of the furthest
behind?
Chair:
- H.E. Mr. Mahmadamin Mahmadaminov, Vice-President of ECOSOC
Presentations:
- Ms. Yongyi Min, Sustainable Development Goal Monitoring Section, Statistics Division of UN DESA
- H.E. Mr. Courtenay Rattray, Permanent Representative of Jamaica to the United Nations and Co-Facilitator for the outcome of the 2018 ECOSOC Financing for Development Follow-up Forum
Moderator:
- Ms. Gillian Tett, U.S. Managing Editor, Financial Times
Panellists:
- H.E. Mr. Masud Bin Momen, Permanent Representative of Bangladesh to the UN
- Mr. Robin Ogilvy, Special Representative of the OECD to the UN
- Mr. Alfred Watkins, Chair of the Global Solutions Summit
- Mr. Steven Waygood, Chief Responsible Investment Officer, Aviva
Lead discussants:
- Mr. Kavaljit Singh,Director, Madhyam (FFD Civil Society Group)
Followed by interactive discussion
H.E. Mr. Md. Shahidul Haque
Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs, Bangladesh
Mr. Md. Shahidul Haque has been serving as Foreign Secretary of the Government of Bangladesh since 2013. He is the Chair-in-office of the Global Forum on Migration and Development (GFMD) and serves as an Independent Expert to the Committee on the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of their Families (CMW) for the term 2014-2017. He is also a member of the Migration Advisory Board of International Organization for Migration (IOM). From 2001 to 2012, Mr. Haque occupied several senior positions at the IOM. Prior to that, he worked for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Bangladesh, having served in Missions in London, Bangkok and Geneva. Mr. Haque has an MA in nternational Relations from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy. He holds a Master in Social Science and a Bachelor in Social Science with Honors from the University of Dhaka.
Mr. Alfred Watkins
Chairman, Global Solutions Summit; Senior Advisor, Global Technology Deployment Initiative; Senior Director, P80 Group Foundation
Alfred Watkins is currently Chairman of the Global Solutions Summit, Senior Advisor to the Global Technology Deployment Initiative and Senior Director of the P80 Group Foundation.
Prior to assuming these positions, he worked for more than 23 years in various positions at the World Bank and served for more than six years as the World Bank’s Science and Technology Program Coordinator and head of the World Bank’s Science, Technology and Innovation Global Expert Team. In those capacities he was responsible for designing, developing and helping to implement the World Bank’s global STI capacity building programs and for helping to maintain the World Bank’s STI capacity building dialogue with G-8 governments, bilateral donors, foundations, NGOs, and various multilateral and UN agencies. He has extensive field experience in Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet Union. Mr. Watkins helped to design and organize World Bank STI capacity building programs in Africa, the Middle East, Eastern Europe, and Central Asia. Mr. Watkins also led the World Bank team that designed and implemented an innovative World Bank non-commercial risk guarantee package for the Sea Launch Commercial Space Launch project in Russia and Ukraine.
Prior to joining the World Bank, Mr. Watkins was an Assistant Professor at the University of Texas at Austin and served as an economic advisor to several Members of Congress.
Mr. Kavaljit Singh
Director of Madhyam
Kavaljit Singh is an Indian economist and currently Director of Madhyam, a public policy research think-tank, based in New Delhi. His areas of specialization include international finance, foreign investments, international trade, regulatory affairs and global governance. He is currently the global chair of Reality of Aid Network.
He is the author of widely published books on international finance and globalization. His recent books are Fixing Global Finance: A Developing Country Perspective on Global Financial Reforms and Rethinking Bilateral Investment Treaties: Critical Issues and Policy Choices. Apart from English language editions published across the world, many of his books have been translated and published in more than dozen languages across the world.
He has contributed research articles and studies in various academic journals. Singh has contributed articles in leading Indian and international newspapers including The Hindu, Bangkok Post and Financial Times.
Mr. Robin Ogilvy
Special Representative and Permanent Observer of OECD to the UN
Robin Ogilvy, the new Permanent Observer and Special Representative of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) to the United Nations.
Before his latest appointment, Mr. Ogilvy served as an Adviser in the office of the OECD Secretary-General since 2014, supporting the delivery of corporate initiatives such as the OECD Action Plan on the Sustainable Development Goals.
Having joined OECD in 2009 as a policy analyst and subsequently Senior Policy Advisor on aid effectiveness, Mr. Ogilvy previously headed the United Nations Aid Coordination Unit in Rwanda. He was also a fellow at the United Kingdom-based Overseas Development Institute.
Mr. Ogilvy holds a Master of Philosophy in social and political science and a Master of Arts in economics, both from St. John’s College at the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom.
Mr. Steven Waygood
Chief Responsible Investment Officer, Aviva
Steve Waygood is Chief Responsible Investment Officer at Aviva Investors, where he leads sustainable and responsible investment (SRI) analysis, engagement and voting. Steve is also Chairman of the SRI Advisory Committee for Aviva Investors. He previously worked for Insight Investment where he was a Director in the Investor Responsibility team. Prior to that, he was a Senior Analyst in the Governance and SRI team of F&C. He started his career at WWF-UK where he chaired its business and industry core group.
Steve was a member of both the expert and advisory groups to the United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment, which helped to found the PRI. He was also on the board of the UK Sustainable Investment & Finance association (UKSIF) from 2003 to 2010, serving as its Chairman from 2006. In 2009 he was among the Financial News Top 100 Rising Stars and in 2011 he received the Yale Rising Star in Corporate Governance Award.
He wrote Capital Market Campaigning: the impact of NGOs on companies, shareholder value, and reputational risk, and has contributed to three other books on SRI.
Ms. Gillian Tett
US Managing Editor, Financial Times, UK
Gillian Tett serves as US managing editor of the Financial Times, where she writes weekly columns covering a range of economic, financial, political and social issues.
In 2014, she was named Columnist of the Year in the British Press Awards and was the first recipient of the Royal Anthropological Institute Marsh Award. In June 2009 her book Fool’s Gold won Financial Book of the Year at the inaugural Spear’s Book Awards.
Tett’s past roles at the FT have included US managing editor (2010-2012), assistant editor, capital markets editor, deputy editor of the Lex column, Tokyo bureau chief, and a reporter in Russia and Brussels.
