SPRING 2015 / issue no.

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Middle East

The Great Unraveling

Global
Energy
Security
Leaders
Angle

cirsd.org

Abbas Alekperov Anastasiades Barzani Bishara Bordoff Fahmy

al-Faisal Gl Jagland Kutesa Lozoya Miliband Mosi Muasher
Al-Nasser Rabinovich Rajoy Rosen efcovic Tanaka Wexler Yadlin

HorizonS

Mobilizing Resources for the Post-2015 Development Agenda

Mobilizing Resources
for the Post-2015
Development Agenda
Sam K. Kutesa

As President of the General Assembly, I chose Delivering on and Implementing a Transformative post-2015
Development Agenda as the overarching theme of the sixty-ninth session.
Throughout my term, I have continued
to underscore the importance of ensur-

ing that this new agenda is not only

ambitious, inclusive, and transformative, but-most importantly-that it is
accompanied by adequate means for
effective implementation.
The new universal development
agenda, currently being formulated by
Member States and other stakeholders,
represents our collective commitment
to humankind and the planet.
At the same time, we have to intensify
and accelerate efforts aimed at achieving the Millennium Development Goals
(MDGs) in the remaining periodor
come as close as possible to doing so.

he MDGs, which were adopted

nearly 15 years ago, have contributed to lifting over one billion
people out of extreme poverty. Their
implementation has led to significant

Sam K. Kutesa is President of the sixty-ninth session of the United Nations General Assembly.

Spring 2015, No.3

166

Photo: United Nations

his is truly a historic and

momentous year. We have a
once-in-a-lifetime opportunity
to change our world for the better. And
we must seize it. To do so, we need ambitious and successful outcomes from
three interrelated processes: the Summit for the adoption of the post-2015
development agenda, to be held in September in New York; the Third Financing for Development (FfD) Conference,
to be held in July in Addis Ababa; and
the Twenty-first Conference of the Parties on Climate Change (COP21), to be
held in December in Paris.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and General Assembly President Sam K. Kutesa

improvements in access to education,
health, water, and sanitationamong
other areas. Nevertheless, progress has
been uneven across the goals, countries, and regions.
Many developing countriesespecially the least developedcontinue
to face a dual challenge. They have low
human development indicators and
require greater investments in sectors
such as education and health in order
to achieve the MDGs, yet they lack the
adequate resources to do so. In many
cases, the capacity of such countries to
mobilize domestic resources is limited,
and the support from external sources
remains critical.

In recognition of this, the proposed

Sustainable Development Goals
(SDGs)the main component of the
post-2015 development agendabuild
on the foundation laid by the MDGs,
whilst expanding their scope, scale, and
applicability.
An Inclusive and
Transformative Agenda
oday, out of the worlds seven billion people, nearly 1.1 billion still
live below the internationally accepted
extreme poverty line of $1.25 a day. We
must strive to eradicate extreme poverty
by 2030, and significantly reduce the
number of people living below national
poverty lines everywhere.

167

Sam K. Kutesa

HorizonS

Mobilizing Resources for the Post-2015 Development Agenda

Together, we should spare no effort to

ensure that the post-2015 development
agenda is ambitious, inclusive, and
transformative. It should improve the
livelihoods of people worldwide, whilst
protecting the environment.

as a matter of urgency. In the outcome

document of the Summit entitled The
Future We Want, they also reaffirmed that
people are at the center of sustainable development and, in this regard, we strive for
a world that is just, equitable and inclusive-and we commit to work together to
promote sustained and inclusive economic
At the UN Summit on Sustainable
growth, social development and environDevelopment, held in June 2012 in Rio de
mental protection and, thereby, to benefit
Janeiro, world leaders agreed that eradicating poverty is the greatest challenge fac- all. Thus, poverty eradication and the
achievement of sustainable development
ing the world today and an indispensable
requirement for sustainable development, in its social, economic, and environmental
whilst affirming their commitment to
dimensions, were defined as the overarchfreeing humanity from poverty and hunger ing objectives of the new agenda.

Proposed Sustainable Development Goals

1) End poverty in all its forms everywhere;
2) End hunger, achieve food security and
improved nutrition and promote sustainable
agriculture;
3) Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being
for all at all ages;
4) Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education
and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all;
5) Achieve gender equality and empower all
women and girls;
6) Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all;
7) Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all;
8) Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable
economic growth, full and productive employment
and decent work for all;
9) Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and
sustainable industrialization and foster innovation;
10) Reduce inequality within and among countries;

11) Make cities and human settlements inclusive,

safe, resilient and sustainable;
12) Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns;
13) Take urgent action to combat climate change
and its impacts;*
14) Conserve and sustainably use the oceans,
seas and marine resources for sustainable
development;
15) Protect, restore and promote sustainable use
of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse
land degradation and halt biodiversity loss;
16) Promote peaceful and inclusive societies
for sustainable development, provide access to
justice for all and build effective, accountable and
inclusive institutions at all levels;
17) Strengthen the means of implementation
and revitalize the global partnership for sustainable development.

*Acknowledging that the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change is the primary international
intergovernmental forum for negotiating the global response to climate change

Spring 2015, No.3

168

he proposed 17 SDGs are ambitious and can transform our

societies and preserve our planetif
effectively implemented. They cover
important priorities, including ending
poverty in all its forms everywhere;
ending hunger; promoting sustainable
agriculture; ensuring quality education and healthy lives for all; achieving
gender equality and empowerment of
women and girls; universalizing access to water and sanitation, as well as
affordable modern energy; promoting
sustained, inclusive, and sustainable
economic growth; delivering full and
productive employment, as well as
decent work.

the main component of the new development framework. It is envisioned that

only limited technical proofing can
now be made to the targets; already, the
relevant indicators are being prepared
by the UN Statistical Commission for
consideration by the Member States.

Other key priorities include building resilient infrastructure; promoting

industrialization; reducing inequality
within and among countries; making
cities and human settlements inclusive,
safe, resilient, and sustainable; ensuring
sustainable consumption and production; combating climate change and its
impacts; conserving and sustainably
using oceans, seas, marine resources,
forests, and ecosystems; promoting
peaceful and inclusive societies; providing access to justice for all; and building
effective, accountable, and inclusive
institutions at all levels.

Mobilizing Adequate
Resources
o successfully implement the
ambitious agenda reflected in the
proposed SDGs, a strong and sustained
commitment will be required at all levels
to mobilize the scale of resources needed: from political leaders, multilateral
organizations, the private sector, civil
society, and all other stakeholders.

The other components being discussed include a declaration in which

world leaders will set out their vision,
ambition, and commitment to implement the new agenda; the means of
implementation (finances, technology
development, and transfer, as well as
capacity building); and a review and
follow-up framework.

he negotiations on the post-2015

development agenda are proceeding well. Member States have already
agreed that the proposed SDGs will be

The emerging estimates indicate, for

instance, that the additional financing
needed to eradicate extreme poverty
will range from $135 billion to $195 billion every two years. Investments that
will be required in critical infrastructure, including transport, energy, water,
and sanitation, are expected to cost
between $5 and $7 trillion annually.

169

Sam K. Kutesa

HorizonS

Mobilizing Resources for the Post-2015 Development Agenda

In Africa, for example, the financing

gap for infrastructure is nearly $95 billion per year. The unmet credit needs
for small- and medium-sized enterprises are estimated to be around $2.5
trillion in developing countries, and
about $3.5 trillion globally.

As I have pointed out before, the positive news is that global savingsincluding foreign exchange reservesremain
robust at about $22 trillion a year, inclusive of public and private sources. The
task that we have is to devise the right
policies, measures, and instruments
that can incentivize channeling some of
these resources towards
financing sustainable
Significant financial
development.

e also need to
find ways of addressing the significant
resources and investchallenges that many dements are evidently
veloping countries face
Commitments
in accessing environ& Deliverables
required for the
mentally sound techignificant finansuccessful implemennologies. This could be
cial resources and
tation
of
the
new
done through a technolinvestments are evidently
development
agenda,
ogy facilitation mecharequired for the successnismthe details of
ful implementation of
which should be
which Members States
the new development
mobilized from all
and other stakeholders
agenda, which should
sourcesdomestic
are currently discussing.
be mobilized from all
and
international,
It will also be essential
sourcesdomestic and
to build the developinternational, public and
public and private.
ing countries science,
private. There is also wide
technology, and innovation capacities
recognition that while public sources will
and systems.
remain central in financing sustainable
development, the private sector and other
We also need frameworks for intellecactors should also play a greater role.
tual property rights that achieve the right
balance between incentivizing private
Given its critical importance in supinvestment in innovation whilst maxiporting the implementation of the
mizing the diffusion of technology. This
post-2015 development agenda, we
will result in a win-win situation for both have to ensure the success of the Addeveloped and developing countries.
dis Ababa FfD Conference. We must
Technology development and transfer, as strive for an ambitious outcome with
well as capacity-building, will be critical
concrete and actionable deliverables. In
this context, participation at the highest
to achieving many of the SDGs.

Spring 2015, No.3

170

political level, including heads of state

and government, ministers of finance,
ministers responsible for development
cooperation, foreign ministers, heads
of international financial institutions,
representatives of the private sector,
civil society, and philanthropic organizations, will be critical.

to responsible tax-paying practices by

companies, will be essential.

A variety of innovative measures

and actions should be considered to
increase revenue collection, improve
budget efficiency, and combat corruption, tax avoidance, and illicit financial
flows. Greater efforts will also be required to create an enabling environment for both increased domestic and
foreign direct investment (FDI). In addition, we need to find ways of tapping
into the resources that banks, insurance
companies, pension funds, and capital
markets, among others, can provide.

or many developing countries,

international public finance remains an important source for financing global public goods. It is important
to ensure that Official Development
Assistance commitments are fulfilled in
their entirety, and that the resources are
effectively utilized and leveragedincluding as catalytic financing.
International financial institutions and
regional development banks will need to
be more responsive in supporting countries access to resourcesespecially
long-term financing for infrastructure at
affordable ratesin order to implement
the new development agenda.

It is also essential to reduce the charges on remittances from overseas workers to between three and five percent
of the amount transferred. Estimated
at about $516 billion globally this year,
remittances constitute an important
source of transfer earnings for households in many developing countries.

In this context, we look forward to the

proposals that the multilateral development banksincluding the World Bank
Group and the International Monetary
Fundare working on as part of their
input for the FfD process. We also need
to give attention to the increasing complex sovereign debt situation, which
affects many developing, and some
developed, countries.

Lastly, increasing domestic resource

mobilization will be critical for financing
the SDGs. In this regard, cooperation on
tax matters, measures and strategies for
improving tax collection capacities on
the part of governments, and adherence

Greater Private
Sector Involvement
e have to find ways of enhancing the private sectors participation in the implementation of
the new agenda.

171

Sam K. Kutesa

HorizonS
In many developing countries, the
private sector employs about 70 to 90
percent of the workforce, whilst contributing around 60 percent of GDP.
In view of the significant amounts
of private capital for investment that
institutional investors, companies, and
foundations can provide, the role of the
private sector is critical.

Mobilizing Resources for the Post-2015 Development Agenda

It is encouraging that a number of initiatives are being undertaken in this regardincluding by the UN Global Compact
that currently brings together over 800
companies from 150 countries, the UN
Conference on Trade and Investment,
and the UN-supported Principles of Responsible Investment. One of the ways of
incentivizing reallocation of private capital
to sustainable development investments
could be through enhancing risk mitigation mechanisms, such as the World Banks
Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency.

In this context, greater political commitment is required to conclude the

Doha round of trade negotiations.
It is also important to consider greater
involvement of the World Trade
Organization in contributing to the
ongoing processes on the new development agenda and FfD.

As the negotiations on the July 2015

Third FfD International Conference in
Addis Ababa proceed to the next stage,
it is essential to remain focused on
ensuring a holistic and action-oriented
financing framework, underpinned by
concrete deliverables, as well as a strong
follow-up and review mechanism.

At present, only a small portion of

invested assets of banks, pension funds,
insurance companies, and transnational
corporations worldwide
are in areas related to
ncreasing domestic
The challenge for
SDGs. While businesses
and foreign direct
many Least Develare keen on profit and
investment can conshareholder value, ways
tribute significantly
oped Countries is
should be found to incento achieving sustainthat, taken together,
tivize their contribution
able development.
they only attract two
to achieving sustainable
FDI, which constitutes
percent of global
development-building
the largest net flow of
on the work being done
capital to developing
FDI flows.
by the UN Global Comcountriesamounting
pact and other initiatives.
to nearly $780 billion in 2013can also
bring technology transfer and capacitybuilding benefits. The challenge for
hile some progress continues to be made towards the
many Least Developed Countries is
holistic integration of environmental,
that, taken together, they only attract
social, and governance issues in invest- two percent of global FDI flows.
ment decision-making, the volume and
We also have to harness and optimize
scale of such efforts has yet to reach
significant impact levels. By engaging
the contribution of trade as an engine
and incentivizing businesses and inves- for sustained economic growth and
tors to scale up investments embracing development. A universal, open, and
equitable trading system is essential to
sustainability, more private capital is
likely to be channeled towards achiev- facilitate market access-especially for
developing countries.
ing the SDGs.

ulti-stakeholder partnerships, Combatting Climate Change

with civil society, academia,
ur resolve to formulate and
implement a sustainable develand philanthropic organizations, will
also play an important role in realizopment agenda will count for less if we
do not address cliing the SDGs as a key
component of the new
mate change. We now
A universal, open,
agenda.
have incontrovertible
and equitable tradscientific evidence
We need to build on
particularly from the
ing system is essential
2014 Fifth Assessment
and expand successful
to facilitate market
initiativessuch as
Report of the Interaccess, especially for
the Global Initiative
governmental Panel
developing countries.
on Vaccination; the
on Climate Change
Global Fund for HIV/
which shows that,
mostly as a result of human activity,
AIDS; the Roll Back Malaria partnership; and the Every Woman Every
our planet is warming at an alarming
rate. The report points out that many
Child programwhilst optimizing the
contribution of foundations and other
of the physical changes to our planet
stakeholders.
currently being observed are unprecedentedranging from increasing
th
th
concentrations of greenhouse gases
On February 9 and 10 , 2015, I conand warming of the atmosphere and
vened a high-level thematic debate focusing on how to mobilize the resources oceans, to diminishing snow and ice
required for implementing a transforma- and rising sea-levels. Many countries
tive post-2015 development agenda.
are faced with frequent and prolonged
droughts, while floods and landslides
Many useful proposals and inputs were
are becoming more commonto
made by Member States and stakeholdmention but a few of the most visible
ers, including the private sector, civil
impacts of climate change.
society, and academia.

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Spring 2015, No.3

Sam K. Kutesa

HorizonS
The adverse impacts of climate change
affect every country around the world
threatening food security and undermining efforts to eradicate poverty and
achieve sustainable development. We
must act now before it becomes too late;
any delay in combating climate change
will come at a great cost to us all.

n my own country, Uganda, the

snow-capped glaciers on the Rwenzori Mountains, highest peaks-at almost 17,000 feet-had a combined area
of around 2.7 square miles at the start
of the last century. They now occupy
less than 0.4 square miles. And it is estimated that, if the current trend caused
by atmospheric warming continues,
there may be no snow glaciers on the
mountain within the next two decades.
For some Small Island Developing
States, such as Maldives and Kiribati,
rising sea levels pose an existential
threat to their very survival.
No country and no region will remain
unaffected.

hen I addressed the High-level

segment of the Conference of
the Parties (COP20) in Lima, Peru, in

Spring 2015, No.3

December 2014, I called upon Member

States and the international community
to summon the collective political will
to effectively combat climate change. I
do so again.
As we build up to a legally binding
agreement on climate change at COP21 in
Paris, under the aegis of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change,
our resolve towards mitigation and
adaptation measures should not waver.
Increasing financing for climate change
technologiesincluding investment in
renewable clean technologieswill be
critical for many developing countries.
I will be convening a high-level event
on climate change on June 29th, 2015,
at UN headquarters in New York to
maintain momentum and take stock of
the progress at the mid-point between
COP20 and COP21.
As we formulate an ambitious and
transformative post-2015 Development Agenda, we have to constantly
remind ourselves that its successful
implementation will largely depend
on mobilizing adequate resources and
mainstreaming the agenda in our national development plans.

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