In honour of the delegations of South and South-West Asia attending the 71st Commission Session a luncheon on Sustainable Development in South and South-West Asia was organized on 25 May 2015. Delegations from the member States of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Islamic Republic of Iran, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka participated in the luncheon. A delegate from the Secretariat of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) also participated in the luncheon.
Dr. Nagesh Kumar, Head of the ESCAP South and South-West Asia Office welcomed the delegations to the luncheon. The Chair of the luncheon, H.E. Mr. Kesang Wangdi, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Bhutan to Thailand and the Permanent Representative to ESCAP, gave some introductory remarks and invited Dr. Kumar to make a presentation on the outcomes of the Asia Pacific Forum on Sustainable Development (APFSD) and the implementation and relevance of the outcomes of the Forum for accelerating Sustainable Development in South and South-West Asia.
The APFSD, mandated by resolution 70/11, was held on 21-22 May 2015. The Forum provided perspectives on the priorities, challenges and opportunities for the international and regional development agenda beyond 2015 and the implementation of the proposed Sustainable Development Goals being negotiated for adoption by world governments in 2015. The Forum considered issues of managing the transition from the end of the Millennium Development Goals to the Sustainable Development Goals and considered the institutional architecture including regional review mechanisms and the functions and objectives of the APFSD beyond 2015.
Delegations at the Forum highlighted the priority of the need to ensure greater assistance to countries with special needs, including least developed countries, landlocked developing countries and small island developing states, through actions including targeting increased financial assistance, technology transfer and capacity building support. Countries also agreed that the Forum should continue as the key regional platform for assessing the implementation and progress of the sustainable development agenda and sustainable development goals for Asia and the Pacific as an input for the regular meetings of the High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF).
The Forum also included active participation and discussion from South and South-West Asia countries on the post-2015 and sustainable development agenda. Bhutan shared its development paradigm of gross national happiness as a good practice model for a people centric and inclusive development. The Forum also included a briefing on the outcomes of the South Asian Consultation on the Post-2015 Development Agenda, and the South Asia perspective and priorities for sustainable development as specified in the Nagarkot Statement of August 2014. The Statement highlighted key development priorities for the subregion including poverty alleviation, gender inequality, and access to decent employment. The Statement also emphasized the means of implementation especially strengthened global partnership in finance and technology, strengthened accountability backed by data and the relevance of regional cooperation to facilitate such strengthening.
The 2015 APFSD resulted in the adoption of a Chair’s Summary and report that will serve as an important input to the Third HLPF to be held in June-July, 2015.
In his presentation, Dr. Kumar noted that additional sustainable development priorities particular to the subregion may include pursuing higher, inclusive and sustained economic growth, addressing structural inequalities (education, labour markets, access to modern energy, food security and nutrition), building resilience to disaster and disaster risk reduction strategies and adequate planning for sustainable urbanization. Dr. Kumar also informed delegations of the subregion of the alignment of the work programme of the ESCAP subregional office with the subregional sustainable development priorities. In particular, he noted that the work programme of the subregional office included four key thematic pillars of; (1) MDG achievement, job creation and sustainable development; (2) transport connectivity and regional economic integration; (3) regional cooperation in food security, energy security and disaster-risk reduction; and, (4) assisting the countries with special needs in South Asia including the four least developed countries, three of which are also land-locked developing countries, and the Maldives as a small island developing state.
In her remarks, Dr Shamshad Akhtar, Executive Secretary of ESCAP emphasized the importance of social justice as a key to achievement of any agreed sustainable development goals, especially for the South and South-West Asia subregion which is home to one in four of the world’s population but also one in four of the world’s poor. The Executive Secretary recognized the good practice models of elements for sustainable development strategies among the countries of the subregion, including Pakistan’s Vision 2025, which is explicitly aligned with sustainable development priorities. The Executive Secretary emphasized the continued support and aim to work increasingly closely with the member States of the subregion. She also called on the member States to ensure that their collective voice in global forums including the United Nations General Assembly in New York, other Member States, international development partners and donors, to stress the importance of the subregional perspective on sustainable development and the critical role of ESCAP in providing a subregional and regional intergovernmental forum for priority setting and ESCAP’s support for the implementation of sustainable development in the subregion and in Asia and the Pacific. The Executive Secretary noted the continued importance to prioritize the needs of Asia Pacific equally with the important development needs of other regions.
The representative from the SAARC Secretariat noted that the SAARC Development Goals were the subregional expression of the priorities and implementation of the Millennium Development Goals. She also informed the subregional delegations of the preparation of the publication of the SAARC regional poverty profile that will be considered the South Asia report on assessing the progress of countries towards the Millennium Development Goals at the end of 2015. The SAARC representative noted the integration of the three pillars of sustainable development within the perspective of the Nagarkot Statement and outcome of the South Asia consultation on the post-2015 development agenda. The representative also informed delegations of the upcoming Fourth SAARC Poverty Alleviation Minister’s Meeting to be held in Thimpu in July. The SAARC representative thanked ESCAP and the Secretariat for the opportunity to participate in the luncheon. The SAARC representative emphasized that SAARC and the SAARC Secretariat welcomes the opportunity to continue to work with ESCAP and the ESCAP Secretariat and looks forward to increasing closer ties with ESCAP, especially in areas where ESCAP can support SAARC’s member State-led implementation of priorities, such as in offering technical assistance and expertise to SAARC and SAARC Member States.
The delegation of the Islamic Republic of Iran thanked ESCAP for the presentation and briefing on the APFSD. The Islamic Republic of Iran noted the urgent need for countries in the subregional to emphasize the critical and equally important nature of complementing economic growth priorities with environmental development and protection to ensure sustainable development pathways and advancement towards the sustainable development goals, which are expected to be adopted in 2015. Iran echoed previous comments on the importance of the continuous dialogue and discussions between the countries of the subregion to find a common perspective and increase the voice of the subregion’s perspectives at high level forums and to increase political will. In particular, Iran highlighted the priority of ensuring greater resilience of countries of the subregion as a precondition for accelerating sustainable development and for ensuring disaster risk reduction and emphasized these priorities as the impetus for the creation and continuous support by Iran for the Asia Pacific Disaster Information Management Centre. Iran called on the ESCAP South and South-West Asia member States and the ESCAP Secretariat to further support and put in place meaningful mechanisms for ensuring continuous working level coordination between countries, and with greater coordination and coherence with other relevant regional organizations, subregional organizations and other development partners throughout the subregion.
The delegation of Nepal informed the participants of the luncheon of the huge and devastating impact that the recent earthquake of 25 April and the continuous aftershocks have had on the people of Nepal and the need to reassess development plans and strategies, including the Nepal strategy for graduation from least developed country status by 2021 and the development of the 15 year strategy for achieving the sustainable development goals. Nepal noted that this disaster had resulted in 32 of the 75 districts of Nepal being heavily damaged and with over 9000 people having died as a result of the earthquake. Nepal noted that much existing infrastructure and essential utilities and public goods have been destroyed and erased in moments and the country faces vast reconstruction challenges ahead. Nepal noted in particular the support of member States in the subregion and offers of assistance that it has received to date towards reconstruction efforts and would be counting on the continuous support of its subregional neighbours to accelerate recovery.
The delegation of Afghanistan emphasized the importance of security and stability as a key challenge and precondition for inclusive growth, sustainable development and that the rule of law and security must be a priority for the achievement of the proposed sustainable development goals. Afghanistan also noted that the existing structure of the Security Council provides for no regional perspective or mechanism within its structure.
The delegation of Pakistan concurred on the importance of security and stability for sustainable development. Pakistan also noted that social development is a key priority for sustainable development, particularly through actions to improve social development within countries and between states, provinces and other territories. The delegation stressed that a movement to a successful sustainable development pathway should correct the uneven development and growing inequality between people and places that leaves vulnerable populations and groups excluded from enjoying the benefits of growth and can increase social dissatisfaction, unrest and violence. In greater regional cooperation Pakistan also emphasized the priority of greater institutional cooperation and the revival of the memorandum of understanding between ESCAP and SAARC as a good initiative in this direction. Pakistan also supported the recent proposal to establish a regular meeting of SAARC ambassadors and called on regional cooperation organizations such as ESCAP to carry forward this proposal and similar initiatives.
The delegation of the Maldives highlighted the need for the proposed sustainable development goals to be considered in the context of the graduation strategies for least developed countries in the subregion. Maldives noted that its experience in graduation can provide a series of lessons learned that it would be willing to share with least developed countries in the subregion in their preparations for graduation. Maldives recognized the importance of regional cooperation and support of subregional neighbours, especially India, in assisting Maldives in its post-graduation adaptation. Maldives echoed other comments and noted that an essential element of sustainable development is the equitable distribution of growth and its benefits. Maldives also noted the importance of fostering productive and efficient democratic systems and overcoming institutional challenges and inherent short-term perspectives that can discount the considerations of more sustainable development and long-term priorities and investments.
India emphasized the importance of the consideration of disaster risk reduction strategies and reduction of vulnerabilities in strategies to adopt and implement sustainable development goals in the subregion. India also noted three major priorities for sustainable development; (1) regional cooperation for ensuring implementation of key policies for sustainable development; (2) Regional connectivity, emphasizing and building upon the physical, technological and infrastructure bonds and linkages of the subregion; and, (3) the huge potential of information and communications technologies to reduce disaster risks and provide data, information and tools before, during and post-disaster.
The delegation of Bhutan noted the importance of sustainable development for South Asia and the need to emphasize increased support and prioritization for the two dimensions of social and environmental development on par with the primacy of economic development. Bhutan noted that the cooperation between ESCAP and SAARC will be critical for ensuring accelerated sustainable development in the subregion and that there are many areas in which such cooperation can increase. In particular, ESCAP can support SAARC in technical assistance and implementation of regional projects to overcome SAARC’s limited capacity constraints.
The delegation of Bangladesh also noted the support that ESCAP could provide to SAARC. Bangladesh noted the similar culture, challenges and development perspectives in South Asia that would be important to consider in policy design for accelerated sustainable development. Bangladesh also highlighted the critical challenge of inequality in incomes, economic participation, the distribution and access to resources and social inclusion. Bangladesh noted that the benefits of growth have not been shared equally and vulnerable populations have been left behind, especially in the context of growing challenges of climate change. Bangladesh called for ESCAP to organize meetings and activities for its subregional programme, consultations and perspectives in locations within the subregion rather than ESCAP headquarters in Bangkok, to ensure that there is maximum participation and momentum from policymakers in the subregion to consider challenges in improving implementation of sustainable development policies.
Mr. Donovan Storey, Officer-in-Charge of ESCAP Environment and Development Division thanked the member States for their enormous support at the recent Asia Pacific Forum on Sustainable Development that was critical to the event’s success. Mr. Storey noted that the representation from South and South-West Asia at the APFSD was the strongest of any subregion and he especially thanked the delegations and Excellencies from the Islamic Republic of Iran and Sri Lanka for their leadership in key segments of the Forum. Mr. Storey recalled the recent ESCAP policy dialogue on sustainable urbanization in South Asia as a good practice example of a successful policy oriented activity held in the subregion to engage with more subregional policymakers. He noted that ESCAP will definitely take on the challenge of engaging in activities in the subregions directly.
The Chair of the luncheon provided some closing remarks noting the subregion’s delegations at the luncheon had emphasized the key issues including; the importance of considering sustainable development pathways that build upon GDP dimensions to measure development progress; that the subregional process and SAARC in particular requires far greater support and institutional cooperation from ESCAP; that a key challenge in the subregion’s pattern of sustainable development is the unequal access to the benefits of growth and access and control over resources. The Chair noted the importance of information and communications technologies, security and stability, and inclusive growth as essential foundations for sustainable development pathways. The Chair also thanked ESCAP on behalf of the delegations for arranging the luncheon and congratulated the Executive Secretary for her sterling leadership of ESCAP. He also congratulated Dr. Kumar, Head of the South and South-West Asia Office, for his impeccable leadership and support of his office and capacity to ensure that a full range of activities are implemented in the subregion.
Dr. Nagesh Kumar, Head of the ESCAP SSWA Office, thanked the delegations of the subregion for their important contributions and perspectives that helped provide insight into the needs and challenges of countries in South and South-West Asia for sustainable development, and provided the basis for improving ESCAP implementation and delivery of technical assistance, analysis and capacity building for subregional member States and their subregional organizations. In particular, Dr. Kumar noted the importance of priorities of ensuring greater resilience for the economies of the subregion in the face of economic and external shocks; the underlying precondition of security and stability for sustainable development; the critical nature of regional cooperation to share good practices, identify lessons learned and take a common approach to mutually beneficial development through regional infrastructure and regional public goods; and also the importance of considering inequality and vulnerability as key obstacles to sustainable development.