“We have an enormous task ahead of us; this task comes not from abroad, but from within, since one out of every three Argentines is poor and does not reach the minimum level of sustenance” said Foreign Minister Susana Malcorra today at the closing of the event “2030 Agenda: Progress in Argentina's Adaptation of SDGs” (Sustainable Development Goals). “They are the ones who are asking us to change our culture, to come closer together, to engage in dialogue, to search for common ground and to deal with our differences in another way”.
This afternoon, in the Libertador Room of the Palacio San Martín, Malcorra, together with the Minister of Finance, Alfonso Prat-Gay, and the Executive Secretary of the National Council for Social Policy Coordination, Gabriela Agosto, closed this meeting which, for two days, gathered a number of authorities and members of international and private sector entities at the Argentine Foreign Ministry to account for the status of the process to adapt the 2030 Agenda to Argentine reality.
“This agenda presents challenges at so many levels that it may even seem paralyzing, but at the same time it has so many leverages to trigger movement that it cannot possibly be immobilizing”, stated the Argentine Foreign Minister, who also added that “the transformation to which this new agenda leads through its 17 goals and all that they entail has to do with a different way of understanding development.”
Organized jointly by the National Council for Social Policy Coordination, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Worship, and the Office of the United Nations Resident Coordinator in Argentina, this event included panels comprised of a number of authorities from the federal, provincial and municipal governments, and members of international and private sector entities.
At the UN Sustainable Development Summit held in New York in September 2015, United Nations (UN) member States approved the document "Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development," which establishes 17 Goals and 169 Targets to be met by 2030, a commitment undertaken on behalf of Argentina by the National Council for Social Policy Coordination, the entity responsible for coordinating the implementation, adaptation and monitoring of the 2030 Agenda in Argentina.
During the closing ceremony, Malcorra explained that “the commitment assumed by Argentina is a commitment that transcends individual administrations, that has to do with an Argentina integrated into the world in what will undoubtedly be the most transforming agenda in the history of the United Nations; a commitment that takes us from theory to practice; a commitment that takes into account all of our huge federal geographic dispersion, binding everyone throughout the Argentine territory; a commitment that entails volunteering to be measured next year for the first time, a measurement that will surely place us in a very distant status from that which we deserve and we need to be prepared for that, because the aim is not to get an excellent mark—as that will not be the case—but to state ‘this is where we are, this is our starting point, from this point on we will make our progress’. I am saying this because, surely, when we undergo the measurement process heavy criticism will come from all sides. We must be ready for this, since the alternative would be to delude ourselves, not to undergo the measurement process and then stumble upon the surprising news, at the end of the road, that we have been unable to react and make the necessary adjustments.”
“The only thing that matters is what we all do, every day, to transform this Argentina into a country that really leaves no one behind, which is what the Agenda has mandated,” she remarked.
This new Agenda involves a commitment not only for States, but also for the business sector and civil society organizations. The issues addressed in these goals and targets comprise the three inseparable dimensions of sustainable development (the social, economic and environmental aspects), and they are based on a comprehensive approach to rights.
Press Release No. 433/16
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