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UN chief calls for financing mechanism that 'leaves no one behind'

Thursday July 16 2015
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UN Secretary General- Ban Ki-moon (right) and African Union Chairperson, Dr Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma on July 13, 2015 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. PHOTO | TONY KARUMBA |

United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki Moon has urged negotiators of the financing mechanism for the next 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to ensure that the deal “leaves no one behind.”

Concrete action, policies and measures, he said, are needed to increase mobilisation of resources to support the implementation of the universal post-2015 development agenda.

He added that donors must abide by their commitments to increase Official Development Assistance (ODA) to developing countries to 0.7 per cent of their gross national product, without which commitments will amount to little more than promises on paper.

“Members states are in their final stages of their negotiation. The result here in Addis Ababa can give us the foundation for a revitalised global partnership for sustainable development that should leave no one behind. I urge the negotiators to keep that goal in mind as they finish their work,” Mr Moon told a press briefing on Wednesday in Addis Ababa at the ongoing financing for development conference.

READ: Raising $4tn needed to finance SDGs is Africa’s elephant in the room

The 190 members of the United Nations are expected to agree on how to finance the 17 SDGs, which include ending poverty and hunger, combating climate change and achieving gender equality by 2030.

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“We have to eliminate extreme poverty by 2030 –this is number one priority. Elimination of poverty should be the central purpose,” he said.

The SDGs, expected to be adopted in September this year, are estimated to cost between $3.3 and $4.5 trillion a year to achieve.

Call to private sector

The funding gap, the UN chief said, could be potentially bridged by leveraging private resources.

“We should have a strengthened public partnership with the business community. Many big companies who can mobilise trillions of funds- this should be leveraged by public funds,” he said.

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