Johnson Smith urges more UN assistance for region to attain SDGs
Published:Thursday | November 1, 2018 | 12:00 AMPaul Clarke/Gleaner Writer
While Latin America and Caribbean countries have made advances towards the implementation of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), Jamaica's Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade Minister Kamina Johnson Smith has urged the United Nations (UN) to provide regional governments with the necessary support and assistance to become more engaged.
She told a gathering of delegates from several Caribbean countries and representatives of UN agencies that several things have happened in the region over the past year that have forced heads of Government to refocus on the goals of tackling poverty and elevating the region to a place of stability, viability and prosperity, in a sustainable way.
Johnson Smith was speaking at the opening session of the two-day Caribbean Action 2030 Workshop (Latin America and Caribbean) at the Courtleigh Hotel in St Andrew yesterday. The workshop is being held under the theme 'Co-creating Sustainable Solutions - Progress, Challenges and Emerging Tools'.
"As we reflect on the hurricane season of last year, we are still in this year's period of vulnerability. Both give us reasons to reassess our responsibilities to the citizens of our countries," Johnson Smith said.
MAKE CITIZENS PART OF VISION AND PLAN
The minister urged the creation of environments in which, according to her, "citizens can be part of a vision and plan that is not only sustainable but also includes resilience to shocks of various kinds, especially when these have become more frequent, if not predictable," noted Johnson Smith.
"This workshop provides us with an opportunity to do our own stock taking and self-assessment, as we determine areas of weaknesses, but also to bring our successes to the table for exchanges in a South-South collaborative effort."
She added that the core of the SDGs speaks to an inevitable linkage of the goals and actions required. They also address cooperation and sharing, and a basic principle of leaving no one behind.
"The 17 SDGs and their attendant 169 targets, because of their cross-cutting and intertwined natures, touch and concern every area of our lives. They must, therefore, be ingrained in our every policy-making and technical action, as we work to make a difference in our countries," stated Johnson Smith.
In addition, she said that the willingness and commitment of partners like the UNDP and the IDB, the researchers at the universities, and the statisticians in national institutions are critical to the process.
... UN wants countries to apply urgency to achieve objective
The 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), otherwise known as the Global Goals, are a universal call to action to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure that all people enjoy peace and prosperity.
Bruno Pouezat, United Nations resident coordinator for Jamaica, said that the Caribbean Action 2030 developed a Partnership Agreement for accelerated action in four key areas.
These include Resource Mobilisation, Capacity-building for Public Policy and Rule of Law Institutions, Strengthening Civil Society Engagement, and Building the Evidence Base for Policy.
"Today's workshop may be only the Caribbean Edition of a LAC (Latin America and Caribbean) event, but it is also, in its own right, a proud follow-up to the 2017 Kingston conference," Pouezat said, addressing the Caribbean Action 2030 Workshop (Latin America and Caribbean) yesterday.
Signatories to the SDGs initiative have only 12 years to the 2030 deadline and are being urged by the United Nations to inject a sense of urgency into the process.