A universal document containing 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) with an objective to end poverty by 2030 was unanimously approved at the United Nations yesterday. The inter-governmental negotiating forum unanimously approved the document styled ‘Transforming our World: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development’ early yesterday (New York time Sunday), Foreign Secretary Shahidul Haque told a group of reporters. All the 193 UN member states voted for the SDGs, which will replace Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) to be expired on December 31, 2015, he said. The SDGs with 17 goals and 169 targets will be adopted at the SDG Summit scheduled to be held in New York from September 25-27 and to be attended by Heads of the government of more than 150 countries, including Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, said officials of the foreign ministry. The SDGs will come into effect on January 1, 2016, they said. Asked about the differences between the MDGs and SDGs, a senior official said, “The MDGs were about eight social goals while the SDGs relate to 17 goals covering all social, economic and environmental issues. The document containing the SDGs is vast as compared with the MDGs.“The MDGs were meant for developing countries while the SDGs are for all the countries,” he said. The foreign secretary said unlike the MDGs, the countries will fix the indicators of the SDGs as per their national needs and the number of indicators will be near 100. The indicators will be determined through a consultative process involving the government and other stakeholders after the adoption of the SDGs by the heads of governments, he said. In reply to a question, the top diplomat of the country claimed, “Certainly, we are ready to implement the SDGs. Like the MDGs, Bangladesh will lead in the case of the SDGs.” He also said that the UN will also have to be ‘transformative’ to implement the SDGs. “It (UN) will need to come out of the way it currently operates with regards to development cooperation to effectively implement the SDGs,” he added. To another question, Haque said that during the course of consultations, all the countries employed a ‘give and take approach’. Otherwise, he said, “All the countries could not reach an agreement.” According to a senior official, the developed countries are of the view that the document is ‘biased towards developing countries’. The foreign secretary said that during the consultation process, Bangladesh focused on issues like education, migration, water resources and sea level rise.The number one of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals is to end poverty in all its forms everywhere by 2030. The other goals include ending hunger, ensuring healthy lives, achieving gender equality, ensuring inclusive and equitable quality education, promoting peaceful and inclusive societies with access to justice for all, ensuring availability and sustainable management of water, reducing inequality within and among countries and taking urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts. Meanwhile, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has welcomed the agreement on Post-2015 Development Agenda, saying it encompasses “a universal, transformative and integrated agenda” that heralds an historic turning point for our world.
