Good morning, ladies and gentlemen of the media. I am very pleased to be with UNDP Administrator Helen Clark, and DESA USG Wu Hongbo.
In 2007, I established an inter-agency Task Force to monitor progress in achieving Millennium Development Goal number 8, the Global Partnership for Development.
Since then, the Task Force has provided the international community with an annual review.
Today, I am pleased to launch the final such document – the 2015 MDG Gap Task Force Report, “Taking Stock of the Global Partnership for Development.”
This report [assesses] achievements and shortcomings across five areas: first, official development assistance; second, market access and trade; third, debt sustainability; fourth, access to essential medicines; and fifth, access to new technologies.
This year’s report has special significance as Member States move towards adoption and implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
Despite gains towards a number of targets, major gaps remain in reducing vulnerabilities for developing countries, including least developed countries, land-locked developing countries and small-island developing States.
The MDG Gap Task Force has also shared insights on improving the global partnership for development in the years ahead – in particular through enhanced global monitoring and better coordination of the increasingly diverse and growing number of partnerships.
The transition from the MDGs to the SDGs presents an opportunity to unlock resources for investments in education, health, equitable growth and sustainable production and consumption.
The Third International Conference on Financing for Development in Addis Ababa has put in place a framework that will turn our aspirations into practical steps and strategies. We will also need to establish a strong mechanism to follow up on the commitments reached in Addis Ababa.
I urge partners across the world to embrace the ambition embodied in the new set of goals. I look forward to working together to deliver on the unfinished MDG commitments, tackle inequality and meet the new challenges that have emerged across the three dimensions of sustainable development — economic, social and environmental.
The insights and analysis of the Task Force provide vital support in that effort, and I commend this report to a wide global audience.
Thank you very much.
