UNDP gives a shot in the arm to Belt and Road

Our world is still facing major challenges. While great strides have been made in reducing extreme poverty, social progress and environmental sustainability are threatened by rising inequality and climate change. To find solutions for these challenges, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development was designed to engage all countries to collectively take action; it is a pledge made by all for all.

Yet the needs to finance the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development on the global scale are staggering; in Asia-Pacific alone, the total required for infrastructure is $8.3 trillion between 2010 and 2020, or $750 billion per year. A key challenge in the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals is to allocate public resources and catalyze private investments in ways that are aligned with the SDGs - in essence all available resources need to be aligned to meet the SDGs.

While much of this financing is expected from government revenues, foreign direct investment (FDI) will play an increasingly important role. The latest data from the UN Conference on Trade and Development show that, in 2017, against the declining FDI flows to most developed countries, FDI to the developing world was on the rise. China's Belt and Road Initiative, given its massive investments and financing flows, can potentially unlock the resources needed. It's our responsibility to do more by exploring how these investments can trigger or support "accelerators" for achieving SDGs.