Local effort may provide blueprint

China offers to share experience in push to achieve development goals

Helping Southeast Asian countries to achieve their sustainable development goals will lead to "new growth points of China-ASEAN cooperation", China's Ambassador to ASEAN Huang Xilian told a two-day symposium that ended on Tuesday.

Huang said China is willing to share its abundant experiences to assist local communities and officials in achieving the SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals), a blueprint for addressing the world's most pressing problems by 2030, which were approved in 2015 by 193 United Nations members.

The 17 goals include the eradication of extreme poverty, halting deforestation, promoting gender equality and reducing conflict.

This year marks the 40th anniversary of China's reform and opening-up and the 15th anniversary of the China-ASEAN strategic partnership.

"With both sides in a new phase of development, we are now entering a new era in upgrading the China-ASEAN relations as well as our cooperation in sustainable development," Huang said.

China will "inject new energy into the building of a closer China-ASEAN community of shared future", he added later at a news conference.

Xu Haoliang, UN assistant secretary-general and UNDP regional director for Asia and the Pacific, said in his keynote address that localization is not just about implementing the SDGs in local communities "but also about equipping local actors to become agents of change for their communities".

A key message of Agenda 2030 is to "Leave No One Behind" yet "one of the challenges we are facing now is a large population that is especially vulnerable to climate-change and natural disasters," Xu said.

Shared vision

"We must turn our minds not just to the importance of localizing SDG efforts, but to the question of how localization can be achieved in a transparent, effective and impactful way."

Vongthep Arthakaivalvatee, ASEAN's Deputy Secretary-General for ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community, said the ASEAN Vision 2025 shares a vision with the SDGs and the social development dimension of the 2030 agenda.

"This is time for us to translate promises on paper to meaningful action on the ground," he said.

Kan Pharidh, undersecretary of state of Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of Cambodia, said in welcoming remarks that his country looks forward to sustaining its healthy development with close cooperation with other nations and international institutions such as the United Nations Development Program.

During the two-day event, about 10 panel and roundtable discussions explored institutional arrangements, public-private partnership, stakeholder engagement, data for prioritization and SDG financing.

Patrick Duong, regional adviser and lead on SDG localization from UNDP Bangkok Regional Hub, said innovation is a must in building platforms to bring different sectors together to bolster solutions for each community.

Multilateral engagement with big data could also lead to achieving a win-win across all sectors.

prime@chinadailyapac.com

(China Daily 08/22/2018 page11)