Senior Minister in the Office of the President with Responsibility for Finance Dr Ashni Singh on Monday reiterated Guyana firm commitment to the United Nations’ Agenda 2030 while also outlining Guyana’s progress in meeting the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Speaking at the UN in New York, Singh referenced President Irfaan Ali’s ‘One Guyana’ philosophy as the umbrella under which Government’s targets are placed, as well as its efforts regionally and globally.
According to a press release from the Ministry of Finance, Singh noted however that Guyana will continue to work aggressively to advance its progress toward the SDGs as he referenced the country’s second Voluntary National Review.
The Senior Finance Minister told the event that national commitment alone will, however, not be enough to achieve the SDGs in many of the countries, especially the poorest and most vulnerable.
It was on this note that he reminded the forum that in 1970 “our predecessors met in this very hall and resolved that the developed world should deliver official development assistance of no less that 0.7 percent of Gross National Product by 1975. Fifty years later, five advanced economies have achieved this target. The others have mostly gone quiet, while the developing world has been embarrassed into minimising mention of this missed target”.
He therefore used the opportunity at the forum to also repeat Guyana’s previous call that this and other longstanding undelivered commitments be honoured, including the adoption of a Multidimensional Vulnerability Index. The release said that he also endorsed measures such as the ones proposed under the Bridgetown Initiative to support the most vulnerable countries.
“No less is required, if we are to have even a remote chance of achieving the lofty but necessary goals we set ourselves in Agenda 2030,” Singh said.
The 2023 High Level Political Forum (HLPF) on Sustainable Development is being held under the theme: “Accelerating the Recovery from the Corona Virus disease (COVID-19) and the full implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development at all levels”. It is assessing the impacts of the interlinked crises on the implementation of the 2030 Agenda and on all SDGs.
The release said that the forum is placing particular emphasis on trends and policies related to SDG 6: Clean water and sanitation, SDG 7: Affordable and clean energy, SDG 9: Industry, innovation and infrastructure, SDG 11: Sustainable cities and communities and SDG 17: Partnerships for the Goals and their interlinkages to other goals.
Later on Monday, Singh presented on Guyana’s Second Voluntary National Review of the SDGs under the theme “One Guyana: Achieving Low-Carbon, Sustainable Development for All”, reflecting the alignment of the country’s national development strategy and the Low Carbon Development Strategy 2030 with Agenda 2030. Singh said that Guyana has been making significant progress on attaining the SDGs with Government working aggressively on all of the core development areas targeted.
In 2015, the release said that the Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) published the first SDG Index which ranked countries regarding their initial status on the 17 SDGs. In 2023, the release said that Guyana recorded an improved score of 67.4 compared with 61.9 in 2018. This improvement in the score saw Guyana moving up in the ranking to 96 out of 166 countries in 2023 up from 104 out of 156 countries in 2018.
