Nusa Dua, Bali. “Sustainable Development Goals” will aim to improve the standards of living for people around the world once the Millennium Development Goals expire in 2015 under an agreement reached by a United Nations body in Bali on Wednesday.
The UN’s High Level Panel of Eminent Persons, co-chaired by Indonesian President Yudhoyono and his Liberian counterpart Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, agreed that the SDGs would seek to advance the eight areas for progress set in the MDGs.
Yudhoyono said on Wednesday that the new SDGs were part of a vision and agenda for sustainable development to eradicate poverty.
“The document was the result of an evaluation of the global cooperation to achieve MDGs,” Yudhoyono said.
A statement released by the panel highlights the need for a renewed global partnership that enables a transformative, people-centred and planet-sensitive development agenda that is realized through the equal partnership of all stakeholders.
Such a partnership, according to the panel, is based on the principles of “equity, sustainability, solidarity, respect for humanity and shared responsibilities in accordance with respective capabilities.”
“Our vision is to end extreme poverty in all its forms in the context of sustainable development and to have in place the building blocks of sustained prosperity for all,” the statement said.
The new document will be submitted to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon at an event in May in New York.
During the event in Bali, Yudhoyono noted that Indonesia has achieved most of the eight MDGs, which set targets relating to poverty, primary education, women’s rights, child mortality, maternal health, diseases, environmental sustainability and partnerships for development.
“Some have exceeded the target, some right on target, but some have also not been achieved,” he said. The president said Indonesia was yet to succeed meeting the targets in the areas of maternal mortality rates and HIV/AIDS transmission.
“If we talk about the eight goals, God willing they will be achieved,” he said