BELARUS
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UNITED NATIONS GENERAL ASSEMBLY
Intergovernmental negotiations on the post-2015 development agenda
First session
New York, January 21, 2015
STATEMENT
by Valentin RYBAKOV
Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs
of the Republic of Belarus
Among many tasks and topics that will be discussed during the negotiation process, it is important
not to lose sight of the main objective, namely: the new development agenda is meant to become
a truly unifying program for the whole world. Such a large-scale transformative program is
elaborated under the UN auspices for the first time. It is important that this is done through the
participation of all countries in an open and transparent process. It is essential not to miss this
chance. The new agenda to be approved by our leaders in September should encourage peoples
and governments to joint actions, which would allow the world to get rid of poverty and aspire to
prosperity.
I am sure that the key idea of the negotiations process session should be formed by common
aspirations, actions and responsibilities. This is how we can make a new stage of sustainable
development truly a joint effort of the international community.
The outcome document of the summit, the declaration being its integral part, in our opinion,
should be formulated on the basis of this priority. Belarus is ready to offer some ideas that might
serve this purpose.
We, of course, share and fully support the statement of the group of countries that underlined the
priority of the family for the new agenda. Belarus advocated the idea to recognize the family as a
factor of sustainable development in the SDG working group and in other formats and processes.
We intend to maintain this position and during the negotiations leading up to the September
summit.
Further, it should be recognized that the eradication of poverty (and this is the main landmark of
the new development agenda) is not possible without the full use of the unifying potential of
middle-income countries. Those countries will continue to need more active and coordinated
UN assistance for the implementation of their national development programs. On the other hand,
this group of states has considerable potential to promote and transfer their experience to other
countries, especially the least developed ones. In other words, the middle-income countries need
effective tools that would enable them to help themselves and to help others. Sustainable
development is an occasion to properly perceive this role of middle-income countries within the
UN system.
Further global development is, in our opinion, inseparable from the availability of
environmentally sound energy sources and technologies. Within the new fifteen-year
development framework it is necessary to find a place for a new strategic approach to effectively
address energy issues. UN member states should gain full ownership of the international
energy cooperation, for example, through a comprehensive UN energy agenda.2
We see importance of the idea of linkage between sustainable development and climate change
issues. Yes, climate change is a separate process that is in time and essence not quite concurrent
with the process we are embarking on these days. Nevertheless, Belarus proposes not to lose this
important link. We propose to think collectively about how to reflect it in the new development
agenda. In our view, the objective of sustainable development would benefit from effective
incentive mechanisms that would encourage countries to reduce their emissions. Developed
countries could also encourage direct investment in such environmentally responsible states.
The means of implementation of the new agenda is certainly a key factor that will affect its
success. Еhe availability of financial and technological resources will be crucial. We think that
the principle of fair common but differentiated responsibility is important from this point of view.
It will be of no positive effect if recipient countries, including middle-income countries are to be
burdened with additional commitments to finance sustainable development programs.
Finally, we need to solve the long-standing issue of the creation, under the UN auspices, of a
mechanism of access to advanced technologies, including renewable and environmentally
sound technologies that contribute to sustainable development.
The time we have to prepare for the summit is limited. In our view, a reasonable and responsible
approach would be to make use of this time rationally. Many of the issues were already discussed
in detail for a year and a half by the SDG group. It seems necessary to reduce the current
negotiation process to the repetition of well-known statements. In this regard, we would suggest
to proceed as soon as possible to the compilation of the zero draft of the outcome document of
the summit and to its discussion.
