Belgium
Intergovernmental negotiations on the post-2015 development
agenda
Negotiation session 17-20 February 2015 on the Declaration
Statement by the Permanent Representative of Belgium on the 17th of
February
• Belgium aligns itself with the declaration made by the representative of the EU. I would like to take
this opportunity to share some thoughts about the need to have a concise, clear and accessible
declaration.
• A clear and accessible declaration is important, because our leaders at country level but also the
leaders of towns small and big, our members of parliament, business leaders at all levels, NGO’s and
the citizens of the world, all should understand what the SDGs are and why they are important. And
above all, by reading the declaration, people have to feel engaged and mobilized to participate in the
global effort to implement the SDGs. This is even more so important because of the technical and
complex nature of the SDGs and the targets themselves. One cannot expect that people will get
inspired by the 17 SDGs and the 169 targets without a clear guidance about what the agenda is all
about. The declaration should give this guidance. We want and we need a broad constituency for our
agenda, let’s write the declaration in such a way that it speaks to a broad constituency.
• This means that we should avoid typical UN language. We must use a language that is also
meaningful outside of our New York bubble. I understand that this might not be an easy task. But
there are good examples. Many things have been said about the 6 elements of the UNSG synthesis
report. But the UNSG synthesis is also useful in many other ways. I would like to suggest that we
reread again the first chapter of the synthesis report. It is clear, it is compelling, it is visionary and
ambitious and it calls the reader to join the action. This chapter could be an inspiration to all of us in
the discussions we are having this week.
• And we have to be honest. If we want this declaration to be different, if we want a ‘no business as
usual declaration’, we might also have to change the way we draft it. We therefore would like to
repeat the invitation to all to exercise restraint and avoid specific thematic proposals for the
declaration. Let’s focus our discussions this week on the fundamentals of the agenda and on the role
the declaration should play. Belgium in particularly thinks that the co-facilitators will have a major
role in drafting of declaration; we believe it should be their task to translate our discussions into a
meaningful declaration. We trust and fully believe in the capacities of our co-facilitators to do so.
agenda
Negotiation session 17-20 February 2015 on the Declaration
Statement by the Permanent Representative of Belgium on the 17th of
February
• Belgium aligns itself with the declaration made by the representative of the EU. I would like to take
this opportunity to share some thoughts about the need to have a concise, clear and accessible
declaration.
• A clear and accessible declaration is important, because our leaders at country level but also the
leaders of towns small and big, our members of parliament, business leaders at all levels, NGO’s and
the citizens of the world, all should understand what the SDGs are and why they are important. And
above all, by reading the declaration, people have to feel engaged and mobilized to participate in the
global effort to implement the SDGs. This is even more so important because of the technical and
complex nature of the SDGs and the targets themselves. One cannot expect that people will get
inspired by the 17 SDGs and the 169 targets without a clear guidance about what the agenda is all
about. The declaration should give this guidance. We want and we need a broad constituency for our
agenda, let’s write the declaration in such a way that it speaks to a broad constituency.
• This means that we should avoid typical UN language. We must use a language that is also
meaningful outside of our New York bubble. I understand that this might not be an easy task. But
there are good examples. Many things have been said about the 6 elements of the UNSG synthesis
report. But the UNSG synthesis is also useful in many other ways. I would like to suggest that we
reread again the first chapter of the synthesis report. It is clear, it is compelling, it is visionary and
ambitious and it calls the reader to join the action. This chapter could be an inspiration to all of us in
the discussions we are having this week.
• And we have to be honest. If we want this declaration to be different, if we want a ‘no business as
usual declaration’, we might also have to change the way we draft it. We therefore would like to
repeat the invitation to all to exercise restraint and avoid specific thematic proposals for the
declaration. Let’s focus our discussions this week on the fundamentals of the agenda and on the role
the declaration should play. Belgium in particularly thinks that the co-facilitators will have a major
role in drafting of declaration; we believe it should be their task to translate our discussions into a
meaningful declaration. We trust and fully believe in the capacities of our co-facilitators to do so.
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