Finland
Statement by Finland
Ambassador Riitta Resch, Ministry for Foreign Affairs, Finland
Post-2015 agenda: targets and indicators
Finland aligns herself with the statements made by the European Union.
The we work done together so far shows the importance of maintaining in the agenda of the Post-2015 a balanced and integrated approach of the Open Working Group proposal on Sustainable Development Goals. We need to maintain and strengthen synergies, coherence and inter-linkages throughout the goals and targets.
We believe that technical proofing of the targets would be useful, also in allowing for a proper implementation and monitoring. We consider that the UN Secretariat Task Team is best placed to conduct such technical proofing because of its broad expertise and participation. It will be important to preserve the transformative nature and political balance of the targets, ensure inter-linkages across the three dimensions and improve the internal coherence between the targets. Moreover, proofing should make sure that existing international commitments, conventions and agreements are supported, respected and enhanced. The UN Task Team could provide us with the results of technical proofing at our March session on SDGs.
Targets must be complemented by robust and measurable indicators. Indicators constitute therefore one important area for further work, and it needs to be conducted in connection with the targets. We know that the UN-system is already engaged in the preparatory work on indicators. We believe the work of the UN Statistical Commission on indicators should be based on expert input and allow participation of a broader set of UN actors and agencies, in particular the UN Task Team and the scientific community. The work should build on existing approaches on indicators.
Finland believes that the indicators can reinforce the transformative nature of the Post-2015 agenda by guiding and monitoring actions to achieve multiple targets. Therefore it would be valuable to consider indicators covering more than one target and therefore securing synergies between targets and goals and leading to fewer and more powerful indicators.
Ambassador Riitta Resch, Ministry for Foreign Affairs, Finland
Post-2015 agenda: targets and indicators
Finland aligns herself with the statements made by the European Union.
The we work done together so far shows the importance of maintaining in the agenda of the Post-2015 a balanced and integrated approach of the Open Working Group proposal on Sustainable Development Goals. We need to maintain and strengthen synergies, coherence and inter-linkages throughout the goals and targets.
We believe that technical proofing of the targets would be useful, also in allowing for a proper implementation and monitoring. We consider that the UN Secretariat Task Team is best placed to conduct such technical proofing because of its broad expertise and participation. It will be important to preserve the transformative nature and political balance of the targets, ensure inter-linkages across the three dimensions and improve the internal coherence between the targets. Moreover, proofing should make sure that existing international commitments, conventions and agreements are supported, respected and enhanced. The UN Task Team could provide us with the results of technical proofing at our March session on SDGs.
Targets must be complemented by robust and measurable indicators. Indicators constitute therefore one important area for further work, and it needs to be conducted in connection with the targets. We know that the UN-system is already engaged in the preparatory work on indicators. We believe the work of the UN Statistical Commission on indicators should be based on expert input and allow participation of a broader set of UN actors and agencies, in particular the UN Task Team and the scientific community. The work should build on existing approaches on indicators.
Finland believes that the indicators can reinforce the transformative nature of the Post-2015 agenda by guiding and monitoring actions to achieve multiple targets. Therefore it would be valuable to consider indicators covering more than one target and therefore securing synergies between targets and goals and leading to fewer and more powerful indicators.
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