STATEMENT DELIVERED BY THE REPRESENTATIVE OF GREECE
STOCKTAKING SESSION ON THE POST-2015 DEVELOPMENT AGENDA, 19 JANUARY 2015 pm, NEW YORK: Integrating sustainable development goals and targets into the post-2015 development agenda
Before starting, I would like to point out that Greece aligns itself with the statements made by the EU yesterday and today and I would also like to highlight the following points from a national stand as regards integration of SDGs and Targets into the post-2015 Development Agenda:
• We welcome the proposal from the Open Working Group (OWG) on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which shall be the main basis for integrating sustainable development goals into the post-2015 development agenda, while recognizing that other inputs will also be considered, as agreed by the General Assembly.
• We believe that is essential to maintain and strengthen synergies, coherence and inter-linkages throughout the goals and targets.
• An important area for further elaboration will be to ensure well-defined indicators, allowing for implementation and monitoring of a final set of targets that are specific, measurable, and achievable, preserving the important political balance represented by the OWG proposal.
• Having that said, we believe the UN Statistical Commission work on indicators should include a broader set of UN actors, in particular the UN Task Team, and the scientific community. Their work should build on existing approaches on indicators.
• Furthermore, (as also mentioned by other delegations), we would like to particularly stress that Targets should be consistent with UN standards and agreements, and with international legal frameworks, such as the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, which provides the legal framework within which all activities in the oceans and seas must be carried out.
• International treaties, agreements and conventions must be respected and nothing in the agenda should undermine commitments taken in them. In this respect, we believe that a "technical proofing" of the Targets should be conducted on the basis of clearly defined criteria so as to avoid any backsliding against existing international commitments.
