Iran
Proposals by the Delegation of the Islamic Republic of IRAN
Working Document for 5 – 9 May Session of Open Working Group
Focus Areas 15 and 16
Focus area 15. Means of implementation/Global partnership for sustainable development
Strengthen global partnership for sustainable development
(on this Focus Area, my delegation fully subscribes to the proposals made by Egypt on the previous version of the text, and kindly ask the co-chairs to take the famous Encyclopedia of Groupitika of the shelf and take advantage of it.
Some of the aforementioned proposals are as follow:)
Means of implementation
Trade:
a) promote open, rules-based, non-discriminatory and equitable multilateral trading and financial systems , including complying with the agricultural mandate of the WTO Doha Round
b) provide greater duty-free and quota-free market access to least developed countries in keeping with World Trade Organization decisions
c) improve market access for agricultural and industrial exports of developing countries, especially Least Developed Countries, and at least double the share of LDCs’ exports in global exports by 2020
d) Establish and effectively implement a legally binding multilateral code of conduct for TNCs to secure social responsibility and accountability and prevent restrictive business practices
e) Pursuit of financial stability as well as price stability as a key objective of monetary policy;
f) Ensuring that trade and investment agreements enable rather than discourage or detract from policy space in developing countries that is required for their development
Technology transfer, technological capabilities:
a) enhance regional and international cooperation for science, technology, and innovation and solutions-oriented research , and enhance knowledge sharing, including through North-South, South-South and triangular cooperation
b) promote transfer and dissemination of clean and environmentally sound technologies to developing countries
c) fully operationalize the Technology Bank and STI Capacity Building Mechanism for LDCs establish a global UN mechanism that promotes the development, transfer and dissemination of clean and environmentally sound technologies
d) strengthen institutions and build capacities in developing countries to undertake research, development and adaptation of technologies, including clean and environmentally sound technologies
e) support fully research and development of vaccines and medicines for the common diseases of developing countries, notably LDCs
f) building science and technology capacity and strengthening international, regional and national capacities in research and technology assessment,
g) Identifying and removing barriers to developing countries having better access to technologies
h) More effective measures to enable access to a wide range of essential and needed medicines in developing countries
i) Affordable access of developing countries to technologies for environmental protection and climate change
j) Increase and support Developing countries use of TRIPS flexibilities
k) Reforming the international intellectual property regime with a view to facilitating technological catch-up and improving health and education standards and food security in developing countries
l) human resource development, including training, the exchange of experiences and expertise, knowledge transfer and technical assistance for capacity-building, which involves strengthening institutional capacity, including planning, management and monitoring capacities
m) continued and focused implementation of the Bali Strategic Plan for Technology Support and Capacity-building, adopted by the United Nations Environment Programme
Financing and debt sustainability:
n) full implementation by developed countries of ODA commitments on an agreed timetable based on agreed principles
o) make development assistance more effective and predictable by providing developing countries with regular and timely indicative information on planned support in the medium term
p) increase Access of developing countries to steady, predictable and adequate financing from all sources to promote sustainable development
q) Cut Illicit Financial Flows (IFFs) by 50% by 2020; halt flows by 2030, and repatriate ill-gotten wealth in foreign banks by 2025
r) mobilize additional financial resources from multiple sources , including reducing the cost of remittances
s) encourage long-term private foreign investment and inclusive finance
t) ensure adequate financial resources for investments in sustainable development
u) ensure debt sustainability, structuring, financing and debt relief
v) promote inclusive, participatory decision-making at both national and international levels , including the conclusion of reforms for increasing effective participation of developing countries in international financial institutions
w) strengthen domestic resource mobilization, including by improving tax collection and the efficiency of public spending, reducing tax evasion and avoidance, improving stolen asset recovery, and strengthening systems to harness domestic savings for investment
x) promote sustainable public procurement, including through national targets
Capacity building:
y) expand by x% globally the number of scholarships for students from LDCs to enroll in higher education programmes in developed countries and other developing countries, with focus on science, engineering and management
z) substantially strengthen capacities for sustainable development data collection and analysis with a focus on generating disaggregated, timely and high-quality data
aa) countries progressively introduce expanded measures of progress beyond GDP into national accounting, with supportive statistical capacity building in developing countries
bb) develop and implement capacity building programmes in developing countries, especially LDCs, in support of the national plans implementing sustainable development goals, including in agriculture, water, energy, health as well as in disaster prevention and reduction capacity and sustainable natural resources management
Regulation of financial markets to ensure global financial system stability
- Strengthen regulation of financial markets and institutions to ensure global financial stability and contribute to financial stability at national level
- Regulation of capital flows to prevent or minimise destabilising and volatile large cross-border flows of short-term capital, including by encouraging reserve-issuing countries to impose controls over destabilizing capital outflows to developing countries
- Bring systemically important financial institutions (large international banks and rating agencies) under regulation and supervision of an independent multilateral agency
- Control and regulate speculation in the commodities markets, including through ensuring favourable terms for commodity-dependent DCs in contracts with TNCs to enable them to add more value to commodities and obtain more revenues from commodity-related activities
- Regulate systemically important financial institutions and markets, including international banks and rating agencies and markets for commodity derivatives with a view to reducing international financial instability and instability of commodity prices
- Developed countries should fully consider the effects of their financial and monetary policies on developing countries
- Establish a new international agency with full and equal participation of developing countries in order to regulate systemically important financial institutions and international capital flows (neither IMF nor Financial Stability Board qualify for this)
Reform of the international monetary system
- Reforming the international monetary system to support sustainable development
- Addressing the shortcomings in the exchange rate and the international reserves systems
- Establishing mechanisms to bring greater stability to exchange rates of reserve currencies and prevent competitive devaluations and currency wars, such as those seen during the current crisis.
- Limit large swings of exchange rates among the key reserve currencies including the US dollar, the euro, yen and the pound sterling through coordinated interventions and macroeconomic policy coordination among the countries concerned.”
- Increase the share of the SDR in total international reserves” (currently around 2.4 per cent of total reserves, down from 3.3% in 2009 after a substantial allocation in response to the crisis; could target 10% over 10 years).
Making global economic governance more democratic and effective
- Improving democratic global economic governance, including through the full and effective participation of all countries, in particular developing countries, in global decision-making (Rio20, P19),
- broadening and strengthening the participation of developing countries in international economic decision-making and norm setting, and the reform of the governance of those institutions in order to deliver more effective, credible, accountable and legitimate institutions (Rio20, P92)
- Developing countries having an increased voice, representation and voting power in these institutions, particularly the IMF and the World Bank.
- Reforming the mandate, operations, governance and democratization of the international financial institutions, significantly increasing the voice, representation and voting power of developing countries
- Establish and effectively implement a legally binding multilateral code of conduct for TNCs to secure social responsibility and accountability and prevent restrictive business practices.
- Establish a new international agency with full and equal participation of developing countries in order to regulate systemically important financial institutions and international capital flows”
- Strengthen the role of the UN in economic and social affairs and in sustainable development issues.
Strengthened global partnership for sustainable development
cc) engage all stakeholders in implementation of the SDGs, including through effective, innovative and accountable partnerships in cooperation with governments that mobilize financial resources, develop and disseminate technologies and provide technical expertise
dd) regular monitoring and reporting of progress on SDGs within a shared accountability framework, including means of implementation, the global partnership among Member States and multi-stakeholder initiatives and partnerships
Focus area 16. Peaceful and inclusive societies, rule of law and capable institutions
Peaceful and inclusive societies, rule of law and capable institutions
In dealing with this Focus Area, one should be very cautious. There is no doubt that peace and security, and rule of law are salient elements for creating an enabling environment for the development, as the issue of development has a very high place in achieving peace and security and rule of law.
It is also correct that in certain international documents, peace and security, development and human rights are the three main pillars of UN; however, we are not dealing only with a few handful countries in special situations, we are not here to address all the problems of the world either, as they have their mechanism, we are not supposed to be merely subjective but also measurably objective, and, our main duty and mandate here is to work on a set of goals and targets for sustainable development based on agreed measurable indicators, which has its own three pillars, known to everybody.
Secondly, like “development”, peace and security as well as rule of law have two aspects: national (elements of which in accordance with Charter of the UN should respect the sovereign rights of countries, equality among nations, while considering different systems, circumstances and situations of countries), and international (which, though extremely significant, is unfortunately neglected in this text).
My delegation believes that focusing solely on the internal aspect would lead to further conditionalities and even politicization and securitization of the issues at hand, as well as over-generalizing a one-size-fits-all format, which we are of the firm conviction that should be avoided if we want to have an agreed conclusion at the end.
To capture the int’l aspect under this focus area, we might make certain proposals, which are essential in maintaining peaceful and stable societies as follows:
- by 2020, elimination of all nuclear weapons;
- by 2017, phasing out and elimination of all unilateral embargos and sanctions;
- by 2020, banning all kinds of illicit transfer of small and lights weapons to developing countries;
- as well as, by 2020, ban and eliminate production, transit and consumption of narcotics at all levels;
Creating peaceful and inclusive societies:
a) by 2030 reduce by x% crime, violence and exploitation especially of children and women including by reducing organized crime and human trafficking (Issues like ending violence and child labor is properly captured in FA.s 5 and 8, and this format is leading to politicization of the document and out of development context)
b) by 2030 eliminate discriminatory laws, policies and practices, empower marginalized groups, in the social, political and economic fields (Economic field is captured in the text when it referred to the issue of inequality, and the rest is out of development context)
c) by 2030 establish inclusive, participatory decision-making, including at local governments, taking into consideration the interests of future generations (having it here would lead to politicization of the document and out of development context)
d) by 2020 provide information and education on a culture of non-violence (related to education Focus Area)
e) by 2030 implement planned and managed migration policies (can be captured under FA. 8)
To capture the int’l aspect under this focus area, we might make certain proposals, which are essential in maintaining peaceful and stable societies as follows:
- by 2020, elimination of all nuclear weapons;
- by 2017, phasing out and elimination of all unilateral embargos and sanctions;
- by 2020, banning all kinds of illicit transfer of small and lights weapons to developing countries;
- as well as, by 2020, ban and eliminate production, transit and consumption of narcotics at all levels;
Rule of law, Capable and accountable institutions:
(To be transferred to the section of Capacity Building)
a) by 2030 develop effective, accountable and transparent economic and financial institutions at all levels
b) by 2030 provide equal access to independent and responsive justice systems including related to property and tenure rights, employment, business, taxation, trade and finance
c) by 2020 provide public services for all, including legal identity
d) improve access to information transparency on public/private finance management, public/private procurement and on the implementation of corporate policies and national development plans
e) by 2030 decrease by x% corruption in all its forms and (politicization of the document; out of development context) illicit financial flows
f) remove unnecessary restrictions of freedom of media, association and speech (politicization of the document; out of development context)
g) broaden the participation of developing countries in international economic decision-making and norm setting, and the reform of the governance of those institutions in order to deliver more effective, credible, accountable and legitimate institutions
h) establish a global corporate accountability mechanism to be tailored nationally
Appropriate means of implementation
Working Document for 5 – 9 May Session of Open Working Group
Focus Areas 15 and 16
Focus area 15. Means of implementation/Global partnership for sustainable development
Strengthen global partnership for sustainable development
(on this Focus Area, my delegation fully subscribes to the proposals made by Egypt on the previous version of the text, and kindly ask the co-chairs to take the famous Encyclopedia of Groupitika of the shelf and take advantage of it.
Some of the aforementioned proposals are as follow:)
Means of implementation
Trade:
a) promote open, rules-based, non-discriminatory and equitable multilateral trading and financial systems , including complying with the agricultural mandate of the WTO Doha Round
b) provide greater duty-free and quota-free market access to least developed countries in keeping with World Trade Organization decisions
c) improve market access for agricultural and industrial exports of developing countries, especially Least Developed Countries, and at least double the share of LDCs’ exports in global exports by 2020
d) Establish and effectively implement a legally binding multilateral code of conduct for TNCs to secure social responsibility and accountability and prevent restrictive business practices
e) Pursuit of financial stability as well as price stability as a key objective of monetary policy;
f) Ensuring that trade and investment agreements enable rather than discourage or detract from policy space in developing countries that is required for their development
Technology transfer, technological capabilities:
a) enhance regional and international cooperation for science, technology, and innovation and solutions-oriented research , and enhance knowledge sharing, including through North-South, South-South and triangular cooperation
b) promote transfer and dissemination of clean and environmentally sound technologies to developing countries
c) fully operationalize the Technology Bank and STI Capacity Building Mechanism for LDCs establish a global UN mechanism that promotes the development, transfer and dissemination of clean and environmentally sound technologies
d) strengthen institutions and build capacities in developing countries to undertake research, development and adaptation of technologies, including clean and environmentally sound technologies
e) support fully research and development of vaccines and medicines for the common diseases of developing countries, notably LDCs
f) building science and technology capacity and strengthening international, regional and national capacities in research and technology assessment,
g) Identifying and removing barriers to developing countries having better access to technologies
h) More effective measures to enable access to a wide range of essential and needed medicines in developing countries
i) Affordable access of developing countries to technologies for environmental protection and climate change
j) Increase and support Developing countries use of TRIPS flexibilities
k) Reforming the international intellectual property regime with a view to facilitating technological catch-up and improving health and education standards and food security in developing countries
l) human resource development, including training, the exchange of experiences and expertise, knowledge transfer and technical assistance for capacity-building, which involves strengthening institutional capacity, including planning, management and monitoring capacities
m) continued and focused implementation of the Bali Strategic Plan for Technology Support and Capacity-building, adopted by the United Nations Environment Programme
Financing and debt sustainability:
n) full implementation by developed countries of ODA commitments on an agreed timetable based on agreed principles
o) make development assistance more effective and predictable by providing developing countries with regular and timely indicative information on planned support in the medium term
p) increase Access of developing countries to steady, predictable and adequate financing from all sources to promote sustainable development
q) Cut Illicit Financial Flows (IFFs) by 50% by 2020; halt flows by 2030, and repatriate ill-gotten wealth in foreign banks by 2025
r) mobilize additional financial resources from multiple sources , including reducing the cost of remittances
s) encourage long-term private foreign investment and inclusive finance
t) ensure adequate financial resources for investments in sustainable development
u) ensure debt sustainability, structuring, financing and debt relief
v) promote inclusive, participatory decision-making at both national and international levels , including the conclusion of reforms for increasing effective participation of developing countries in international financial institutions
w) strengthen domestic resource mobilization, including by improving tax collection and the efficiency of public spending, reducing tax evasion and avoidance, improving stolen asset recovery, and strengthening systems to harness domestic savings for investment
x) promote sustainable public procurement, including through national targets
Capacity building:
y) expand by x% globally the number of scholarships for students from LDCs to enroll in higher education programmes in developed countries and other developing countries, with focus on science, engineering and management
z) substantially strengthen capacities for sustainable development data collection and analysis with a focus on generating disaggregated, timely and high-quality data
aa) countries progressively introduce expanded measures of progress beyond GDP into national accounting, with supportive statistical capacity building in developing countries
bb) develop and implement capacity building programmes in developing countries, especially LDCs, in support of the national plans implementing sustainable development goals, including in agriculture, water, energy, health as well as in disaster prevention and reduction capacity and sustainable natural resources management
Regulation of financial markets to ensure global financial system stability
- Strengthen regulation of financial markets and institutions to ensure global financial stability and contribute to financial stability at national level
- Regulation of capital flows to prevent or minimise destabilising and volatile large cross-border flows of short-term capital, including by encouraging reserve-issuing countries to impose controls over destabilizing capital outflows to developing countries
- Bring systemically important financial institutions (large international banks and rating agencies) under regulation and supervision of an independent multilateral agency
- Control and regulate speculation in the commodities markets, including through ensuring favourable terms for commodity-dependent DCs in contracts with TNCs to enable them to add more value to commodities and obtain more revenues from commodity-related activities
- Regulate systemically important financial institutions and markets, including international banks and rating agencies and markets for commodity derivatives with a view to reducing international financial instability and instability of commodity prices
- Developed countries should fully consider the effects of their financial and monetary policies on developing countries
- Establish a new international agency with full and equal participation of developing countries in order to regulate systemically important financial institutions and international capital flows (neither IMF nor Financial Stability Board qualify for this)
Reform of the international monetary system
- Reforming the international monetary system to support sustainable development
- Addressing the shortcomings in the exchange rate and the international reserves systems
- Establishing mechanisms to bring greater stability to exchange rates of reserve currencies and prevent competitive devaluations and currency wars, such as those seen during the current crisis.
- Limit large swings of exchange rates among the key reserve currencies including the US dollar, the euro, yen and the pound sterling through coordinated interventions and macroeconomic policy coordination among the countries concerned.”
- Increase the share of the SDR in total international reserves” (currently around 2.4 per cent of total reserves, down from 3.3% in 2009 after a substantial allocation in response to the crisis; could target 10% over 10 years).
Making global economic governance more democratic and effective
- Improving democratic global economic governance, including through the full and effective participation of all countries, in particular developing countries, in global decision-making (Rio20, P19),
- broadening and strengthening the participation of developing countries in international economic decision-making and norm setting, and the reform of the governance of those institutions in order to deliver more effective, credible, accountable and legitimate institutions (Rio20, P92)
- Developing countries having an increased voice, representation and voting power in these institutions, particularly the IMF and the World Bank.
- Reforming the mandate, operations, governance and democratization of the international financial institutions, significantly increasing the voice, representation and voting power of developing countries
- Establish and effectively implement a legally binding multilateral code of conduct for TNCs to secure social responsibility and accountability and prevent restrictive business practices.
- Establish a new international agency with full and equal participation of developing countries in order to regulate systemically important financial institutions and international capital flows”
- Strengthen the role of the UN in economic and social affairs and in sustainable development issues.
Strengthened global partnership for sustainable development
cc) engage all stakeholders in implementation of the SDGs, including through effective, innovative and accountable partnerships in cooperation with governments that mobilize financial resources, develop and disseminate technologies and provide technical expertise
dd) regular monitoring and reporting of progress on SDGs within a shared accountability framework, including means of implementation, the global partnership among Member States and multi-stakeholder initiatives and partnerships
Focus area 16. Peaceful and inclusive societies, rule of law and capable institutions
Peaceful and inclusive societies, rule of law and capable institutions
In dealing with this Focus Area, one should be very cautious. There is no doubt that peace and security, and rule of law are salient elements for creating an enabling environment for the development, as the issue of development has a very high place in achieving peace and security and rule of law.
It is also correct that in certain international documents, peace and security, development and human rights are the three main pillars of UN; however, we are not dealing only with a few handful countries in special situations, we are not here to address all the problems of the world either, as they have their mechanism, we are not supposed to be merely subjective but also measurably objective, and, our main duty and mandate here is to work on a set of goals and targets for sustainable development based on agreed measurable indicators, which has its own three pillars, known to everybody.
Secondly, like “development”, peace and security as well as rule of law have two aspects: national (elements of which in accordance with Charter of the UN should respect the sovereign rights of countries, equality among nations, while considering different systems, circumstances and situations of countries), and international (which, though extremely significant, is unfortunately neglected in this text).
My delegation believes that focusing solely on the internal aspect would lead to further conditionalities and even politicization and securitization of the issues at hand, as well as over-generalizing a one-size-fits-all format, which we are of the firm conviction that should be avoided if we want to have an agreed conclusion at the end.
To capture the int’l aspect under this focus area, we might make certain proposals, which are essential in maintaining peaceful and stable societies as follows:
- by 2020, elimination of all nuclear weapons;
- by 2017, phasing out and elimination of all unilateral embargos and sanctions;
- by 2020, banning all kinds of illicit transfer of small and lights weapons to developing countries;
- as well as, by 2020, ban and eliminate production, transit and consumption of narcotics at all levels;
Creating peaceful and inclusive societies:
a) by 2030 reduce by x% crime, violence and exploitation especially of children and women including by reducing organized crime and human trafficking (Issues like ending violence and child labor is properly captured in FA.s 5 and 8, and this format is leading to politicization of the document and out of development context)
b) by 2030 eliminate discriminatory laws, policies and practices, empower marginalized groups, in the social, political and economic fields (Economic field is captured in the text when it referred to the issue of inequality, and the rest is out of development context)
c) by 2030 establish inclusive, participatory decision-making, including at local governments, taking into consideration the interests of future generations (having it here would lead to politicization of the document and out of development context)
d) by 2020 provide information and education on a culture of non-violence (related to education Focus Area)
e) by 2030 implement planned and managed migration policies (can be captured under FA. 8)
To capture the int’l aspect under this focus area, we might make certain proposals, which are essential in maintaining peaceful and stable societies as follows:
- by 2020, elimination of all nuclear weapons;
- by 2017, phasing out and elimination of all unilateral embargos and sanctions;
- by 2020, banning all kinds of illicit transfer of small and lights weapons to developing countries;
- as well as, by 2020, ban and eliminate production, transit and consumption of narcotics at all levels;
Rule of law, Capable and accountable institutions:
(To be transferred to the section of Capacity Building)
a) by 2030 develop effective, accountable and transparent economic and financial institutions at all levels
b) by 2030 provide equal access to independent and responsive justice systems including related to property and tenure rights, employment, business, taxation, trade and finance
c) by 2020 provide public services for all, including legal identity
d) improve access to information transparency on public/private finance management, public/private procurement and on the implementation of corporate policies and national development plans
e) by 2030 decrease by x% corruption in all its forms and (politicization of the document; out of development context) illicit financial flows
f) remove unnecessary restrictions of freedom of media, association and speech (politicization of the document; out of development context)
g) broaden the participation of developing countries in international economic decision-making and norm setting, and the reform of the governance of those institutions in order to deliver more effective, credible, accountable and legitimate institutions
h) establish a global corporate accountability mechanism to be tailored nationally
Appropriate means of implementation
Stakeholders