Mr. Barros Melet, Vice President of ECOSOC
STATEMENT BY ECOSOC VICE-PRESIDENT,
HIS EXCELLENCY CRISTIAN BARROS MELET (CHILE)
Monday, 17 July 2017
Main messages from the first HLPF week: Our starting point
Session 9: SIDS
• To achieve the SDGs in SIDS, political commitment is required at the highest level-at the
level of Cabinet as well as in Parliament.
• All political parties must be consulted throughout the development process, so that their
views and strategic ideas can be reflected and incorporated.
• Transformational leadership that can strategically guide all sectors must be at the core.
• We must build implementation capacity across all sectors, then monitor and evaluate our
progress regularly and report to the public. These actions not only foster a culture of
transparency and accountability but also build trust.
• Stakeholder engagement and effective partnerships are key to facilitating implementation and
guiding continuous improvement. SIDS need all types of partnerships: public private
partnerships, partnerships with civil society, partnerships with our youth, partnerships with
academia, partnerships with SIDS development partners
• Regional initiatives such as the Pacific Non-communicable diseases Roadmap include key
actions of strengthening tobacco control, reducing consumption of unhealthy food and drink,
improving the efficiency of the consumer health dollar, and strengthening evidence-based
policies and decision making to ensure resources.
Session 10: Countries in special situations
• It is only through the meaningful participation of those furthest left behind that we can
advance the implementation of the 2030 Agenda
• Investments in smallholder agriculture are a primary means for LDCs, LLDCs and postconflict
countries to develop resilience, and will also help to achieve targets related to
health and wellbeing, gender equality, climate action, as well as other SDGs.
• Unemployment is one of the greatest challenges for LDCs. Ensuring higher, sustained,
greener economic growth is a priority, in order to create jobs that are urgently needed to
lift people out of multi-dimensional poverty.
• Landlockedness poses particular problems that should be addressed through better access
to markets and to new, context-specific technologies.
• There are new sources of funding, technologies, tradability of services, new demographic
dynamics, new alliances and partnerships, large philanthropies, - factors that drive the
eradication poverty and promoting prosperity. This has to be considered and made
available to countries in special situations if they are to catch up in development and
move towards realization of the SDGs.
• Development finance for countries in special situations needs to be more reliable, sourced
from multiple stakeholders and targeted towards the specific needs of different countries
• More systematic collaboration between governments and communities is required to
address barriers to the financing of SDGs, such as a lack of capacity, accountability, and
understanding of the benefits of collaboration.
• Post-conflict countries have specific development needs, and can suffer from
fragmentation of development planning.
• Middle-income countries account for 75 per cent of the global population, more than a
third of the global GDP, and a quarter of the global export and import industry. Their
classification should include an assessment that transcends income per capita assessment
and takes into account life expectancy, institutional development, number of people
living in poverty, vulnerable groups, unemployment, and technological progress, among
other indicators.
Session 14: Science, Technology and Innovation
• Flexible, participatory STI roaclmaps at national and global levels are essential to support
SDG achievement. On this, "deep dives" are needed for each Goal for which road maps
could help prioritize actions and promote cross-sectoral collaborations.
• There are challenges and opportunities for technological solutions ('low-tech' and 'hightech
') which could have a transformative impact on each of the six SDGs under
consideration this year. There is a need to pay more attention to meeting needs through
existing low-cost technologies. This requires scientists and innovators to engage with the
realities of local communities.
• Attention should be paid to scaling up smart investment by Governments, the private
sector and other partners, including for building productive and human capacity for
science, technology and innovation to unlock the creative potential of youth and women.
• There is a need to increase investment in science, technology and innovation, build STI
capacity and respective communities around the world in a sustainable manner.
• The current approach to truly engage private sector and mobilizing private resources is
inadequate. There is a need for further exploring new ways to incentivize private sector to
channel their technology and innovation related initiatives and efforts to SDGs process.
• There are positive and negative impacts from the disruptive effects on societies of new
technologies, such as nanotechnology, automation, robotics, artificial intelligence, gene
editing, big data and 3D printing, and a good understanding of the possible consequences
of decisions taken now is essential.
• The UN technology Facilitation Mechanism is well placed to engage with science - a
collaborative, open enterprise for action on the SDGs. There is a need to support its full
operationalization as a catalyst of multi-stakeholder partnerships.
HIS EXCELLENCY CRISTIAN BARROS MELET (CHILE)
Monday, 17 July 2017
Main messages from the first HLPF week: Our starting point
Session 9: SIDS
• To achieve the SDGs in SIDS, political commitment is required at the highest level-at the
level of Cabinet as well as in Parliament.
• All political parties must be consulted throughout the development process, so that their
views and strategic ideas can be reflected and incorporated.
• Transformational leadership that can strategically guide all sectors must be at the core.
• We must build implementation capacity across all sectors, then monitor and evaluate our
progress regularly and report to the public. These actions not only foster a culture of
transparency and accountability but also build trust.
• Stakeholder engagement and effective partnerships are key to facilitating implementation and
guiding continuous improvement. SIDS need all types of partnerships: public private
partnerships, partnerships with civil society, partnerships with our youth, partnerships with
academia, partnerships with SIDS development partners
• Regional initiatives such as the Pacific Non-communicable diseases Roadmap include key
actions of strengthening tobacco control, reducing consumption of unhealthy food and drink,
improving the efficiency of the consumer health dollar, and strengthening evidence-based
policies and decision making to ensure resources.
Session 10: Countries in special situations
• It is only through the meaningful participation of those furthest left behind that we can
advance the implementation of the 2030 Agenda
• Investments in smallholder agriculture are a primary means for LDCs, LLDCs and postconflict
countries to develop resilience, and will also help to achieve targets related to
health and wellbeing, gender equality, climate action, as well as other SDGs.
• Unemployment is one of the greatest challenges for LDCs. Ensuring higher, sustained,
greener economic growth is a priority, in order to create jobs that are urgently needed to
lift people out of multi-dimensional poverty.
• Landlockedness poses particular problems that should be addressed through better access
to markets and to new, context-specific technologies.
• There are new sources of funding, technologies, tradability of services, new demographic
dynamics, new alliances and partnerships, large philanthropies, - factors that drive the
eradication poverty and promoting prosperity. This has to be considered and made
available to countries in special situations if they are to catch up in development and
move towards realization of the SDGs.
• Development finance for countries in special situations needs to be more reliable, sourced
from multiple stakeholders and targeted towards the specific needs of different countries
• More systematic collaboration between governments and communities is required to
address barriers to the financing of SDGs, such as a lack of capacity, accountability, and
understanding of the benefits of collaboration.
• Post-conflict countries have specific development needs, and can suffer from
fragmentation of development planning.
• Middle-income countries account for 75 per cent of the global population, more than a
third of the global GDP, and a quarter of the global export and import industry. Their
classification should include an assessment that transcends income per capita assessment
and takes into account life expectancy, institutional development, number of people
living in poverty, vulnerable groups, unemployment, and technological progress, among
other indicators.
Session 14: Science, Technology and Innovation
• Flexible, participatory STI roaclmaps at national and global levels are essential to support
SDG achievement. On this, "deep dives" are needed for each Goal for which road maps
could help prioritize actions and promote cross-sectoral collaborations.
• There are challenges and opportunities for technological solutions ('low-tech' and 'hightech
') which could have a transformative impact on each of the six SDGs under
consideration this year. There is a need to pay more attention to meeting needs through
existing low-cost technologies. This requires scientists and innovators to engage with the
realities of local communities.
• Attention should be paid to scaling up smart investment by Governments, the private
sector and other partners, including for building productive and human capacity for
science, technology and innovation to unlock the creative potential of youth and women.
• There is a need to increase investment in science, technology and innovation, build STI
capacity and respective communities around the world in a sustainable manner.
• The current approach to truly engage private sector and mobilizing private resources is
inadequate. There is a need for further exploring new ways to incentivize private sector to
channel their technology and innovation related initiatives and efforts to SDGs process.
• There are positive and negative impacts from the disruptive effects on societies of new
technologies, such as nanotechnology, automation, robotics, artificial intelligence, gene
editing, big data and 3D printing, and a good understanding of the possible consequences
of decisions taken now is essential.
• The UN technology Facilitation Mechanism is well placed to engage with science - a
collaborative, open enterprise for action on the SDGs. There is a need to support its full
operationalization as a catalyst of multi-stakeholder partnerships.