New Zealand
UN General Assembly
Inter-Governmental Negotiations on the Outcome Document of the Post-2015 Development Agenda
New Zealand Statement
Delivered by Angela Hassan-Sharp,
Counsellor
22 July 2015
Check against delivery
Thank you co-chairs.
New Zealand has 4 points to make on the Goals and Targets chapter of the zero draft:
• Firstly, we support the point made by a number of states that the list of international agreements in paragraph 51 is undesirably selective. As such, we support the proposal made by Norway to either remove it in its entirety or at the very least include reference to UNCLOS because of its fundamental importance as the cornerstone of international law regarding our planet’s Oceans and Seas.
• Secondly, we support the position of Australia that the case for including the Chapeau has not been made. The content of the Chapeau is already eloquently covered in this version of the zero draft and we do not see the need to include it in the final outcome document.
• Thirdly, reservations made to the Open Working Group should not be included. We cannot ask our Heads of State to sign a document that includes these, and do not want to set such a precedent.
• And fourthly, we agree that MOI related targets should not be duplicated in the agenda and would prefer to see them presented either in chapter two OR chapter three.
Finally, as other delegations have stated, the Goals and Targets section of the zero draft is the core of the post-2015 development agenda, and over the next week and a half (hopefully less!) we plan to work in partnership and collaboratively with all interested member States to positively conclude the discussions on the 21 targets for which you have proposed minor tweaks. To that end there are two final comments that our delegation would like to make:
Firstly, we sit in a room full of some of the most experienced multilateral negotiators around, and we’re well aware that the finalization of some of the more challenging issues in the post-2015 agenda will need to be resolved through a number of parallel processes, including for instance, meetings of the entire membership and other stakeholders (such as this one) and also smaller group meetings of key interested member States to progress the few remaining outstanding issues that require resolution. As regards target 14c, we are extremely pleased that member States are willing to engage in constructive discussion, although we acknowledge that there’s still a lot of work to do. We hope that other small group discussions on key issues can begin at the soonest so that we can meet our 31 July deadline.
And finally, related to that, we strongly encourage all delegations to hold fast to 31 July as the timeframe by which we conclude negotiations on this agenda. And that we negotiate in good faith to do so by then. The prospect of negotiations extending until the eve of the Post-2015 Summit should not be on the table.
Thank you.
Inter-Governmental Negotiations on the Outcome Document of the Post-2015 Development Agenda
New Zealand Statement
Delivered by Angela Hassan-Sharp,
Counsellor
22 July 2015
Check against delivery
Thank you co-chairs.
New Zealand has 4 points to make on the Goals and Targets chapter of the zero draft:
• Firstly, we support the point made by a number of states that the list of international agreements in paragraph 51 is undesirably selective. As such, we support the proposal made by Norway to either remove it in its entirety or at the very least include reference to UNCLOS because of its fundamental importance as the cornerstone of international law regarding our planet’s Oceans and Seas.
• Secondly, we support the position of Australia that the case for including the Chapeau has not been made. The content of the Chapeau is already eloquently covered in this version of the zero draft and we do not see the need to include it in the final outcome document.
• Thirdly, reservations made to the Open Working Group should not be included. We cannot ask our Heads of State to sign a document that includes these, and do not want to set such a precedent.
• And fourthly, we agree that MOI related targets should not be duplicated in the agenda and would prefer to see them presented either in chapter two OR chapter three.
Finally, as other delegations have stated, the Goals and Targets section of the zero draft is the core of the post-2015 development agenda, and over the next week and a half (hopefully less!) we plan to work in partnership and collaboratively with all interested member States to positively conclude the discussions on the 21 targets for which you have proposed minor tweaks. To that end there are two final comments that our delegation would like to make:
Firstly, we sit in a room full of some of the most experienced multilateral negotiators around, and we’re well aware that the finalization of some of the more challenging issues in the post-2015 agenda will need to be resolved through a number of parallel processes, including for instance, meetings of the entire membership and other stakeholders (such as this one) and also smaller group meetings of key interested member States to progress the few remaining outstanding issues that require resolution. As regards target 14c, we are extremely pleased that member States are willing to engage in constructive discussion, although we acknowledge that there’s still a lot of work to do. We hope that other small group discussions on key issues can begin at the soonest so that we can meet our 31 July deadline.
And finally, related to that, we strongly encourage all delegations to hold fast to 31 July as the timeframe by which we conclude negotiations on this agenda. And that we negotiate in good faith to do so by then. The prospect of negotiations extending until the eve of the Post-2015 Summit should not be on the table.
Thank you.
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