Republic of Korea
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Statement by Director-General Oh Young-ju, Development Cooperation Bureau, Ministry of Foreign Affairs Of the Republic of Korea 6th Formal Meeting of SDGs Open Working Group Tuesday, 10 December 2013, New York Thank you Mr. Chair, First of all, I would like to express my appreciation to the UN Technical Support Team for its excellent issue briefs on the important issue of our discussion, means of implementation in the context of post-2015 framework. Historically, science, technology and innovation (STI) has been a true driver for economic and social transformation and can also be “a game changer” for the socio-economic situation of developing countries. Against this backdrop, it is time to think hard about ways to capitalize on the opportunities offered by STI for sustainable development. Based on Korea‟s successful experience of investing in STI in our development process, we would like to suggest the following elements to be reflected in the post-2015 framework, apart from „harnessing STI for sustainable development‟ being a stand-alone goal. First, STI policies should be an integral part of national sustainable development strategies, which is not fully addressed in the existing MDGs framework. This point was also rightly stressed in the UN Task Team report with various useful suggestions. Second, in the same vein, investment in STI can be materialized in the SDGs framework as certain percentages of GDP and ODA in order to ensure critical mass for sustainable development. Investment in R&D, among others, has particular importance, taking into account its long-lasting impacts on sustainable development and growth. Returning to Korea‟s experience, the Government has been keen to invest in R&D in its development process and its ratio of GDP devoted to R&D activities still remains one of the highest in the world. Third, international cooperation and multi-stakeholder partnerships are required to assure that the benefits of STI are widely shared, especially with developing countries. Global efforts in this regard can be channeled through south-south cooperation, triangular cooperation, and other efforts for knowledge sharing and technology transfer, which will contribute to increasing capacity building in developing countries. Mr. Co-chairs,
Finance for development is arguably the most important means of implementation in achieving future development goals. In this sense, we firmly believe that the overall
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financial framework for sustainable development should be clearly addressed under the global partnership for achieving the post-2015 commitments. Needless to say, domestic resources are the primary source for development. However, this cannot be used to diminish or substitute the importance of external resources, most notably, ODA. The critical significance of ODA is especially felt in countries which lack domestic and other external resources Private sources such as FDI are also one of the key sources for development, as noted in the Monterrey Consensus. Ultimately, the private sector will make investments if there are prospects for rewards and investment risks are predictable and controllable. Therefore, global efforts to foster private investment for sustainable development should focus on providing an enabling environment which makes the risks for investing in sustainable development more predictable and controllable. Mr. Co-chairs, As many distinguished representatives repeatedly stressed, the global community needs to establish a renewed, strengthened, and integrated global partnership to achieve post-2015 commitments. The road ahead to achieve this will require a different approach from the one taken in the MDGs framework. Indeed, the global partnership for sustainable development should be more contextual, accommodating, inclusive and strengthened. It also should reflect a new reality and ever-changing developing landscape. While it seems difficult to reach an agreement at this stage on what global partnership means and which elements it needs to cover, we may solicit first agreement on which principles the new global partnership for sustainable development should be based upon. We strongly believe that the new global partnership should be, inter alia, inclusive, transparent and mutually accountable, focusing on results, and respecting country ownership. Meanwhile, a coherence and consistency is required not only in establishing such a renewed and strengthened global partnership but also in monitoring of the post-2015 commitments. In this vein, we support the idea of having the UN as the global platform for reporting, reviewing, and monitoring global commitments. The regular convening opportunities provided by, among others, UN HLPF and DCF can play an important role in this regard.
In doing so, coordination and cooperation between the UN and other existing platforms will certainly contribute to enhancing coherence, creating synergies, and avoiding duplication. For example, the monitoring framework of the Busan Global Partnership for Effective Development Cooperation is now operational in more than 50 countries with a view to presenting its first Progress Report early next year. By
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doing so, the Busan Global Partnership offers an opportunity to deepen and sustain policy collaboration among a wide range of stakeholders. The international community should not spare efforts to avoid duplication but take advantage of this kind of the platforms which are already operational and in forging the global partnership under the framework of post-2015. I thank you.
Statement by Director-General Oh Young-ju, Development Cooperation Bureau, Ministry of Foreign Affairs Of the Republic of Korea 6th Formal Meeting of SDGs Open Working Group Tuesday, 10 December 2013, New York Thank you Mr. Chair, First of all, I would like to express my appreciation to the UN Technical Support Team for its excellent issue briefs on the important issue of our discussion, means of implementation in the context of post-2015 framework. Historically, science, technology and innovation (STI) has been a true driver for economic and social transformation and can also be “a game changer” for the socio-economic situation of developing countries. Against this backdrop, it is time to think hard about ways to capitalize on the opportunities offered by STI for sustainable development. Based on Korea‟s successful experience of investing in STI in our development process, we would like to suggest the following elements to be reflected in the post-2015 framework, apart from „harnessing STI for sustainable development‟ being a stand-alone goal. First, STI policies should be an integral part of national sustainable development strategies, which is not fully addressed in the existing MDGs framework. This point was also rightly stressed in the UN Task Team report with various useful suggestions. Second, in the same vein, investment in STI can be materialized in the SDGs framework as certain percentages of GDP and ODA in order to ensure critical mass for sustainable development. Investment in R&D, among others, has particular importance, taking into account its long-lasting impacts on sustainable development and growth. Returning to Korea‟s experience, the Government has been keen to invest in R&D in its development process and its ratio of GDP devoted to R&D activities still remains one of the highest in the world. Third, international cooperation and multi-stakeholder partnerships are required to assure that the benefits of STI are widely shared, especially with developing countries. Global efforts in this regard can be channeled through south-south cooperation, triangular cooperation, and other efforts for knowledge sharing and technology transfer, which will contribute to increasing capacity building in developing countries. Mr. Co-chairs,
Finance for development is arguably the most important means of implementation in achieving future development goals. In this sense, we firmly believe that the overall
2
financial framework for sustainable development should be clearly addressed under the global partnership for achieving the post-2015 commitments. Needless to say, domestic resources are the primary source for development. However, this cannot be used to diminish or substitute the importance of external resources, most notably, ODA. The critical significance of ODA is especially felt in countries which lack domestic and other external resources Private sources such as FDI are also one of the key sources for development, as noted in the Monterrey Consensus. Ultimately, the private sector will make investments if there are prospects for rewards and investment risks are predictable and controllable. Therefore, global efforts to foster private investment for sustainable development should focus on providing an enabling environment which makes the risks for investing in sustainable development more predictable and controllable. Mr. Co-chairs, As many distinguished representatives repeatedly stressed, the global community needs to establish a renewed, strengthened, and integrated global partnership to achieve post-2015 commitments. The road ahead to achieve this will require a different approach from the one taken in the MDGs framework. Indeed, the global partnership for sustainable development should be more contextual, accommodating, inclusive and strengthened. It also should reflect a new reality and ever-changing developing landscape. While it seems difficult to reach an agreement at this stage on what global partnership means and which elements it needs to cover, we may solicit first agreement on which principles the new global partnership for sustainable development should be based upon. We strongly believe that the new global partnership should be, inter alia, inclusive, transparent and mutually accountable, focusing on results, and respecting country ownership. Meanwhile, a coherence and consistency is required not only in establishing such a renewed and strengthened global partnership but also in monitoring of the post-2015 commitments. In this vein, we support the idea of having the UN as the global platform for reporting, reviewing, and monitoring global commitments. The regular convening opportunities provided by, among others, UN HLPF and DCF can play an important role in this regard.
In doing so, coordination and cooperation between the UN and other existing platforms will certainly contribute to enhancing coherence, creating synergies, and avoiding duplication. For example, the monitoring framework of the Busan Global Partnership for Effective Development Cooperation is now operational in more than 50 countries with a view to presenting its first Progress Report early next year. By
3
doing so, the Busan Global Partnership offers an opportunity to deepen and sustain policy collaboration among a wide range of stakeholders. The international community should not spare efforts to avoid duplication but take advantage of this kind of the platforms which are already operational and in forging the global partnership under the framework of post-2015. I thank you.
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