Statement by Ambassador Hahn Choong-hee
Deputy Permanent Representative of the Republic of Korea to the United Nations
Sixth Session of Intergovernmental Negotiations on the Post-2015 Development Agenda (General Statement)
22 June 2015, New York
Thank you, Mr. Co-Facilitator.
The Republic of Korea welcomes the zero draft of the post-2015 outcome document well prepared by the Co-Facilitators. Not only does the zero draft capture the international community’s ambition to achieve a life of dignity for all, but it also covers the three dimensions of sustainable development in a balanced manner. Therefore, I highly commend the leadership of Co-Facilitators. I hope and believe that with your guidance, we can complete and conclude our negotiation by the end of July. Having said that, I wish to make a few general comments.
First, regarding the title and preamble of the zero draft, Korea believes that the title well reflects the universal, transformative, and action-oriented nature of the post-2015 agenda. In the preamble, we take note of the Co-Facilitators’ endeavor to frame the agenda around 5Ps — people, planet, prosperity, peace, and partnership — in line with the six Essential Elements of the Secretary-General’s Synthesis Report. We are supportive of your approach to highlight nine points as visionary objectives that the post-2015 agenda sets out to accomplish. I hope that those nine points, together with the 5Ps will be useful and effective for the communication of the post-2015 development agenda as we believe that “communication” is really a crucial element for the success of the whole post-2015 process. However, we would also like to see the elements of dignity and justice incorporated in the preamble in one way or another as the key to the achievement of the sustainable development goals (SDGs).
Second, it is our view that the Declaration part could be compact for a great impact, while keeping all essential points in it. With this, we believe that we are able to make our collective message more concise yet powerful so as to resonate with people around the world. It is important to remember that in the February session, almost everyone in this room highlighted the imperative of the political Declaration’s role in communicating the essence of the new agenda. I would like to come back to this part later in detail. However, I would like to say that the importance of the most marginalized and vulnerable groups like women, children, and persons with disabilities should be emphasized.
Third, the placeholder language in the section of Means of Implementation (MOI) and the Global Partnership would need to properly incorporate the outcome of the discussion on Financing for Development (FfD). The Korean Government is of the view that the Addis outcome should constitute the MOI pillar of the post-2015 development agenda in order to not only avoid duplication but also ensure strong coherence required for a robust and universal post-2015 development framework.
Finally, we believe that the follow-up and review section well reflects a number of key points that seemed to enjoy a fair amount of consensus in the May session. However, this part could be further enriched with the inclusion of, for example, development effectiveness principles and more emphasis on the utilization of existing mechanisms such as the Global Partnership for Effective Development Cooperation (GPEDC). In addition, Korea is of the view that the follow-up and review of FfD could be done in an integrated manner with the post-2015 follow-up and review framework under the overarching post-2015 process. All of these could be properly incorporated in the final outcome document. We would also like to emphasize the importance of global partnership as we are moving toward participatory sustainable development. We strongly believe that multi-stakeholders’ engagement and participation in implementation as well as follow-up and review are crucial for the success of the post-2015 process.
Co-Facilitators,
In closing, I would like to assure you that you may count on us to continue to endure the challenges of this work until we cross the finish line. Thank you. /END/
