Switzerland
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Intergovernmental Negotiations Post-2015
Third Session / Goals, Targets, Indicators
Session on National Implementation of the SDGs
STATEMENT BY SWITZERLAND
New York, Tuesday, March 24, 2015
Thank you Co-Facilitators,
The universality of the agenda implies a paradigm shift. All countries, including Switzerland,
have to take action to implement the SDGs.
Work has just started in Switzerland to determine how we will be contributing to the realization
of the SDGs.
Our main instrument for implementation will be Switzerland’s Sustainable Development
Strategy which is currently under review and will be updated to set our sustainable development
priorities for 2016-2019.
The SDGs, as proposed by the Open Working Group, serve as an important basis for the
renewal of this strategy.
Concretely, this means that Switzerland’s Sustainable Development Strategy will define context-specific
objectives and concrete measures at the national level, which will contribute to
achieve the SDGs at the global level. In addition, it will contain a component on international
efforts supported by Switzerland to contribute to the implementation of the SDGs.
In addition to defining specific national targets, this Strategy also serves as a reference document
for other sectorial strategies, policies and programmes, for example in the fields of
energy, biodiversity, agriculture, education etc.
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The elaboration of the new Sustainable Development Strategy is based on an inclusive approach,
involving all relevant stakeholders, including national and subnational representatives
from the public sector, civil society, the private sector and academia.
Once the new strategy is defined, we plan to continue the stakeholder dialogue as a platform
which could also serve as a starting point for innovative partnerships between state and nonstate
actors to contribute to the implementation of the national strategy and the SDGs.
Switzerland has an Indicator System for Sustainable Development, which monitors key Sustainable
Development Outcomes. This system is currently under review and the SDG indicators
will be considered for inclusion. This monitoring system will be an important instrument
for a baseline assessment on Swiss SDG implementation in 2016.
The SDGs will also guide Switzerland’s development cooperation, in particular through its
new strategy which will enter into force in 2017.
The work we have done so far shows that translating the SDGs to our national context is a
challenging task that calls for a “whole-of-government” approach. Preparing for global reporting
in an integrated manner will be a challenge for a country like mine that never had to report
on the MDGs. We are looking forward to an exchange of practices and experiences with
other countries and encourage all member states to exchange with their peers on how best
to integrate the SDGs in their national policies.
We’ll be looking forward to presenting the results of this ongoing work and learning from
your experiences during a future meeting of the HLPF.
Check against delivery
1
Intergovernmental Negotiations Post-2015
Third Session / Goals, Targets, Indicators
Session on National Implementation of the SDGs
STATEMENT BY SWITZERLAND
New York, Tuesday, March 24, 2015
Thank you Co-Facilitators,
The universality of the agenda implies a paradigm shift. All countries, including Switzerland,
have to take action to implement the SDGs.
Work has just started in Switzerland to determine how we will be contributing to the realization
of the SDGs.
Our main instrument for implementation will be Switzerland’s Sustainable Development
Strategy which is currently under review and will be updated to set our sustainable development
priorities for 2016-2019.
The SDGs, as proposed by the Open Working Group, serve as an important basis for the
renewal of this strategy.
Concretely, this means that Switzerland’s Sustainable Development Strategy will define context-specific
objectives and concrete measures at the national level, which will contribute to
achieve the SDGs at the global level. In addition, it will contain a component on international
efforts supported by Switzerland to contribute to the implementation of the SDGs.
In addition to defining specific national targets, this Strategy also serves as a reference document
for other sectorial strategies, policies and programmes, for example in the fields of
energy, biodiversity, agriculture, education etc.
Seul le texte prononcé fait foi
Check against delivery
2
The elaboration of the new Sustainable Development Strategy is based on an inclusive approach,
involving all relevant stakeholders, including national and subnational representatives
from the public sector, civil society, the private sector and academia.
Once the new strategy is defined, we plan to continue the stakeholder dialogue as a platform
which could also serve as a starting point for innovative partnerships between state and nonstate
actors to contribute to the implementation of the national strategy and the SDGs.
Switzerland has an Indicator System for Sustainable Development, which monitors key Sustainable
Development Outcomes. This system is currently under review and the SDG indicators
will be considered for inclusion. This monitoring system will be an important instrument
for a baseline assessment on Swiss SDG implementation in 2016.
The SDGs will also guide Switzerland’s development cooperation, in particular through its
new strategy which will enter into force in 2017.
The work we have done so far shows that translating the SDGs to our national context is a
challenging task that calls for a “whole-of-government” approach. Preparing for global reporting
in an integrated manner will be a challenge for a country like mine that never had to report
on the MDGs. We are looking forward to an exchange of practices and experiences with
other countries and encourage all member states to exchange with their peers on how best
to integrate the SDGs in their national policies.
We’ll be looking forward to presenting the results of this ongoing work and learning from
your experiences during a future meeting of the HLPF.
Stakeholders