Mr. Co-Facilitators,
Thailand aligns ourselves with the statement made by South Africa on behalf of the Group G77 and China. And we wish to make the following points in our national capacity.
First, we support a robust and effective follow-up and review process based on “voluntary and country-owned principle” which takes into account different national realities, capacities and levels of development. Indeed, while implementing the MDGs, all Member States already have their own follow-up and internal review process in place. The transition from the MDGs to the SDGs remains a crucial period for countries to align programmes and budget planning at the national level and to communicate with people on the ground. This is a process which will require a lot of time, resources and efforts, especially for developing countries; hence a certain degree of flexibility is to be welcome.
Second, we share the view echoed by many in this assembly that the UN Development system supporting Member States in the implementation of the SDGs and follow-up and review process should be strengthened. This reality should be reflected in the related sections of the text. In this regard, we would like to propose adding the phrase “with support from the UN Development system” at the end of PP 57 e. In PP 63, at the end of the second sentence, we would like to add the phrase “especially regional statistic committees” to highlight the contribution of the regional statistic committees in the review process. The second sentence of PP 63 will now read: “These efforts will benefit from the support of the relevant UN regional commissions, especially regional statistic committees.”
Third, we support the idea of using existing follow-up and review mechanisms at the regional level to identify the most suitable forum in which to engage. As host country of the Asia-Pacific Economic and Social Commission (ESCAP), Thailand is of the view that regional commission is a highly appropriate forum to support Member States not only in implementing the Post-2015 Development Agenda but also in carrying out follow-ups and reviews. In this regard, we support the proposal from G77 and China to delete the last sentence of PP 63 and to include the phrase “and regional reviews” in the second line of PP 65, after the words “the UN system” to highlight the contribution of regional process.
Fourth and final point, we cannot change what we cannot measure. Therefore, it is important to come up with high-quality disaggregated data or a reliable set of data which reflects realities on the ground that can be used to make an informed decision for change. Furthermore, we stress that data should also be collected from wide-ranging sources to ensure transparency and balance.
Thank You.
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