PERMANENT MISSION OF TUNISIA TO THE UNITED NATIONS
31 BEEKMAN PLACE
NEW YORK, N.Y. 10022
Statement of
the Permanent Mission of Tunisia
on the intergovernmental negotiations on the revised draft of
the post-2015 development agenda (Preamble and Introduction)
(New York, 28 July 2015) Delivered by:
M. Ramzi Louati, Counsellor
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Distinguished Co-facilitators
Let me, at the outset, commend you for your valuable efforts to progress successfully in these negotiations and for the quality of the revised text submitted.
I would also like to align my delegation with the statement delivered by South Africa on behalf of the Group of 77 and China, Tanzania on behalf of the African Group and Qatar on behalf of the Arab Group.
We wish to make the following remarks on our national capacity.
Co-facilitators
Ladies and Gentlemen
Tunisia welcomes many positive aspects of the revised text as it has responded to many concerns that have been expressed during the last rounds of intergovernmental negotiations.
We believe that we are closer to reach a final text that meets our ambitions and can bring significant change in the process of development of developing countries and eradication of extreme poverty in the world.
Regarding the preamble and the declaration, we would like to make the following remarks:
We particularly welcome the reference, in the preamble, to gender equality and to the empowerment of all women and girls, as well in paragraphs 3, 9, 21 and 28 in the introduction. Tunisia believes that we cannot achieve sustainable development without empowering women and girls and insuring gender equality.
On the paragraph titled “People”, we propose to add “and youth” after “including children” in line 6 of the mentioned paragraph. The sentence should read as follows:
“ ...including children and youth, persons with disabilities, migrants and indigenous peoples, in the realization of the Goals and targets.”
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On the introduction, we support the different proposals to strengthen the language on the positive contribution of migration to development on paragraph 35, particularly, the proposal made by the distinguished Representative of Turkey.
In this regard, we propose to add the following on the first sentence of paragraph 35:
“We recognize that international migration is a multidimensional reality of major relevance contributing positively to the development of countries of origin, transit and destination ...”
Tunisia also supports the reference to peace and security in the text, especially, on paragraph 34. We believe that peace and security are of major relevance for achieving sustainable development.
We welcome, furthermore, paragraph 37 on the contribution of sport to development and peace and we thank the co-facilitators for adding this paragraph.
Finally, we support the deletion of the reference to “shared responsibility” on paragraph 36 of the text.
I Thank you.
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