UK statement on Targets
The UK aligns itself with the statement made by the European Commission on behalf of the European Union and its member states.
Co-facilitators. As we finalise the Document that our Heads of State and Government will put their names to at the Summit in September, it is imperative that we make every effort to secure targets that are as clear, ambitious and transformative as possible.
One of the lessons that we all learned from the MDGs was that well-crafted, clear and ambitious targets can have a transformative and galvanising effect. And we also learned that targets that are unclear or do not maximise ambition will not realise the changes that we all want to see. With those lessons in mind we must not ask our Heads of State and Government to sign up to targets that fall short of existing commitments. Nor can we ask them to agree to something that is incomplete or unclear – as it would be if we don’t fill in the xs.
Co-facilitators, the UK welcomes your work with the UN system to inform our discussions and propose technical tweaks to a small number of targets. We are clear in our understanding that this is not about re-opening the Open Working Group proposals. Nor do the proposals affect the delicate balance.
We therefore ask that you amend the targets in the zero draft with all those contained in the Annex. That way we can show the world that we have done our very best, and give our Heads of State and Government a set of targets, confident that they represent the state of the art in sustainable development.
Thank you
