The executive secretary of ECLAC, José Manuel Salazar-Xirinachs, warned that 75 percent of the objectives set by the UN are at risk of not being met, unless determined actions are taken to recover the correct path. “Bold, innovative, inspiring and especially transformative actions are required. Otherwise, we will be going through a new lost decade,” the official said.

The UN Deputy General Secretary, Amina Mohammed, urged promoting cooperation and accelerating the course to meet the SDGs, and stressed the importance of investing in sustainable development.

Santiago Cafiero, Foreign Minister of Argentina, the country that holds the presidency of ECLAC until 2024, called for the design of a global plan to accelerate the implementation of the UN 2030 Agenda. “Carrying this agenda forward must be maintained as an unyielding commitment for everyone, leaving no one behind,” he declared.

The Cuban Vice Minister of Foreign Trade and Foreign Investment, Deborah Rivas, warned that the most vulnerable countries, including the small island developing states in the Caribbean, deserve special and differential treatment in order to achieve the SDGs, since their economies, dependent on the external sector, fully felt the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on trade, tourism and investment, the main sources of financing to implement the 2030 Agenda.

In addition, the Caribbean suffers particularly hard from the effects of climate change, even though it is the one that contributes the least to global warming and environmental deterioration, he said.

The goals related to clean water and sanitation; affordable and clean energy; industry, innovation and infrastructure, and sustainable cities and communities will be addressed in work tables this Thursday.

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