Around 700 government delegates, the United Nations system, civil society, and private and academic sectors, participated in the meeting.
In September 2015, 193 UN member states set 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to be met within six years, including ending poverty, zero hunger, health, quality education, gender equality, water and sanitation, and climate action. However, according to the report, if the current pace is maintained, only 22 percent of the SDGs will be achieved, while 46 are moving in a favorable direction but not with the required speed, and the remaining 32 may not be achieved.
In the conclusions of the forum, the participants reaffirmed the commitment to implement the 2030 Agenda, ensuring that no one is left behind, and recognized that poverty in all its forms and manifestations is the greatest challenge facing the world; its eradication constitutes an essential requirement for development.
The director of the International Labor Organization (ILO) for Latin America and the Caribbean, Ana Virginia Moreira, considered this event very important, in which experiences were transmitted, and a path was outlined to achieve the goals.
Moreira told Prensa Latina that decent work is one of the SDG objectives and its fulfillment is strategic because it impacts all the others. “We at the ILO are developing regional and national initiatives to achieve this objective,” she said, and explained that decent employment implies having social protection and respect for the fundamental rights of workers.
The executive secretary of ECLAC, José Manuel Salazar-Xirinachs, referred to the different crises that impact the region, including the low growth of the economy and trade, climate change, migrations, and geopolitical conflicts, despite how hard the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean are working on the 2030 Agenda, with plans, policies and programs in all areas.
During the meeting, the challenges and priorities of Small Island Developing States were also discussed and there was a special session on the next Future Summit, which will be held at the UN headquarters in New York on September 22nd and 23rd.
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