SANTIAGO, Chile – The eighth meeting of the Forum of the Countries of Latin America and the Caribbean on Sustainable Development, ended here on Friday, with delegates agreeing that five years before the deadline for fulfilling the 2030 Agenda, the region must step up its efforts to move towards achieving the sustainable development goals (SDGs), through collaboration between multiple stakeholders and a focus on managing the transformations.
ECLAC executive secretary, José Manuel Salazar-Xirinachs, addressing the closing ceremong of the forumA statement issued at the end of the weeklong meeting, noted that the forum is an example of multilateralism in action and of the capacity to harmonize interests, pursue agreements and partnerships, and make progress on shared cooperation agendas.
The forum brought together more than 1,000 delegates from 24 member countries and in his address to the closing ceremony, José Manuel Salazar-Xirinachs, the Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), warned that, in light of the difficult situation that the region and world are facing, it is very easy to feel paralyzed, to retreat and lose motivation.
“Nonetheless, you have sent a signal of movement, of commitment, of continuing to believe in the 2030 Agenda and the Pact for the Future for what they are: historic achievements by humanity for moving towards a better future, for all people and for the entire planet.”
Salazar-Xirinachs said that the greatest lesson from 10 years of implementation of the SDGs is that the necessary transformations can only be achieved through collaborative work by multiple actors.
At the meeting, ECLAC presented the report Latin America and the Caribbean in the Final Five Years of the 2030 Agenda: Steering Transformation to Accelerate Progress, which includes updated data on the SDG indicators and warned that, at the current pace, only 23 per cent of the targets are likely to be achieved in the region by 2030.
It said also that 4 per cent are moving in the right direction but at an insufficient pace for reaching the defined threshold; and the trajectory of compliance for the remaining 36 per cent of targets has stalled or regressed versus 2015.
But Salazar-Xirinachs said that the work carried out during the five-day forum shows that the assessment is not a condemnation.
“Measures can be adopted that will allow us to accelerate progress and create capacities for managing the needed transformations. This is not the time for shyness or delay. We are facing a scenario that requires a sense of urgency and bold action.”
In a 142-point document of conclusions and recommendations approved at the end of the meeting, the participating countries warned that eradicating poverty in all its forms and dimensions, including extreme poverty, is the greatest global challenge and an indispensable requirement for sustainable development, reaching the furthest behind first and empowering those in vulnerable situations to achieve sustainable development.
Furthermore, they flagged that the rise in inequalities remains pervasive in countries of Latin America and the Caribbean, even in those with high levels of economic growth.
They emphasized that tackling inequality requires, inter alia, further investment in social services, including social protection services, and economic opportunities in global, regional and national partnerships.
