Wold leaders opt to end poverty by 2030

World leaders are gathering at the United Nations Headquarters in New York City from Friday to Sunday to discuss the Sustainable Development Goals before the UN General Assembly.

“The Sustainable Development Goals are ambitious, but the citizens of our countries expect no less than our full commitment to end poverty, promote sustainable and equitable economic development, and protect the environment”.

Indian NGOs say they harbour a healthy skepticism of the goals themselves being achieved, especially in the absence of clearly defined monitoring processes and clarity on resource mobilisation – these are still being negotiated.

To see such passion and conviction in our world’s new development agenda fills me with hope and renewed energy to do my part in making it happen.

“It is an agenda for shared prosperity, peace and partnership that conveys the urgency of climate action and is rooted in gender equality and respect for the rights of all“.

The opening ceremony of the Summit will start at 10:50am EDT (GMT-4) on 25 September, with the film screening, “The Earth from Space”, followed by musical performances by UN Goodwill Ambassadors Shakira and Angelique Kidjo, as well as a call to action by Nobel Laureate Malala Yousafzai along with youth representatives as torch bearers to a sustainable future.

The Sustainable Development Goals offer a vision of a fairer, more prosperous, peaceful and sustainable world in which no one is left behind. We know that when women and girls have knowledge about their sexual and reproductive rights-and can exercise them freely, without fear or boundary-communities and countries prosper. To do this, we need to show a strong political will while also investing in the critical agents of change – smallholders, family farmers, rural women, fisher folk, indigenous communities and other vulnerable or marginalized people. Going hand in hand with this goal was the promotion of sustained and inclusive economic growth and employment for all, as well as the reduction of inequality. Following the Pope’s address to the United Nations Friday, the next three days were expected to feature plenty of debates with non-governmental organizations also having an opportunity to speak.

For the global goals to be reached, everyone needs to do their part: governments at all levels, the private sector, civil society, and people like you. “It is an agenda for people, to end poverty in all its forms – an agenda for the planet, our common home”, declared Mr. Ban as he opened the UN Sustainable Development Summit which kicked off today and wraps up Sunday. The country has excellent health, education and social welfare indices which are mostly on par with, if not better than, those of developed nations.

The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) have shown that setting goals can help drive unprecedented progress across the globe and achieved remarkable results.

In July this year, at a Financing for Development conference in Addis Ababa, the institutions unveiled plans to scale up their finance and support for countries seeking to achieve the development goals, pledging to increase their financial contribution to more than $400 billion over the next three years.

The United Nations chief made a clarion call to governments to adopt a robust universal climate agreement in Paris in December.