Allocution de la Coordonnatrice Résidente Nathalie Fustier à l'occasion de l'ouverture de la réunion ministérielle de Haut Niveau sur les pays à revenu intermédiaire

Excellency Mr. Omar Hilale, Permanent Representative of the Kingdom of Morocco to the United Nations in New York,

Excellencies,

Distinguished guests,

Dear Colleagues,

I am delighted to be here with you today at the opening of the conference on “Solutions to address development challenges of Middle-Income Countries in a changing world”.

Demonstrating the importance of the conference, I am pleased to welcome this group of ministerial and governmental representatives from Middle-Income Countries across the globe, as well as colleagues from the UN system, international and regional financial institutions, and key development partners.

The Secretary-General is aware of the role of middle-income countries in attaining the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. We are all here today not only to acknowledge the importance of middle-income countries in driving forth the 2030 Agenda but also to find viable solutions for inclusive and sustainable green development for your respective countries and regions.

Distinguished participants,

     We are witnessing an era of multifaceted global challenges, including pandemics, conflicts, climate change, financial and debt distress.

Among these, MICs face specific challenges such as access to adequate and affordable finance, human capital development, and energy transition for new green productive and competitive models.

As you can imagine, in certain cases these challenges can represent major setbacks for reaching the SDGs.

In this regard and given their weight in the global economy, Middle-Income countries have a major role to play in accelerating the achievement of the SDGs. 

In this perspective and in preparation of the Summit of the Future next September, the Secretary General has proposed during the last General Assembly, to use the 6 transitions, as transformative entry points to accelerate the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals. These transitions include (1) food systems; (2) energy access and affordability; (3) digital connectivity; (4) education; (5) jobs and social protection; and (6) climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution. 

This conference is thus an opportunity for MICs to leverage on the six transitions towards adopting a global approach to overcome common challenges by sharing experiences, forging strong partnerships, and unleashing innovative solutions.

Excellencies,

Dear colleagues,

We at the United Nations are working to accelerate the SDGs. But doing business as usual will not work.

The UN reform is giving us the opportunity to better convene, coordinate and partner to share knowledge, lessons learned, build strong transformative partnerships and develop innovative financing.

Allow me to close my remarks by thanking the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as well as UNECA and UNDP for hosting and organizing this event and being a driving force for this initiative.

And I also thank every member state present for joining the United Nations in our work on just transition, whereby no one is left behind in our quest for inclusive sustainable development whereby climate change mitigation is placed at the core.

I look forward to today’s discussion and I wish you all fruitful debates.

Thank you.