V

ice President Jusuf Kalla arrived in New York, US, on Wednesday evening for a string of bilateral and multilateral meetings including a UN function that will set an ambitious new sustainable development agenda.

More than 150 world leaders are expected to attend the UN Sustainable Development Summit from Sept. 25 to 27 at UN headquarters to formally adopt a new development agenda.

The agreement will serve as a launch pad for action by the international community and national governments to promote shared prosperity and well-being for all over the next 15 years.

'€œThe summit is a continuation of the MDGs [Millennium Development Goals] that Indonesia helped initiate. The new agenda that we will discuss sets an ambitious target of eliminating all kinds of poverty by 2030,'€ said Kalla on Tuesday.

The MDGs, which produced the most successful antipoverty movement in history, will serve as a springboard for the new sustainable development agenda to be adopted by world leaders.

Agreed by the 193 member states of the UN, the proposed new agenda, entitled '€œTransforming Our World: 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development'€, consists of a declaration, 17 sustainable development goals and 169 targets, a section on means of implementation and renewed global partnership and a framework for review and follow-up.

The agenda is unique in that it calls for action by all countries, whether poor, rich or middle-income. It recognizes that ending poverty must go hand-in-hand with a plan that builds economic growth and addresses a range of social needs including education, health, social protection and job opportunities, while addressing climate change and environmental protection. It also covers issues such as inequality, infrastructure, energy, consumption, biodiversity, oceans and industrialization.  

Following more than a year of inclusive and intensive consultative deliberations, the Open Working Group proposed 17 specific goals with 169 associated targets.  

The intergovernmental negotiations on the composition of the goals spanned more than two years and included broad input from civil society and other stakeholders. The inclusive and transparent consultations led to consensus being reached on Aug. 2 on the outcome document for the new sustainable development agenda.  

Prior to heading to the UN, Kalla celebrated Idul Adha, which was declared a holiday in New York, on Thursday by praying at the Al-Hikmah mosque built by Indonesian residents of the Big Apple.

Aside from attending the UN function, Kalla will also hold bilateral meetings with representatives of China, Luxembourg, Bulgaria and Croatia, to name a few, as well as representatives of US businesses including executives of energy giant Chevron.
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