T

he year 2019 will be an important milestone in the global effort to pursue Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) as it enters the end of the first four-year cycle in a 15-year period, and progress on each goal is mostly slow, a United Nations official said.

Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana, the executive secretary of the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP), said according to 2017 data, it would be difficult for Asia-Pacific countries to achieve all 16 goals by 2030.

“If you see the progress of the achievement between 2000 toward the target in 2030, […] almost all of the targets will be difficult to achieve for the whole of Asia-Pacific, except for quality education, and perhaps for poverty,” she said at an annual conference in Jakarta on Monday.

The two-day event was held by the National Development Planning Ministry and opened by Vice President Jusuf Kalla.

The SDGs are a collection of global goals set by the UN General Assembly in 2015 as part of a global movement to address poverty, protect the environment and establish peace and prosperity.

UNESCAP data shows that for the Asia-Pacific region, quality education is the only goal that is on track, followed by the eradication of poverty. Meanwhile, efforts to reduce inequality and promote peace, justice and strong institutions actually regressed compared to the starting point in 2000.

At ASEAN level, some progress was made, but there was regression in zero hunger, decent work and economic growth, reduced inequalities, sustainable cities and communities, as well as life on land.

“The region is still facing difficult challenges to achieve the 2030 target,” said Armida who was the national development planning minister during former president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s second term. “It is important for countries to take advantage of existing coordination mechanisms at the regional and regional platforms.”

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres had announced that he would hold a number of high-level meetings on the SGDs next year on universal health coverage, climate change, financing for development and small island nations, she added.

Meanwhile, Foreign Deputy Minister AM Fachir said Indonesia had actively encouraged the integration of the SDGs in the ASEAN agenda, among others, in the ASEAN 2025 vision launched in Manila last year.

“As an emerging economy, Indonesia is committed to assisting other developing countries’ SDGs through South-South and Triangular Cooperation,” he said.

Kalla said Indonesia’s funding for the cooperation had increased to US$7.7 million in 2016 from $5.6 million in 2014.

“Between 2014 and 2017, the government had provided 93 training programs to 1,262 participants from Pacific countries,” Fachir said.

Kalla said for the SDGs to be achieved required active participation from society as a whole, including the private sector and NGOs. “We need to coordinate on who does what. Without one part knowing [what to do], then we cannot implement a program that works,” he said in his keynote address.