Trade is the vital means of implementing 2030 Agenda: UN

Trade has been and continues to be a key means of implementing the 2030 Agenda, says Guy Ryder, UN’s under-secretary general for policy.

Mr Ryder said this on Monday while speaking at the United Nations Trade Forum 2023 hosted, in hybrid form, by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).

He said trade was an important tool for achieving many Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

According to him, further action is needed to boost developing countries’ trade capacities and align global trading rules with the SDGs so that trade delivers for all policy objectives.

He explained that a fairer and more resilient multilateral trading system which was open, rules-based, transparent and non-discriminatory, was an integral part of the inclusive, networked and effective multilateralism envisaged in the common agenda.

“At the midway point towards 2030, we are all keenly aware that the SDGs are severely off track. The promise of leaving no one behind is in peril, and with it, the hope and rights of current and future generations,” the UN under-secretary general stated. “A fundamental shift is needed in commitment, solidarity, financing and accelerated actions to put the world on a better path.”

He noted that the SDG Summit coming up in September must signal a turning point to deliver a rescue plan for people and the planet, stressing that the tasks ahead were daunting in today’s world of interconnected crises and challenges.

Mr Ryder said the common agenda was strengthening global cooperation for inclusive networked and effective multilateralism to better respond to humanity’s most pressing challenges.

He said this was to turbocharge the 2030 agenda and make the SDGs real in people’s lives everywhere. According to him, UN member states have agreed to hold a summit of the future in 2024.

Mr Ryder noted that the future summit would build upon the 2023 SDG Summit, an aim to breathe new life into the multilateral system so that it can deliver on the promises of the United Nations Charter and the 2030 Agenda.