Dr Debapriya Bhattacharya, CPD Distinguished Fellow offered opening remarks and engaged in a discussion with the Open Working Group (OWG) of the UN General Assembly (UNGA) at the Sixth Session on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), held during 9-13 December 2013, at UN Headquarters in New York, USA.
The sixth meeting of the OWG on SDGs on Thursday continued its discussion of ‘Needs of countries in special situations, African countries, least developed countries (LDCs), land-locked developing countries (LLDCs), and small island developing states (SIDS) as well as specific challenges facing the middle income countries.’
During the discussion, Dr Bhattacharya suggested that taking LDC status as the “founding element for concern” would capture LLDCs, SIDS, conflict-affected, fragile, environmentally vulnerable and African countries. He raised the need to determine the balance among the three dimensions of sustainable development, which have been joined by a proposed fourth dimension on governance, and noted the traditional “primacy” of economic thinking.
Dr Bhattacharya also noted that an accountability mechanism depends on data, while data availability is not just a technical issue but also a political issue in many countries.
Along with Dr Bhattacharya, Panellist Selwin Hart of Caribbean Development Bank also took part in the discussion with the OWG. Hart presented on the current context of SIDS, including their unique circumstances of energy, climate change, oceans, finance vulnerabilities. He noted that the special challenges for these countries include their small size, remoteness and insularity.
Details on the event is available here.