Sixth Session of the Open Working Group (OWG) of the UN General Assembly (UNGA) on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Carlos Lopes, Executive Secretary of Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), recalled that the principle of universality is based on both commonalities and differentiation of targets and priorities. He said there is a need to “refresh” the concept of Common but Differentiated Responsibilities (CBDR), and GDP is a poor instrument for measuring economic development, let alone social progress and environmental regeneration. Mahmoud Mohieldin, World Bank Group President’s Special Envoy on MDGs and Financial Development, reviewed four pillars of financing the post-2015 development agenda: ODA, private finance, innovative sources, and domestic resource mobilization. He said the relative importance of each pillar will differ among countries.

Speakers proceeded to highlight the needs of each of the groups of countries in special situations, with many highlighting relevant events that will take place in 2014, including the review of implementation of the Almaty Programme of Action, the Third International Conference on SIDS, the Secretary-General’s Climate Summit, the fourth Africa-Europe Summit, and the first ministerial-level event on the Busan High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness.

During the afternoon, Patrick Guillaumont, President, FERDI, spoke on LDCs and vulnerability, noting vulnerability is easier to measure than sustainability, and economic vulnerability threatens the sustainability of growth. He welcomed a UN General Assembly resolution inviting development partners to consider LDC indicators, GNI per capita, the Human Assets Index (HAI) and the Economic Vulnerability Index (EVI) as criteria for allocating ODA.