CRI听力:Sustainable Peace and Sustainable Development Mutually Reinforcing

The UN General Assembly high-level dialogue - "Building sustainable peace for all: synergies between the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and Sustaining Peace" - was convened on Tuesday at the UN headquarters.

Peter Thomson, President of the 71st UN General Assembly, says he convened the dialogue as a tangible step to mutually reinforce commitment to sustaining peace and sustainable development.

"Just as the 2030 Agenda recognizes the importance of fostering peaceful, just and inclusive societies to achieving each of the seventeen Sustainable Development Goals, the sustaining peace resolutions emphasize the importance of sustainable development to sustaining peace. The sustaining peace resolutions give special place to conflict prevention, gender equality, addressing root causes of conflict and protecting human rights. Taken in tandem, the 2030 Agenda and the sustaining peace resolutions make it clear that Member States regard sustainable development and sustaining peace are two agendas that stand or fall together."

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres also spoke at the event. This was his first official event at the General Assembly since he took office on January 1st.

Guterres said that while sustaining peace is not the only aim of the 2030 Agenda, implementing all the Sustainable Development Goals will make an enormous contribution towards that goal.

"It is important to recognize that the links between the 2030 Agenda and sustaining peace are found not only in Goal 16 on strong institutions and inclusive societies, but across all 17 goals."

Along with deepening understanding of the connection between sustainable development and sustaining peace, the High-Level Dialogue also focused on exploring ways to leverage these synergies to establish a coherent, integrated and comprehensive implementation approach to conflict prevention and sustaining peace among political, security and development actors.

Peter Thomson stressed that in order to deliver a universal push for implementation of the 2030 Agenda, concrete action would be required on two fronts.

"First, it is essential that we generate unstoppable momentum in these early years of SDG implementation. To do so we must stress the universality of the 2030 Agenda and harness the collective powers of government, business, civil society and academia to reach these higher goals. We must mobilize the resources required to lift hundreds of millions from poverty and ensure universal access to essential services. And we must deliver fresh reserves of political will to tackle inequalities, transition to the green economies and protect our planet's life support systems. Second, we must recognise sustainable peace as both an enabler and an outcome of sustainable development, and invest financially and intellectually in sustaining peace across our world."

The High-Level Dialogue also featured the presence and participation of the President of the Security Council, the President of the Economic and Social Council and the Chair of the Peacebuilding Commission, Ministers from member countries as well as participants from over 100 civil society organizations.

For CRI, this is Qian Shanming from New York.