国际英语新闻:New global development agenda not just about environmental protection: Hungary

UNITED NATIONS, Sept. 30 (Xinhua) -- Hungary said here Monday that the new global development agenda is not just about environmental protection, it should include a set of comprehensive actions aimed at realizing sustainable development of societies, economies and environment.

Janos Martonyi, foreign minister of Hungary, made the remarks during a speech at the ongoing general debate of the UN General Assembly.

"Defining the strategy of development after 2015 is among the most important long-term multilateral agendas existing today," he said. "The task is complex, but the mission should be clear: make our common development sustainable."

"It is not just a synonym for the protection of the environment ... The mission is to make sure that our societies, economies, environment, partnerships will serve us all and serve the generations to come," he said.

The 193-member General Assembly has asked all the UN member states to set the stage for the post-2015 development agenda, which is designed to define the global development in 2015 and beyond to succeed the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), a set of eight anti-poverty targets to be reached by its deadline of 2015.

The foreign minister said the post-2015 development agenda also has to reflect the rapid change in people's perception on progress, equity, inequality, affluence and resource management.

Admitting that transformation to sustainable development is costly, he warned that it would be more costly to miss the chance.

"We all need economic growth, and we all need justice, respect of human rights, gender equality, dignity, good governance and successfully implemented national development plans," he said.