Joint appeal for sustainable development

WASHINGTON: The leaders of seven multilateral organisations last week issued a joint appeal for global support of a report issued by a high-level UN panel that calls for ending extreme poverty and promoting sustainable development.

In a joint letter to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, the seven leaders - who lead the African Development Bank, Asian Development Bank, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, European Investment Bank, Inter-American Development Bank, International Monetary Fund and the World Bank Group - offered their support for the panel's findings.

This includes contributions their institutions could make to implementation at the country level, of knowledge for development, a robust financing framework, and a 'data revolution' that would enable broader public debate and more evidence-based policies and increased accountability.

The high level panel recommends five transformative shifts in the approach to development: leaving no one behind; putting sustainable development at the core; transforming economies for jobs and inclusive growth; building peace and effective, open and accountable institutions; and forging a new global partnership.

"We strongly endorse the vision 'to end poverty in all its forms, in the context of sustainable development and to have in place the building blocks of sustained prosperity for all'. We see investments in people, growth, and structural change as driving forces," said the heads of the institutions, supporting a development agenda that takes into account the human, environmental and economic dimensions of development.

"We endorse ideas of provision of economic and social infrastructure and the development of a thriving private sector, which provides the growth and jobs that help to end poverty," they added, in recognition of a stronger partnership needed between government, the private sector and civil society.

The leaders encouraged full achievement of the Millennium Development Goals, and rapid convergence of ongoing discussions around a single set of goals post-2015, a move that would allow governments and donor partners to implement strategies to achieve such goals.