Fundamental change of development way required to achieve SDGs - Usha Rao-Monari

The sides discussed the agenda of cooperation between the Kazakh Government and the UNDP.

The key areas of this cooperation are assistance in diversification of economy, modernization of institutions, reducing inequality and sustainable management of natural resources.

Usha Rao-Monari said that there are only eight years left to 2030. In this period Kazakhstan and UNDP will have to exert more efforts and aspiration to bring back development on track and move ahead. For this we need to invest in people, improve social protection, ensure high-quality education, create worthy jobs, transit to the renewable energy sources and ensure digitalization for all. We need fundamental change in development way. Such bold actions will require fundamental rethinking of the system of financing, she said.

The parties also discussed the progress of Kazakhstan in achievement of SDGs including the preparation of the Voluntary National Review on achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The document will be presented in July 2022 at a high-level political forum at the UN Headquarters.

A number of foreign experts took floor at the Summit. Among them are well-known economist and Director of the Center for Sustainable Development at Columbia University Jeffrey D.Sachs, Senior Fellow in the Global Economy and Development Program at the Brookings Institution Johannes F. Linn and many others.

The theme of the First Regional SDG Summit in Kazakhstan was Mobilizing Finance to Help Achieving Sustainable Development Goals. It was held in November 2019.