UNDP pledges support for parliamentarians in achieving sustainable development goals

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) will continue supporting parliamentarians in achieving sustainable development goals, UNDP Administrator Helen Clark said Monday at the Fourth World Conference of Speakers of Parliament here in New York.

Next month, world leaders will gather in this chamber to launch an ambitious new sustainable development agenda. It will build on progress made since the Millennium Declaration, and seek to reduce poverty and inequality, improve people's lives, and promote peace, security, good governance, and the rule of law, said Clark.

"Many voices, including yours and those of your parliamentary colleagues, have helped shape the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and to re-imagine the ways in which national and international institutions will have to work if we are to attain them," she said.

Clark also pointed out two important documents concerning parliaments' role in the attainment of the SDGs.

The Quito Communique, adopted at the 128th Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union in Ecuador in 2013, calls for parliaments to play a central role in the implementation of the SDGs, ensuring that development policies and plans are drawn up through participatory and inclusive processes, with regular progress reports submitted to parliaments for review.

Last April, delegates at the 130th Inter-Parliamentary Union Assembly in Vietnam went further in crafting the Hanoi Declaration, committing parliaments to translating the SDGs into enforceable actions at the national level including via the budget process, and by mainstreaming them into the deliberative processes of parliaments.

Both the Quito Communique and the Hanoi Declaration recognise that the law-making, oversight, and representation functions of parliaments afford unique opportunities to advance the new global development agenda, she said.

Moreover, she highlighted the extensive support that UNDP has given to parliaments in making progress in areas reflected in the SDGs, "through seventy parliamentary support programmes worldwide."

Concluding her remarks, Clark pledged continuous support in the future and her optimism in forging partnerships among parliaments at this conference.

"As administrator of UNDP, and as a former parliamentarian and Inter-Parliamentary Union member, I acknowledge the significant commitments all of you have made - not least by participating in this event - to making parliaments fit for purpose to help attain the SDGs," she said, assuring UNDP's ongoing support for the valuable discussion, and for the partnerships that will emerge from it. Enditem