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Colombia hails new Sustainable Development Goals as foundation for peace

Xinhua, September 26, 2015 Adjust font size:

The UN's new Sustainable Development Goals will lay the necessary foundations for the forging of peace in Colombia, Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos told the World Sustainable Development Summit here Friday.

"My country hails and welcomes these goals because we are fully aware that they lay the necessary foundations and pre-conditions for the forging of peace," said Santos, who wore a white dove on his lapel.

"In turn, peace in Colombia will reap unimaginable dividends in ... the economic, the social, and the environmental spheres, it will be a virtuous cycle," he said.

Santos' speech came just two days after his landmark announcement Wednesday that the Colombian government and the rebel Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) have agreed to sign a final peace deal within six months.

If successful, the peace deal will end Colombia's civil war which has continued for over 50 years, leaving an estimated 220,000 people dead and more than 6 million others displaced.

The speech was also delivered after world leaders agreed unanimously to adopt the Sustainable Development Goals -- a set of economic, social and environmental goals -- here Friday. Goal number 16 of the 17 goals will see UN member states aiming to promote peaceful and inclusive societies. Other goals include, goal one -- ending poverty in all its forms everywhere; goal 10 -- reduce inequality within and among countries; and goal 13 -- take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts.

Santos spoke about Colombia's development challenges and achievements, including reducing poverty and inequality.

"Today for the first time ever in Colombia the middle class represents a larger segment of the population than those living in poverty," said Santos.

He added that climate change is a unique challenge for his country.

"We are the second most bio-diverse country in the world, measured in square kilometers, but at the same time we are extremely vulnerable to the effects of climate change, effects which strike us with particular ferocity," he said.

Santos added that his government has already drafted its own four-year development plan taking into account the over-arching vision of the Sustainable Development Goals. Enditem