Reaching agreement on SDGs means "multilateral diplomacy at its best": Ireland

Ireland on Thursday said that an agreement reached last week here on the Sustainable Development Goals is "multilateral diplomacy at its best," and "the UN has demonstrated its continuing relevance, and indeed indispensability."

The statement came as Charles Flanagan, the foreign minister of Ireland, was addressing the annual high-level debate of the UN General Assembly, which entered its fourth day Thursday.

Last week, meeting at the UN, world leaders adopted new Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for the period up to 2030. The new goals, known as the Post-2015 Development Agenda, will replace the Millennium Development Goals, a set of eight anti-poverty targets, as the blueprint for the global sustainable development efforts for the next 15 years.

"We have committed ourselves to an ambitious and transformational agenda to end extreme poverty, to preserve the planet for this and future generations and to create conditions for balanced economic growth around the world," he said.

"Reaching agreement on these Goals is one of the most important achievements of the United Nations in recent years," the prime minister said. "It was an enormous challenge -- and we, the 193-member States, rose to it. This was multilateral diplomacy at its best."

"The UN has demonstrated its continuing relevance, and indeed indispensability," he said.

"We do not underestimate the challenges for all countries in implementing a universal agenda which is as broad and diverse as the new SDGs," he said. "But we cannot underestimate the huge achievement and benefits for humanity if it is successfully implemented." Enditem