The affirmation and the rolling out of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) should be a document that includes the concerns of the Pacific.
In her population message in Parliament this morning Speaker of the House Dr Jiko Luveni said Fiji needs to be proactively involved in the SDGs.
“The Pacific Region but especially Fiji as a regional leader must seriously consider development and population factors to ensure that we address related issues. The consequences of inaction will be the legacy we leave behind as today’s legislators.”
The SDGs are a new, universal set of goals, targets and indicators that UN member states including Fiji will be expected to use to frame their agendas and political policies over the next 15 years.
The SDGs follow, and expand on, the millennium development goals (MDGs), which were agreed by governments in 2000, and are due to expire at the end of this year.
If member states agree the draft set of 17 SDGs at a UN summit in New York in September, they will become applicable from January 2016. The expected deadline for the SDGS is 2030.
