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STORY: UN / AFRICA DEVELOPMENT COMMITMENTS
TRT: 03:25
SOURCE: UNIFEED
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGES: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 21 JULY 2023, NEW YORK CITY / FILE
FILE - NEW YORK CITY
1. Wide shot, United Nations Headquarters
21 JULY 2023, NEW YORK CITY
2. Wide shot, Trusteeship Council Chamber
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Amina J. Mohammed, Deputy Secretary-General, United Nations:
“The first report prepared under this new methodology that we are to discuss today assesses the progress made in financing for development, Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 17, and energy, SDG 7. The findings in both areas are concerning: commitments are far from being delivered.”
4. Med shot, Mohammed and Kőrösi at dais
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Amina J. Mohammed, Deputy Secretary-General, United Nations:
“The lack of efficient and transparent mechanisms to support revenue administrations and public financial management results in hundreds of billions lost every year in illicit financial flows and inefficiencies. The absence of efficient administrations lowers the trust of financial stakeholders and increases the risk of SDG investments in the continent, driving up the cost of debt servicing and limiting African countries’ fiscal space. From the external perspective, internal factors are compounded by an unfair international financial architecture that keeps African countries in a marginal position, making them more vulnerable to debt distress.”
6. Med shot, Mohammed and Kőrösi at dais
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Amina J. Mohammed, Deputy Secretary-General, United Nations:
“The challenges in the mobilization of resources limit the capacity of African countries to undertake massive investments needed in critical areas such as energy access. Turning to the case of energy, the report highlights that almost 600 million people continue not to have access to sustainable energy in Africa.”
8. Med shot, Mohammed and Kőrösi at dais
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Amina J. Mohammed, Deputy Secretary-General, United Nations:
“As the COVID-19 highlighted, energy is an essential component for achieving resilience. And resilience is indispensable to ensure the sustainability of development efforts. Without resilience, the next global crisis will revert all the progress we make in the coming years, in the same way that the pandemic undid in just one-year development gains obtained through decades of hard work.”
10. Med shot, Mohammed and Kőrösi at dais
11. SOUNDBITE (English) Amina J. Mohammed, Deputy Secretary-General, United Nations:
“This is a gloomy picture. But the good news is that the solution to most of these challenges is within our grasp. We don’t need to reinvent the wheel.”
12. Med shot, Mohammed and Kőrösi at dais
13. SOUNDBITE (English) Cristina Duarte, Special Adviser on Africa to the United Nations:
“The lack of implementation of the Addis Ababa action agenda has created a financial paradox in which African countries lose every year 500 to 600 billion dollars.”
14. Med shot, Duarte, delegates
15. SOUNDBITE (English) Cristina Duarte, Special Adviser on Africa to the United Nations:
“Enough is enough. The expected exponential growth of population in Africa will only deepen the gap in energy access and inequality across the continent and having spillovers that will eventually undermine Africa’s peace and stability. We need to prevent this dire prospect, and we know what are the actions to be taken.”
16. Med shot, Duarte, delegates
The findings in the Secretary-General’s report on the progress in implementing commitments related to financing for development and energy in Africa are “concerning,” said Amina J. Mohammed, UN Deputy Secretary-General.
“Commitments are far from being delivered,” she added.
Addressing the first United Nations multistakeholder dialogue on the implementation of commitments toward Africa’s development today (21 Jul), Mohammed said that in the case of financing for development, despite the consensus that accompanied the adoption of the Addis Ababa Action Agenda, most of its areas of action have seen limited achievements.
This has impacted all means of implementation of the 2030 Agenda, including financing for development.
Internal and external factors cause shortcomings in this area, she explained.
From the point of view of internal factors, “The lack of efficient and transparent mechanisms to support revenue administrations and public financial management results in hundreds of billions lost every year in illicit financial flows and inefficiencies. The absence of efficient administrations lowers the trust of financial stakeholders and increases the risk of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) investments in the continent, driving up the cost of debt servicing and limiting African countries’ fiscal space.”
From the external perspective, she continued, “Internal factors are compounded by an unfair international financial architecture that keeps African countries in a marginal position, making them more vulnerable to debt distress.”
The UN Deputy Secretary-General noticed that the challenges in the mobilization of resources limit the capacity of African countries to undertake massive investments needed in critical areas such as energy access.
Turning to the case of energy, the report highlights that almost 600 million people continue not to have access to sustainable energy in Africa.
First, the energy infrastructure is insufficient.
The penetration of the electrical grid does not respond to the distribution of the population across the territory, creating vast differences between urban and rural areas.
Furthermore, the quality of the infrastructure and transmission capacities does not ensure the reliability of the service.
Second, poor regulatory frameworks and limited planning processes have a major impact on energy financing and affordability.
Data is necessary to ensure investment in energy projects.
Deficient utility governance regulations lead to high costs and take-up rates, considerably limiting energy access.
Mohammed said, “As the COVID-19 highlighted, energy is an essential component for achieving resilience. And resilience is indispensable to ensure the sustainability of development efforts. Without resilience, the next global crisis will revert all the progress we make in the coming years, in the same way that the pandemic undid in just one-year development gains obtained through decades of hard work.”
She also said, “This is a gloomy picture. But the good news is that the solution to most of these challenges is within our grasp. We don’t need to reinvent the wheel.”
According to The UN Deputy Secretary-General 5 steps can help to revert the current negative trend: Advance in the strengthening of institutions; Increase efforts to build reliable policy and regulatory frameworks; Support data-based energy planning exercises in all African countries; Increase technological transfers, technical cooperation and ODA flows toward institution-building; Reform the international financial architecture to provide African countries with breathing space.
Also addressing the multistakeholder dialogue today, Cristina Duarte, Under-Secretary-General and Special Adviser on Africa said, “The lack of implementation of the Addis Ababa action agenda has created a financial paradox in which African countries lose every year 500 to 600 billion dollars.”
She concluded, “Enough is enough. The expected exponential growth of population in Africa will only deepen the gap in energy access and inequality across the continent and having spillovers that will eventually undermine Africa’s peace and stability. We need to prevent this dire prospect, and we know what are the actions to be taken.”
The Secretary-General promoted the reconfiguration of the United Nations Monitoring Mechanism (UNMM) that the General Assembly established in 2012 to transform it into an effective tool that supports the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals in Africa.
To this end, the UNMM focuses now on analyzing the hindrances impacting progress toward achieving the 2030 Agenda in the continent.
The new report methodology complements existing mechanisms, such as the SDG Report, by identifying challenges, analyzing their impact, and proposing corrective measures.
This analysis forms the core of the biennial report, providing essential data for action-oriented decisions during the multistakeholder dialogue.
The SDG framework ensures coherence and enables effective implementation of goals, emphasizing the importance of comprehensive assessment and corrective action.
