European Development Days 2019

18 June 2019

As SDG advocate Queen Mathilde was present at the opening session of the European Development Days at Tour & Taxis in Brussels.

The Queen was seated next to Jean-Claude Juncker and President Paul Kagame of Rwanda.

Mathilde pronounced a speech in English & French, emphasizing the great urgency of real change in order to implement the 2030 agenda.

"Four years ago, in November 2015, the international community made a joint commitment to implement the United Nations Agenda 2030. The Agenda aims to ensure that development is sustainable, by reconciling its economic, social and environmental aspects. The ultimate goal, of course, is to create more equitable and stable societies. And as such, its reach is universal. The Agenda advocates a genuine transformation of our models, taking into consideration the limits of our planet and the need to end injustice and discrimination."

"But this autumn the Secretary General of the United Nations is convening two important summits. One will be devoted to the climate, the other to the Sustainable Development Goals. The Secretary General’s analysis is that progress in the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals is too slow. And the progress that has been made is too disparate for us to achieve all of the goals by 2030."

"Indeed, in certain areas, a significant proportion of the population has remained untouched by progress. In others, the tempo of the improvements is slackening and trends that have been positive till now are reversing. Access to drinking water is a case in point.  The worrying trends in global warming, loss of biodiversity and the exploitation of natural resources are compromising the achievement of the other goals. We can successfully focus efforts on each goal individually, but achieving them also depends on the collective and coherent implementation of all 17 goals. We must act urgently  to honour the commitments to which the international community has subscribed."

Afterwards Mathilde took part in an interview ...

... and she met other participants, such as representatives of Unicef Yemen.