The director of the United Nations Office for South-South Cooperation (UNOSSC) has stressed it is high time to address the shortfall in meeting the UN's Sustainable Development Goals(SDGs), with the United Nations climate conference offering the perfect opportunity to advance cooperation on key climate issues.
The 29th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP29) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change gets underway in Baku, Azerbaijan on Monday and will continue to November 22, bringing together global leaders to discuss what the UN has described as the "defining issue of our time."
The Baku conference features on its agenda negotiations for a new funding goal to help developing nations tackle climate change and its related impacts, which is listed as one of the 17 goals of the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
In an interview with the China Global Television Network (CGTN) ahead of the gathering, UNOSSC director Dima Al-Khatib said more efforts should be made to meet the crucial sustainable development goals before the end of the decade, but said COP29 represents a vital opportunity for the Global South to work together to address the all-important climate concerns.
"To date, only 17 percent of the Sustainable Development Goals have been achieved or are on track. This is an important call for us to look at all of those leadership to shoulder and bolster the cause for more enhanced cooperation including on South-South cooperation, to advance development across the Global South," she said.
However, while urging for more enhanced collective efforts to advance climate action, Al-Khatib noted that members of the Global South have already been engaging in closer cooperation in various fields and hopes this trend continues.
"The developing countries -- also with the support of the United Nations system, whether it's regional commissions, whether [it's] also other actors such as the private sector -- they are increasingly leveraging South-South and Triangular Cooperation(SSTC), for the proactive provision of better services, whether it's on health front, whether it's on climate action, whether on the transition to a green economy. This movement [is] on the increase," she said.
UNOSSC director calls for enhanced cooperation to address sustainable development shortfall
