Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 21 April 2015
205. Deputy Maureen O'Sullivan asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if he will ensure that Ireland is represented at the highest level at the financing for development conference in July 2015; and his views that there is a role for parliamentarians at that conference and further upcoming conferences on post-2015 sustainable development goals and climate change. [15184/15]
Amharc ar fhreagraI am planning to attend the major international conference on Financing for Development which will take place in Addis Ababa from 13-16 July, to discuss financing for the ambitious post-2015 framework for global development currently being negotiated at the UN in New York. This conference, the third of its kind, will also assess progress made in the implementation of the Monterrey Consensus of 2002 and the Doha Declaration of 2008.
The financing for development conference is one of a series of interlinked global negotiations which should reach agreement in the course of 2015 and which will have significant international and domestic implications. In September, world leaders will meet in New York to adopt a new development framework around a set of Sustainable Development Goals to follow on from the Millennium Development Goals, adopted in 2000. It is expected that the new goals will be universal in nature and address challenges in a wide range of areas as diverse as agriculture, education, gender equality, health, justice, employment and environmental degradation. Ireland, together with Kenya, is co-facilitating the inter-governmental negotiations on the SDGs at the UN.
In addition, a new climate agreement is being negotiated under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), with a view to the 21st Conference of the Parties in Paris in December.
Together, these processes should define a new sustainable development framework, which will aim to transform the concept of global development. I believe it is essential that Ireland’s delegations to the Conferences involved should reflect the political importance of the agenda and should include the most appropriate representation, including by parliamentarians and civil society.
