By Amina Mohammed

Following are extensive excerpts from UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed’s remarks to the 31st ordinary session of the African Union in Nouakchott, Mauritania, on July 1, 2018. – The Editor.

NOUAKCHOTT, Mauritania (IDN-INPS) – The Secretary-General of the United Nations, António Guterres, places great importance on our long-standing but new-found strategic partnership with the African Union. Sustainable development is at the centre of that work. Africa’s Agenda 2063 and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development share a common vision and, together, they provide the basis for the African Union-United Nations Partnership framework for development informing the action plan to be launched in Addis Ababa in the coming days.…

By J W Jackie

RENO, Nevada, United States (IDN) – The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) set out a global pathway to end inequality and improve the health of the world. The SDG agenda sets out the case very clearly that trade, healthcare, gender inequality, poverty, disease, environmental protection and a range of other key goals are all inextricably linked.

Therefore, those seeking to deliver the SDG agenda by reducing trade inequalities and boosting regional development will do well to keep in mind just how interconnected and far-reaching the SDGs are. JAPANESE…

By António Guterres

Following is the text of the United Nations Secretary-General’s Foreword to The Sustainable Development Goals Report 2018 published on 20 June. With just 12 years left to the 2030 deadline, we must inject a sense of urgency, writes Guterres. – The Editor

UNITED NATIONS (IDN-INPS) – The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development provides a global blueprint for dignity, peace and prosperity for people and the planet, now and in the future. Three years into the implementation of the Agenda, countries are translating this shared vision into national development plans and strategies.

The Sustainable Development Goals Report 2018 highlights progress being made in many areas of the 2030 Agenda. Since the turn of the century, the maternal mortality ratio in sub-Saharan Africa has declined by 35 per cent and the under-five mortality rate has dropped by 50 per cent.
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By J Nastranis

NEW YORK (IDN) – India has provided a voluntary contribution of US $100,000 to encourage the participation of developing countries in the work of a key UN committee on tax matters tasked with finding ways of mobilizing resources for sustainable development.

This is the second year India has contributed to the UN Tax Trust Fund and is still the only country that has funded so far. The Fund aims to support the work of the UN Tax Committee.…

By Toung Eh Synuanchanh

This article is the 24th in a series of joint productions of Lotus News Features and IDN-InDepthNews, flagship of the International Press Syndicate.

BUNGSANTHUENG, Laos (IDN) – The consciousness of finite resource and traditional wisdom are inspiring a group of women in the Southeast Asian country to pursue business practices based on the Buddhist concept of Right Livelihood, the art of responsible and sustainable living.

The women weavers of Ban Bungsanthueng, Nongbok District, Khammouane Province of Laos – about 400 km south of the capital Vientiane – have formed a women handicraft group that draws upon longstanding traditional and cultural knowledge of sard-phue (reed mat) weaving.…