Most of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are not on track, said a senior official of the UN Development Programme here on Wednesday. Speaking to The Hindu in an exclusive interview Haoliang Xu, Assistant Secretary General of UNDP, who represented the organisation at the G20 Development Ministers’ Meeting in Varanasi said access to concrete measures like finance and technology should be at the centre of the debate about the Global South and that at least 52 countries are facing “debt distress” that is forcing them to prioritise debt servicing over investing in human development goals.
“The SDGs are not in a good shape. Only 12% of the SDG’s targets are on track. There is a common recognition that SDGs constitute a universal agenda. But for the developing countries the main concern is finance and technology,” said Haoliang Xu.
Presenting the ‘Sustainable Development Goals Progress Report’ in April, U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres had painted an alarming picture of the SDGs and said, “Progress on 50% is weak and insufficient. Worst of all, we have stalled or gone into reverse on more than 30% of the SDGs. Unless we act now, the 2030 Agenda will become an epitaph for a world that might have been”.
