Statement in the National Assembly by Minister Maite Nkoana-Mashabane on the country's post-2015 Millennium Developments Goals in view of the several related debates and discussions attended by South African representatives and delegates in recent months
QUOTE
NATIONAL ASSEMBLY
FOR ORAL REPLY
QUESTION NO: 340 (NO2687E)
PUBLISHED IN INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER NO: 7-2014 OF 5 NOVEMBER 2014
MS S V KALYAN (DA) TO ASK THE MINISTER OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS AND COOPERATION:
(1) Will she be making a statement in the National Assembly on the country's post-2015 Millennium Developments Goals in view of the several related debates and discussions attended by South African representatives and delegates in recent months;
(2) If so, when is this planned for?
REPLY:
(1) We have been keeping the National Assembly informed of developments pertaining to the post-2015 development agenda and will continue to do so as the intergovernmental processes unfold at the United Nations.
2015 is the seventieth anniversary of the United Nations. Ideally, we should be reviewing peace, security and development, all of which are intertwined.
The fact that seventy years after the establishment of the United Nations, the UN Security Council remains un-transformed is what should be uppermost in our minds.
In the Department of International Relations and Cooperation’s Budget Vote Speech, delivered at the National Assembly, on 22 July 2014, mention was made of South Africa’s multilateral activities, which are inextricably linked to South Africa’s domestic priorities and those of the African continent. Key priorities highlighted in the speech included:
- The conclusion of two critical multilateral negotiations, namely, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) on the basis of the Durban Plan for Enhanced Action; and the Post-2015 Development Agenda. It was noted that South Africa will continue to call for the acceleration of efforts and resources to ensure the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) up to 2015 and beyond.
- The National Assembly was further informed that a key process on sustainable development emanating from Rio+20 recommended to the United Nations General Assembly a set of possible Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The process to develop these goals was concluded, with South Africa’s robust participation, in New York in July 2014 and was endorsed by the UN General Assembly in September 2014.
It should be noted that these SDGs will be the main basis of the intergovernmental negotiations on the post-2015 development agenda. In 2013, South Africa and the Republic of Ireland facilitated a High-Level Event of the UN General Assembly which managed to anchor the negotiations on the post-2015 development agenda firmly within the United Nations intergovernmental process, where all nations will participate on an equal basis to craft the successor goals to the MDGs, and informed by Rio Principles, in particular the principle of Common But Differentiated Responsibilities.
2. We will continue to keep the National Assembly updated of developments pertaining to the post-2015 development agenda as the intergovernmental processes unfold at the United Nations.
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