Senator the Honourable Kamina Johnson Smith, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade of Jamaica and the Honourable François-Philippe Champagne, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Canada, co-chaired a meeting of the United Nations Group of Friends of Sustainable Development Goals Financing on Tuesday May 19, 2020.
The meeting brought together Ambassadors from across the membership of the United Nations and featured presentations on the climate finance and COVID-19 challenges from Mark Carney, the UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for Climate Action and Finance, and Mahmoud Mohieldin, the UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy on Financing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
It served as a timely push to rally the multilateral system to meet the devastating socio-economic impact that the COVID-19 pandemic is having on countries large and small. Discussions focused on actions needed to support a global economic recovery from the pandemic, including how to integrate climate action and best support developing countries in their efforts to build back better for more resilient societies.
In responding to views that the crisis would jeopardize achievement of the SDGs, Minister Johnson Smith stressed that, “while the international community may have the course correct, the direction of travel will not change”. She assured the membership that they should be in “no doubt, the goal remains intact”.
The Foreign Ministers committed to continue working together to strengthen the multilateral system and to review progress on the COVID-19 financing challenge.
The Group of Friends on SDG Financing comprises over 80 UN member states established and led by Jamaica and Canada, focused on mobilizing public and private financial resources to support achievement of UN’s 2030 Sustainable Development Goals.
