Events

MINSK, 16 July (BelTA) - A Belarusian delegation led by Deputy Foreign Minister Valentin Rybakov is taking part in a meeting of the UN General Assembly Open Working Group on Sustainable Development Goals in New York, 14-18 July, BelTA learned from the press service of the Belarusian Foreign Ministry.

“It is expected that the group will endorse the draft sustainable development goals and objectives, the work on which lasted a year and a half. The work of the group will be one of the inputs into the preparation of the World Summit in September 2015, at which the heads of the UN member states will approve the agenda of the world's development in the next 15 years," the press service noted.

The proposals on sustainable development goals, developed by the group with the active participation of Belarus, include such global development targets as the need to eradicate poverty, promote economic growth, support industry, increase the accessibility of energy services, develop education and health systems, and promote equality between men and women.

During the session Valentin Rybakov met with the co-chair of the group, the Permanent Representative of Hungary to the United Nations Csaba Korosi. The representative of Hungary welcomed the participation of Belarus in the work on the sustainable development goals and thanked for the constructive proposals made by the delegation of Belarus during the work of the group. The sides also discussed the UN socio-economic priorities and agreed on the importance of the organization of the summit next year.

Valentin Rybakov stressed that for Belarus it is important to take into account such priority issues as the family as a factor of sustainable development, the interests of the group of middle-income countries, the establishment of a mechanism for access to advanced, including energy, technologies and other issues.