China: sustainable development goals should respect countries' reality

UNITED NATIONS -- A Chinese envoy said on Thursday that the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) being discussed by the United Nations should respect the differences of countries in national conditions and development stages.

Wang Min, China's deputy permanent representative to the UN, made the statement on behalf of China, Indonesia and Kazakhstan at the first meeting of the Sustainable Development Goals Open Working Group.

"The goals should be universal, which apply to all countries and provide countries with references and suggestions for sustainable development," Wang said, noting that the goals should respect the different conditions of countries' reality so as to "ensure the right to development and policy space of all countries. "

"The Open Working Group should be an inclusive and transparent inter-governmental process and based on the working principle of consensus among members. The final report of the working group should reflect the views of all its members in a comprehensive and balanced manner," the envoy said.

The General Assembly on January 22 by consensus adopted a decision establishing the composition of the 30-country Open Working Group on SDGs, aiming to advance action towards implementing a Rio+20 recommendation to develop a set of sustainable development goals.

Comprising 30 countries from the world's various regions, the Open Working Group will prepare a report proposing sustainable development goals for consideration and appropriate action by the sixty-eighth session of the General Assembly. Participation in the Open Working Group would be facilitated by an innovative rotational procedure within the regions,

With SDGs as one of its outcome, Rio+20, held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from June 20-22 last year, was the third international conference on sustainable development aimed at reconciling the global economic and environmental goals.