About participation of Andrei Dapkiunas in the 56th session of Commission for Social Development

Deputy Foreign Minister of Belarus Andrei Dapkiunas made a statement at the plenary discussion of the 56th session of the Commission for Social Development (CSocD), which opened January 29 at the UN headquarters in New York.

UN Commission for Social Development deals with the issues of poverty and social inequality reduction, as well as promotion of international policy in social justice for the most vulnerable people (low-income population, women, children, people with disabilities, youth and aging people). Belarus is elected to CSocD for the term 2016-2020. The 56th  session of CSocD will continue its work until February 7, 2018.

In his statement (statement in Russian, video in English) the Deputy Minister presented the vision of Belarus on eradication of poverty, which is a priority theme of the current session of CSocD.

The Belarusian diplomat noted the impossibility of eradicating poverty and achieving prosperity for all without ensuring equality of opportunity at national and global levels. In this context A. Dapkiunas informed about the most important mechanisms for solving that problem in Belarus, including ensuring quality education, healthcare, effective state social policy, sustainable economic growth policies for full employment and decent work for all, stimulating private initiative and creating a public-private partnership for development.

The Deputy Minister noted that modern realities in the fight against poverty required prudent global approaches. A. Dapkiunas urged the international community to eliminate unilateral coercive economic measures and destructive sanctions driven by selfish political goals, which brought damage to the interests of countries that needed support for their development. The Belarusian diplomat stressed that such step would really promote greater global justice and implementation of the Agenda for Sustainable Development.

The Deputy Head of the Belarusian Foreign Ministry underlined the importance of promotion of a Belarusian initiative to forge an international partnership of national coordinators for sustainable development. In this context, A. Dapkiunas reiterated the invitation to the countries of the region and other  interested stakeholders for Minsk Forum of national coordinators on implementation of SDGs, “Building a partnership to underpin national sustainable development solutions”, which would make a significant contribution to an architecture of a global partnership for development.

Regional SDG Coordination Leaders Forum will be held in Minsk on February 21-22, 2018. This event, organized jointly with the UN, will be the first regional forum on this topic in the world. Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations Amina Mohammed, as well as high representatives of the World Bank, the EBRD, UN agencies, countries of Europe and the CIS will take part in it.

Беларуская версія

Print version