Ministry Statements & Speeches:
Tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou katoa. Greetings to you all.
Excellencies, distinguished delegates, ladies and gentlemen,
It is an honour to speak today about robust and resilient recovery from the ongoing crises, and building coherence among the Doha Programme of Action, the 2030 Agenda for sustainable development, and Our Common Agenda.
In our own region, the Pacific, shocks have set back development and reversed hard-won gains.
Natural disasters, including extreme weather events exacerbated by climate change, are a stark example. In Tonga, the eruption of the Hunga-Tonga-Hunga-Ha’apai volcano in 2022 severed communication cables, cutting off outside communication for weeks. The eruption caused damages estimated at 18.5% of Tonga’s GDP. Those are big numbers for any country.
The coronavirus pandemic not only took lives, stretched health systems and closed borders, it zeroed out tourism revenue in the Pacific. Just as borders began to reopen, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine drove up global inflation and energy prices, hitting the most vulnerable the hardest, especially import-dependent economies.
In our minds, these experiences have made the need for robust and resilient recovery even more acute.
These experiences have also acutely reminded us that responding to shocks is more effective when countries work together. No one can go it alone.
Strengthening multilateral responses requires not only improving our immediate responses to crises, but also future-proofing our systems to prevent or reduce the severity of shocks.
Recent crises have exposed global fractures. While we can point to numerous examples of countries stepping up to help one another, it is clear when listening to LDCs that it has not been enough.
Fortunately, the 2030 Agenda and its SDGs provide us with a roadmap. The 2030 Agenda balances carefully the economic, social and environmental dimensions of sustainable development. Addressing all three dimensions holistically is crucial to build resilience.
Unfortunately, achievement of the SDGs is well off track and gaps in our responses remain. However, the multilateral system can fill these gaps if we design it to do so. The Doha Programme of Action and Our Common Agenda have the potential to fill some of the gaps.
Addressing how the international system measures and recognises vulnerability is an important start. The world needs to go beyond GDP as the sole measure of development.
In New Zealand we have adopted a well-being approach to budgeting to account for not only economic outcomes of policy decisions, but also for social and environmental outcomes.
Internationally, New Zealand supports the development of a multidimensional vulnerability index for SIDS, known as the MVI. The MVI will more accurately reflect the unique vulnerabilities faced by SIDS.
More specifically in the context of LDCs, New Zealand has long advocated for the Committee for Development Policy to consider vulnerabilities more fully, particularly in its decisions around graduation. Recommendations for graduation must be based on a comprehensive assessment of each country’s specific challenges, including exposure to external shocks.
New Zealand has also backed longer transition periods to ensure that potential impacts of graduation are understood and mitigated. Graduation from LDC status is a significant milestone. We cannot risk backsliding. We must look carefully at the experience of transitioning countries to ensure they remain on track.
The Doha Programme of Action is a crucial tool: designed to help LDCs recover in the short-term, achieve the SDGs in the medium term, and develop and prosper over the long-term.
The Programme’s pillars of health, financing – including to invest in social safety nets - structural reform, climate action, and peace and security, provide a roadmap for donors and LDCs. The emphasis on education is extremely important.
Implementation will be our collective responsibility.
But, if we are serious about robust and resilient recovery, we must also address structural gaps in the multilateral system. Our Common Agenda provides a blueprint to support this monumental task by accelerating progress towards the SDGs while building a multilateral system that is fit-for-purpose in addressing our contemporary challenges.
Creative responses to institutional inertia are possible. The adoption last year of the Veto Initiative shows what is possible when we all come together. We can, and should, be equally creative in reforming other parts of the system.
A final thought.
The 2030 Agenda, the Doha Programme of Action and Our Common Agenda individually respond to different but important challenges. Collectively, they have the potential to be a force multiplier in helping societies be better prepared and recover faster.
For multilateralism to remain relevant, it must deliver. Moreover, it must deliver on the needs of the most vulnerable. New Zealand is committed to driving forward a multilateral system that delivers for all.
Thank you.