World looks to Ethiopia to break deadlock over financing new development goals – Katy Migiro
“It’s going to push people past their comfort zones,” said the U.N.’s Amina Mohamed. “This is not going to be easy.”
The Millennium Development Goals: A Critique from the South – Monthly Review – Samir Amin
I bet that at the end of 2015, no one will propose a balance sheet of the achievements of the MDGs or NEPAD, which will have been long forgotten.
Comment
In other words, it’s highly likely that these new Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) will not be achievable; that they will not have any more success than the MDG’s ever had. It’s simply not going to be possible to achieve anything if you can’t even agree on the terms, and some ‘members’ are being resistant to pave a way forward.
To me it sounds like some members are leaning towards austerity, and they are saying ‘why should we waste so much money on these people when our own economies are suffering‘.
The above article says:
The proposal is fiercely opposed by the rich countries of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), which drew up the current tax rules
Why would anyone be opposed to new tax proposals that would prevent the theft of hundreds of billions of pounds from poor countries?
It also says:
“Except for the OECD and G20 countries, nobody gets a vote,” said Pooja Rangaprasad, policy coordinator for the Financial Transparency Coalition, which includes GFI. “Developing countries are saying that’s undemocratic and they should be at the table.”
Exactly. How can decisions that are going to affect developing countries be made by developed countries without a say from developing countries? Whose interests exactly are being served here?
It’s laughable and you can’t blame anyone for being cynical, you just can’t blame them.
In the same way that the millennium Development goals have largely been missed in countries like Malawi (due to a combination of factors including mismanagement, unrealistic and over-optimistic goals, lack of finances and other external factors), I have serious reservations about these new goals.
That is not to say what they are proposing is all wrong or unattainable. No, that’s not what I’m saying. I’m saying it will require a greater degree of political will, greater financial commitment, and genuine goodwill to end of problems of developing countries on the part of developed countries – all of which are currently missing from the equation.
But all hope is not lost. Failing at reaching any sensible agreement, developing countries can always fall back on collaboration with China and the BRICS, with their Development Banks for assistance, although that too is a short term measure.
Malawi Ace 