Press Conference by Mr. Mahmoud Mohieldin, Special Envoy on Financing 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and Ms. Leila Fourie, CEO of the Johannesburg Stock Exchange and Co-chair of the Secretary-General’s Global Investors for Sustainable Development Alliance (GISD) on the meeting of his Global Investors for Sustainable Development Alliance entitled “COVID-19: Response and Recovery”.
The Special Envoy on Financing for the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, Mahmoud Mohieldin, today (10 Jun) said “there is a serious risk that we will not achieve the Sustainable Development Goals on time” because of the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Briefing reporters via teleconference, following an extraordinary meeting of the Global Investors for Sustainable Development Alliance (GISD), Mohieldin said the crisis “has changed the global context of the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals” due to the economic repercussions of the pandemic, including rising unemployment, inequality, and public debt.
Joining Mohieldin, the CEO of the Johannesburg Stock Exchange and Co-chair of the Secretary-General’s Global Investors for Sustainable Development Alliance (GISD), Leila Fourie, said “extraordinary times call for extraordinary action” adding that the COVID-19 pandemic economic effect “has potentially catastrophic consequences for the 2030 Agenda and indeed for our dreams of a sustainable world.”
Fourie said, “it is crucial that the various stakeholders and players across business, government and civil society, and organizations like the UN, come together to find common ground and to take strong action if we are to see the progress and the momentum that we need to see to achieve the SDGs.”
Mohieldin said the crisis “reminded us of the cost of not taking the SDGs seriously.”
He said “serious investment” will be required to achieve the SDGs, including “investments in health and education and to human capital, investments in infrastructure including digital solutions, and investments in resilience including climate.”
