Global Partnerships

Do Not Exaggerate Private Sector Role in Achieving Agenda 2030

By Manuel F. Montes*

GENEVA (IDN | SOUTHVIEWS) - In discussions at the UN about achieving Agenda 2030, it has become de rigueur to highlight the role of the private sector. It is often introduced as the discovery of the idea that private sector investment and financing is indispensable to achieving Agenda 2030.

For developed country diplomats and their associated experts this new celebrity treatment appears to be an article of faith, at least during negotiations on economic matters in the UN. They are foisting a misleading 'Trumpian' exaggeration that is technically harmful to development policymaking and to Agenda 2030.

The practical, and long-running, reality is that investment by enterprises has always been indispensable to growth and development. It is NOT a new reality. It’s NOT a reality specific only to Agenda 2030.

: South Centre; OPINION; 04 August 2017

Photo: Hambantota Port. Credit: Wikimedia Commons

Sri Lanka Clears Major Hurdle For China’s Silk Route Project

By Kalinga Seneviratne

COLOMBO (IDN) - The signing of a deal between the Sri Lankan government and a Chinese company, basically transferring the ownership on a 99-year lease of the strategically located Chinese-built Hambantota Port and 5,000 acres of land surrounding it for an industrial park in southern Sri Lanka has cleared a major hurdle for China’s ambitious Maritime Silk Route project while at the same time raising concerns about security and sovereignty issues.

The government-owned Sri Lankan Port Authority has signed a 1.1 billion dollar deal agreeing to sell a 70 percent stake in the Hambantota port to China’s state-run conglomerate China Merchants Port Holdings. The Cabinet approved the deal on July 25 and the government signed it at a ceremony opened to the media on July 29.

: Kalinga Seneviratne; THE WORLD; Asia-Pacific; 31 July 2017

Image: World map showing the member countries of the G20. Credit: www.g20.org

The G20 Need to Return to their Roots

By Inge Kaul

BERLIN (IDN-INPS) - When the finance ministers of the G7 countries (Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States) proposed the G20 in the late 1990s, a good sense of realism prevailed. They recognized that addressing issues of global finance required the political support from – and involvement of – emerging market economies.

This view proved prescient in seeking policy responses to the 2007–2008 global financial crisis. The leaders of the G20 met at their first summit in Washington D.C. in 2008 to agree on measures to resolve the crisis through dialogues among the “systemically relevant” countries.

: IDN-INPS UN Bureau; GLOBAL GOVERNANCE; The Group of Twenty (G20); 22 July 2017

Photo: View of the conference room before the start of the third working meeting of the G20 summit on the Africa Partnership, migration and health. Credit: Bundesregierung | Bergmann.

G20 Leaves Three Billion People Out in the Cold

Analysis by Ravi Kanth Deverakonda

GENEVA | HAMBURG (IDN) – The G20 summit in Hamburg on July 7 and 8 delivered a grand declaration of compromises on “major global economic challenges” and “shaping an interconnected world”, but failed to address the grave economic and existential problems of more than three billion people in poor and developing countries, according to those who attended the meeting.

The 15-page declaration issued by the leaders of the 20 major industrialised and developing countries attempted hard to reverse the tide of opposition against globalisation, asserting that “globalisation and technological change have contributed significantly to driving economic growth and rising living standards across the globe.”

: Ravi Kanth Devarakonda; GLOBAL GOVERNANCE; The Group of Twenty (G20); 18 July 2017

Photo: The G20 summit kicked off with the traditional family photo. Credit: Bundesregierung/Güngör

G20 Summit Unlikely to Change the World for the Better

By Samantha Sen

HAMBURG (IDN) - The moment said almost all at the G20 summit in Hamburg July 7-8. The heads of government were gathered in a hall, they were requested to turn around towards a presentation. All looked in the direction required – except for U.S. President Donald Trump. And so everyone was looking one way, the U.S. President another. He turned around after a nudge.

Which is where the ‘almost’ comes in. Momentary symbolism on offer like this has to stop somewhere. Trump was given that nudge by British Prime Minister Teresa May. It isn’t May trying to turn Trump towards a consensus with other leaders; she’s looking her own other way herself. And she refused to raise climate change with Trump in the course of a 50-minute bilateral meeting; she only raised it informally after that meeting had ended.

: Samantha Sen; GLOBAL GOVERNANCE; The Group of Twenty (G20); 11 July 2017

Photo: Celebrations on the Day of the Capital City of the Republic of Kazakhstan. Credit: expo2017astana.com

Diplomacy Brings the World to Kazakh Capital Astana

By Ramesh Jaura

This is the fifth in a series of articles from Kazakhstan which being geographically located both in Asia and Europe, considers itself a Eurasian country. The articles are based on information gathered during a visit from June 7 to June 15 on the occasion of the opening of EXPO 2017 in Astana. Video clips accompany the articles in this series. – The Editor

NEW YORK | ASTANA (IDN) – The world has been meeting in Kazakhstan's capital Astana several weeks ahead of the 25th anniversary of the country's diplomatic service on July 2: at the summit meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), Expo 2017, the Astana Economic Forum, and the Eurasian Media Forum.

: Ramesh Jaura; UN INSIDER; 06 July 2017

Funding Needs for UN’s 2030 Development Agenda Skyrocket – to Trillions of Dollars

By Shanta Rao

UNITED NATIONS (IDN) – As the United Nations assesses the implementation of its 2030 Agenda for Development, including its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the estimated funding needs keep skyrocketing --- from the initial millions and billions to trillions of dollars annually.

The President of the General Assembly, Ambassador Peter Thomson of Fiji, said on April 18 that SDG financing, including the eradication of extreme poverty by 2030, is going to cost about $6 trillion annually -- and then to a hefty $30 trillion through 2030.

At the same time, the Addis Ababa Action Agenda (AAAA), which outlines the implementation of the 17 SDGs, points to an infrastructure gap of some $1 trillion to $1.5 trillion annually in developing countries, while estimates of the global gap generally range from $3 trillion to $5 trillion annually.

: IDN-INPS UN Bureau; UN INSIDER; 28 May 2017

Photo: The CAITISA report being presented to the President. Credit: CAITISA.

Ecuador Annuls 16 Investment Treaties To Duck Costly Disputes

By Daniel Uribe*

GENEVA (IDN | SOUTHNEWS) - Ecuador has unilaterally withdrawn from its remaining 16 bilateral investment treaties (BITs). With this decision, Ecuador has concluded the termination of 26 BITs signed by the country since 1968.

The 16 BITS which Ecuador is withdrawing from had been signed with the Netherlands, Germany, Great Britain, France, Spain, Italy, Sweden, Switzerland, Canada, the United States, China, Argentina, Bolivia, Peru, Venezuela, and Chile.

The Ecuadorian move is part of similar measures taken in recent years by a growing number of developing countries to withdraw from their bilateral investment treaties. These include South Africa, Bolivia, Indonesia and India.

: Ramesh Jaura; THE WORLD; Latin America & the Caribbean; 23 May 2017

Photo: Various guests and world leaders at the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation in Beijing, 14 May 2017 (Xinhua/Liu Weibing)

Global Development Through China's New 'Silk Routes'

Analysis by Kalinga Seneviratne

BANGKOK (IDN) - When China hosted a two-day conference in May to help revive the ancient trade routes from Asia to Europe and Africa it was greeted with scepticism by most of the western media. But in much of Asia the mood was more of optimism and opportunity.

CNN reported that “some countries raised concerns over the project seen as boosting Beijing's global clout on trade and geopolitics” – a reoccurring theme in many of the western media reports. While pointing out that the U.S., Japan, India and most of the European leaders had boycotted the meeting BBC described it as a Chinese bid for global leadership. Australia’s ABC said that China wants its ‘new Silk Routes’ to dominate world trade.

: Kalinga Seneviratne; THE WORLD; Asia-Pacific; 23 May 2017

Photo: A beach at Funafuti atoll, Tuvalu, on a sunny day. Credit: Wikimedia Commons.Photo: COP23 Venue. Credit: World Conference Center Bonn.

The World's Poorest and Most Vulnerable Want Climate Action

By Ramesh Jaura

BONN (IDN) – The world's 48 poorest countries that are particularly vulnerable to climate change are profoundly concerned whether "substantive progress" will be made in the months ahead on implementing the 2015 Paris Climate Change Agreement in all its aspects.

This was emphasised by Chair of the Least Developed Countries (LDC) group, Gebru Jember Endalew of Ethiopia, as delegates from 140 countries closed the two-week session of the United Nations climate change negotiations on May 18 in Bonn.

The LDCs are a group of countries that have been classified by the UN as "least developed" in terms of their low gross national income (GNI), their weak human assets and their high degree of economic vulnerability.