Mr Louis Kuukpen
Assistant Country Director of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Mr Louis Kuukpen, has stated that government does not have the financial muscles to implement the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) alone.
He has, therefore, called for increased support and partnership from all stakeholders in order to eke out the maximum support that would help in the attainment of SDGs.
“The level of funding needed for the implementation of the SDGs surpasses government’s capacity given the volumes of resources required. There is thus the need for increased partnership and for all sectors to get involved,” he added.
Mr Kuukpen disclosed this at the Ghana Finance Summit held in Accra on Thursday.
The summit was organised by Precise Communication in collaboration with Forum Africa, Ark Events Ghana and GEN Ghana with financial support from other partners including the UNDP.
It had the theme: “Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals through iInnovative financing.”
It was attended by financial and business leaders who shared ideas, discussed the latest market developments and financial trends in Ghana.
The Assistant Director urged the need for greater commitment across all sectors and industries to strengthen and revitalise the global partnership for sustainable development emphasised by the SDG17.
Quoting statistics from the United Nations conference on Trade and Development, he explained that an annual investment of between $5trillion and $7trillion was required globally for the achievement of the SDGs by the end of 2030.
“As the SDGs emphasise localised implementation, there is the obvious need to engineer partnerships with the private sector and philanthropy locally. We need at this moment to explore all innovative instrument being domestic or foreign such as blended finance, development impact bonds, green bonds, trust bonds, challenge funds, guarantees, impact investment and many more,” he stated.
According to him, mobilising more domestic resources towards the attainment of the SDGs would require the financial sector to have a sound and stable financial system to improve public confidence as well as good corporate governance through the strengthening of the sectors institutional efficiency and effectiveness.
Mr Kuukpen added that; “For us as a country to ensure that no one is left behind in the achievement of SDGs, we must ensure that every Cedi counts and this will require accountability, transparency as well as targeted and equitable allocation of resources.”
On his part, the Head of the SDG Advisory Unit at the office of the President, Dr Eugene Owusu also called on all stakeholders to join hands with the government to push the SDGs.
He entreated the youth to come up with creative and innovative ideas to facilitate the implementation of the global goals, stressing that “The youth represent both today and the future. The youth’s creativity and innovation can help in the implementation of the SDGs.”
By Cliff Ekuful
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