15 July 2020
July 14th, on the platform of the high-level political forum on Sustainable Development of the United Nations, the Russian Minister of Economic Development M.Reshetnikov presented the first Voluntary National Review of the Russian Federation's achievements as regards the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
The review considers the progress made in the economic, social and environmental spheres towards fulfilling the seventeen Sustainable Development Goals. All UN member states committed to the targets in 2015 and agreed to submit voluntary reviews of the progress made during the first five years. Sustainable development implies meeting people’s current needs all the while ensuring a sustainable future for all.
The Minister presented the results of a comprehensive monitoring of socio-economic development, the country’s strategic planning since 2015 and the measures taken to tackle the consequences of the recent pandemic. Data is collected for each of the seventeen goals and the main trends in state policy and international cooperation are analysed. The contribution of Russian business to sustainable development was also considered and over 40 case studies of Russian companies and NGOs were presented.
The SDGs replace the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which started a global effort in 2000 to tackle the indignity of poverty. The MDGs established measurable, universally agreed objectives for tackling extreme poverty and hunger, preventing deadly diseases, and expanding primary education to all children, among other development priorities. The SDGs were adopted by all UN member states at the 70th anniversary UN General Assembly and entered into force in 2016.
The Russian review was put together by the Analytical Center of the Russian Government, the Russian Ministry of Economic Development, the Russian Foreign Ministry, Rosstat and other organizations, with the support of the UN Association of Russia and the UN Information Center in Moscow.
A lot of joint activities were carried out between September 2019 and June 2020 by the UN Association of Russia’s Commission on Sustainable Development and Environment. Over 200 experts contributed to the work including the Department of Integrated International Ecological Problems and Wildlife Management and the UNESCO Department of MGIMO.
The UN Association of Russia has been actively involved in sustainable development for several decades. One of the successfully implemented projects of the organization since 2009 is the Report "Russian Regions and the UN Sustainable Development Goals", which provides an overview of the achievements of different Russian regions in meeting the SDGs. Thus, in 2018, the presentation of the Report on the Economic and Social Achievements of Moscow and the Sverdlovsk Region unfolded at the UN headquarters in New York. On November 27th, 2019, the Report on SDG Achievements of the Republic of Tatarstan was presented at the Palais des Nations in Geneva, as well as on February 3rd, 2020 at the UN headquarters in New York at the meeting of the President of the Republic of Tatarstan Rustam Minnikhanov with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. UN sustainable development activities were described in more detail by the Deputy Chairman of the UN Association of Russia, the Vice-President of the World Federation of UN Associations A.Borisov during an interview.
