General News of Thursday, 6 December 2018
Source: www.ghananewsagency.org
2018-12-06
Dr Eugene Owusu, the Special Advisor to the President on SDGs
Dr Eugene Owusu, the Special Advisor to the President on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), Wednesday, said Ghana would leverage the benefits of the SDGs accelerate its agenda to grow the economy for the prosperity of all citizens.
They also presented the greatest opportunity to create the desired world: a world free of poverty, hunger, and where everybody would have access to equal opportunity of quality education and a decent job.
Dr Owusu was speaking at the First Accra SDGs Investment Fair, organised jointly by the Ministry of Finance, the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre and his Unit.
Dr Owusu said the world deserved nothing more than what the SDGs had spelt out, and for Ghana, they were even more critical following the extension of the term of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo as the co-Chair of the United Nation’s Advocates Group of Eminent Personalities on the SDGs.
They were also very key for achieving the collective national vision set in the Consolidated Programme on Economic Special Development Policy.
“This aims at achieving an optimistic self-confident and prosperous nation, through the creative exploitation of our human and natural resources, and operating with a democratic, open and fair society, in which mutual trust and economic opportunities exist for all”.
Dr Owusu, however, said three years after the adoption of the SDGs, one of the greatest challenges to their implementation had been finance, explaining that globally, it was estimated that the world needed about three to four trillion dollars investments in them.
The private sector, he said, must, therefore, see the value proposition of their businesses within the SDGs and support.
For his part, Professor George Yaw Gyan Baffour, the Minister for Planning, said Government’s commitment to the attainment of the goals was non-negotiable as it was keen to ensure the advancement of the country.
He said the Government had put in place a number of measures to ensure that the requisite revenue was mobilised to support their successful implementation.
Prof Gyan Baffour said the funds needed to achieve the SDGs were to be retrieved within the country, which warranted the need to block all revenue leakages.
Hence, he said, such initiatives such as the digitalisation agenda of the government involving the GhanaPost GPS, Paperless Port system, the National Identification System as well as intensifying efforts to broaden the tax base and to increase domestic resources mobilisation.
Prof Gyan Baffour also called for partnerships from the private sector to support the attainment of the goals.
He said: “Without the support of private sector, government’s effort will yield little results”, adding there was a compelling need for the private sector to join towards the implementation of the SDG agenda.