Guterres outlines strategy to reshape global finance

United Nations, Sep 19 (IANS) UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres stressed the role of the UN to help reshape "unproductive and unrewarding" finance and redirect investment to creating a better world for all.

"The choices we make on finance will be critical," Guterres told a special event held at the UN Headquarters in New York Monday on financing for global development goals as the high-level week of the UN General Assembly gets underway.

Guterres said that the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which was adopted by UN Member States in September 2015, are a blueprint for building an inclusive, sustainable fair globalization, Xinhua news agency reported.

"We can choose to bemoan the lack of financing for the 2030 Agenda in a world awash with so much unproductive and unrewarding finance. Or we can grasp the opportunity to reshape finance, according to our urgent, collective needs," he said. "The choice is clear. Let us invest in the 2030 Agenda and finance a better world for all."

The UN's three-part strategy for enhancing its support to financing the 2030 Agenda would help achieve short- and medium-term results, he said.

The Secretary-General said that he will lead UN efforts to ensure that the objectives of the 2030 Agenda are fully reflected in international economic and financial policies by working closely with key inter-governmental platforms, such as the G20.

Second, he will reform the UN development system to strengthen its country teams, and third, he will champion key international initiatives that can harness large-scale changes in financing and financial system development, such as in the fields of digitalization and climate finance and in cooperating with major investment initiatives.