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Rich nations must increase overseas aid budgets: Zuma
September 28, 2015, 5:24 am

South African President Jacob Zuma at the UNGA on 27 September 2015 [Xinhua]

South African President Jacob Zuma at the UNGA on 27 September 2015 [Xinhua]

The new global goals adopted by the UN are aligned to South Africa’s National Development Plan as well as to the African Union’s Agenda 2063, said South African President Jacob Zuma in his UNGA address on Sunday.

The 17 global goals that will provide the blueprint for the world’s development over the next 15 years was ratified by the UN in New York on Friday.

“The outcome document represents a victory for developing countries as it affirms that the 2030 Agenda should build on the unfinished business of the Millennium Development Goals,” said Zuma.

As leaders begin to seek the trillions of dollars needed to realise this ambitious agenda – which aims to tackle poverty, climate change and inequality- the South African President said Pretoria is “particularly pleased that the 2030 Agenda contains a stand-alone goal on the means of implementation”.

“This is to ensure that adequate attention is placed on the achievement of the goals. Events in the recent past have demonstrated that the countries of the developed North cannot insulate themselves from the challenges facing countries of the developing South,” Zuma said.

Countries where poverty is still entrenched, governments lacked the kind of revenue needed to turn the SDGs into reality. Aid was still key. Zuma’s speech pointed to this.

“We call on the Development Partners to not only meet their current commitments, but also to upscale Overseas Development Assistance, with binding timetables, including the reaffirmation that ODA remains the main source of development assistance for many developing countries,” he added.

Official development aid (ODA) from the 28 member countries of the OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC) was stable in 2014, after hitting an all-time high in 2013, but aid to the poorest countries continued to fall, according to the DAC.

Like its other BRICS partners, South Africa is also struggling with deepening inequality.

A 2015 report by New World Wealth, a South African market research firm, reveal a growing divide between rich and poor in post-apartheid South Africa.

South Africa is home to the highest number of millionaires on the continent at 46,800 in 2014.

Just over 27-million people – about half of South Africa- live below the poverty line, according to StatsSA figures released in February.

 

TBP