PM John Briceño Addresses UN During 2023 SDG Summit

Prime Minister John Briceño

The United Nations is at the half-way point in a deadline to achieve the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals Agenda. And, the general consensus is that stagnating progress in numerous countries is putting the SDGs in peril. World leaders are now meeting to determine the way forward for the next fifteen years. Prime Minister John Briceño left the country last week to attend the summit. He gave an address this afternoon during the Leaders’ Dialogue. Here is what he had to say about Belize’s progress.

Prime Minister John Briceño

“While ongoing crises are deterring our efforts, systemic in inequities at global levels have long been undermining our aspirations. Today I reaffirm Belize’s unwavering commitment to achieving the SDGs. These goal remain the only ambitious, universal blue print to achieve an equitable and sustainable future for all. The highest priority for my government is reducing poverty. Belize commits to reducing poverty by fifty percent by 2030 in alignment with the fundamental principle of leaving no one behind.  We are committed to redoubling our actions to build resilience and ensure that everyone wins by implementing a national energy policy, the national land use police, develop a comprehensive industrial strategy that integrates green and blue industrial policy, achieve protection of thirty percent of the marine space by 2026, including protection of twenty percent of the coral reef, implement our national blue economic policy. We further commit to reducing land degradation through our land restoration strategy, mitigate biodiversity loss via the national biodiversity strategy, implement integrated water resource management approaches and foster agro-forestry systems.”