Remarks at the Closing of the Intergovernmental Negotiations on the Post-2015 Development Agenda
Tony Pipa
U.S. Special Coordinator for the Post-2015 Development Agenda, Bureau of International Organization Affairs
New York City
August 2, 2015
Thank you, Mr. Co-Facilitator, and we welcome the presence of Chef de Cabinet Malcorra and Assistant Secretary-General Mohammed.
Mr. Co-Facilitators, we deeply appreciate and applaud your leadership, guidance, and herding skills, as well as the unbelievable perseverance and excellent work of your teams. We salute the tremendous job you have both done to get us to this historic moment. We also thank, and applaud, the constructive goodwill and cooperative spirit, the hard work and determination, and the passion demonstrated by all delegations and outside stakeholders throughout this transparent and inclusive process.
We are pleased to join consensus on this visionary, transformative and ambitious agenda. Like any effort such as this, we recognize that it represents a fine political balance and includes compromises – and like others, we think there are things in this document that can be improved.
At a later date, we will provide additional views on the text. Today, we wish only to say to all gathered here: well done and thank you, and congratulations. The ambition reflected in this outcome and the conclusion of these deliberations reaffirms the transformative nature of the multilateral system, and underscores the power of what is possible through collective endeavor.
My wife sent me a picture this morning of my daughter – like probably a few of you in the room, I too have missed the beginning of my vacation, so she wanted me at least to have a moment. For some reason the picture reminded me of her actual birth.
Now, at moments like these, it’s a cliché to talk about births. But there’s a reason it’s a cliché. It’s because it fits.
We have – actually, we are – giving birth to something momentous, a global commitment to a different kind of future – one without extreme poverty, one where we live together sustainably, and in peace.
It is a commitment that ensures any girl or any boy born today, in any place on this planet, is a birth and an entrance into a world full of hope: that her or his life will be free of poverty and hunger; full of opportunity and prosperity; free of violence and discrimination; and lived in harmony with the planet.
All of that language, by the way, is somewhere in this outcome document.
This delegation has been privileged to have worked with all of you to bring this document to life, with all your delegations, and with both of you, Mr. Co-Facilitators, and we are impressed with the wide-ranging vision of sustainable development and collective action that it represents.
The United States is pleased to join this consensus and stands ready to adopt this agenda. We look forward to working collectively and in partnership with others and all of you here to put it into action. Thank you.