(New York, October 9, 2018)Liberia’s Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary and Permanent Representative to the United Nations has told the UN that Liberia is ready to forge quality regional and international partnerships for the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Addressing the Plenary Session of the UN Economic and Financial Committee commonly referred to as the Second (2^nd) Committee on Monday, October 8, Ambassador Dee-Maxwell Saah Kemayah, Sr. said the achievement of the SDGs would depend on both an enabling international environment for development, and domestic resource mobilization.

Ambassador Kemayah who tailored his statement around the theme of the 73^rd Session of the General Assembly: “Making the United Nations Relevant to All People: Global Leadership and Shared Responsibilities for Peaceful, Equitable and Sustainable Societies”, said the theme embodies the 2030 agenda and is a call to action to restore hope to the world. “For us, this mandates us to galvanize concerted efforts, to restore hope to the people of the world through our actions; and to consolidate these efforts to stamp out poverty, disease, hunger, and provide sustainable means of livelihood for us all. In the token, we are obliged to protect our vulnerable populations, preserve our environment, not just for ourselves, but for succeeding generations.” He emphasized.

According to a dispatch from Liberia’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations, Ambassador Kemayah informed the global body that nationally, a robust domestic resource mobilization strategy was being strengthened to include expanding Liberia’s internal revenue generation and collection. “We know our continued commitment to transparency and accountability in public financial management; as well as capacitating and strengthening national oversight institutions will be the measure of our resolve in driving these processes”, he said.

He also spoke of the Government’s  national development plan--the Pro-Poor Agenda for Prosperity and Development (PAPD) which overarching goals include, empowering the people through reducing developmental inequalities so that the people can prosper; stimulating economic stability and job creation through effective resource mobilization and prudent management of economic inclusion.

The chief Liberian diplomat at the United Nations however cautioned that while there was sufficient political will, Liberia lacked the available resources to achieve the full implementation of the SDGs, hence the need for partnership.  “…while we the Government of Liberia and People believe in ourselves to be sufficient in political will, we are insufficient in the available resources we so desperately need. We are therefore availing ourselves to the quality of partnerships, regionally and internationally, to assist us achieve the full implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Ambassador Kemayah also identified efforts to address infrastructure gaps and debt vulnerability as essential to the implementation of the SDGs and looks forward to Liberia’s participation in the upcoming meeting of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), which will focus on Infrastructure and Debt vulnerability in  developing countries; especially Least Developed Countries (LDCs).

The Second (2^nd) Committee commenced its main session for the seventy-third (73^rd) General Assembly last week, and is considering issues relating to economic growth and development such as macroeconomic policy questions; financing for development; sustainable development; human settlements; globalization and interdependence, and eradication of poverty among others.

The Committee is also considering issues relating to groups of countries in special situations such as the permanent sovereignty of the Palestinian people in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and of the Arab population in the occupied Syrian Golan over their natural resources.