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Ben Guerir – U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen spoke about the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) at a conference at the Mohamed VI Polytechnic University in Ben Guerir (UM6P) on October 10, on the sidelines of the ongoing IMF and World Bank annual meetings in Marrakech.
Yellen praised UM6P’s “beautiful” campus, noting that the campus’ facilities demonstrate a commitment to attaining environmental sustainability and promoting educational outcomes.
According to the senior American official, one of the main objectives of multilateral participation is to uplift the most vulnerable and impoverished people in order to provide the environment for everyone to live in prosperity and peace for many generations to come.
“There has been some progress on the Sustainable Development Goals over the past decades, such as a substantial decrease in child mortality,” Yellen said.
UM6P’s President Hicham El Habti’s opening speech
She however pointed out some disadvantages, saying: “But progress on too many other targets has been slow, stalled, or even reversed,” explaining that this is because of universal problems that no country can resolve on its own.
As an example, she cited the flooding in Pakistan last year, which impacted more than 30 million people and caused economic losses of more than $30 billion, or about a tenth of Pakistan’ s gross domestic product.
Read also: Earthquake: US Treasury Secretary Trusts World Bank, IMF, Morocco to Adjust Annual Meetings
She also cited the drought in Somalia, which resulted in the deaths of over 3 million animals and nearly 40,000 humans.
Because they often hit people and countries hardest who lack the resources to plan or rebuild, she argued, these shocks jeopardize national economies and people’s aspirations for the future.
The good news, said the secretary, is that “we have tools at our disposal to realize new opportunities.”
Attending audience at Janet Yellen’s remarks
These instruments include the International Monetary Fund, debt architecture, multilateral development banks, and other domestic and private resources that can be deployed to create a strong international framework.
Yellen went on to say that this architecture has evolved over time to meet new challenges, and that it must do so again to address the pressing global issues of our day.
She recalled advocating for the multilateral development banks’ evolution at last year’s Annual Meetings, noting that enormous progress has been made a year later.
“We’re positioning the International Monetary Fund to continue fulfilling its own critical mandate, and we’re pushing to make the debt architecture work better and faster,” she concluded.
