17 Sustainable Development Goals Agreed on at UN Conference

Over 100 countries have agreed to fund a wide range of development projects related environmental issues, eradication of poverty, and others by 2030. But they have not granted adequate powers to an international tax body to force giant firms in developing countries to pay more tax.

The agreement, which was signed in Ethiopia, presented ways in which developing countries can implement 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through the mobilization of domestic resources such as private investment, taxes, and foreign assistance. In September, the UN General Assembly is scheduled to endorse these SDGs, which will be used instead of the eight Millennium Development Goals that were being implemented for the last 15 years.

Analysts say that meeting the SDGs will cost anywhere in the range of $3.3 trillion to $4.5 trillion per year in investment, spending, and aid. Speaking after talks held in Addis Ababa, Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary general, said:

This agreement is a critical step forward in building a sustainable future for all. It provides a global framework for financing sustainable development.

At the conference, the richest countries of the world once again committed to contributing an aid of 0.7% of their gross national income, but no extra aid pledges were made.

The discussions mostly revolved around helping developing countries use their domestic resources, improve tax collection, crack down on tax evasion, prevent illegal financial flows, and increase revenue. According to an estimate by Global Financial Integrity (GFI), a policy research group, illegal finance flows owing to crime, tax evasion, and corruption leaves developing nations poorer by $1 trillion every year.

The conference however could not endorse the G77 coalition’s proposal that a UN tax committee should be given adequate powers to pressurize multinational companies to pay extra taxes in poor countries. Martin Hojsik, an ActionAid tax campaigner, said:

The decision is an appalling failure and a great blow to the fight against poverty and injustice. Developing countries, which are losing billions of dollars a year to tax dodging, are not being given an equal say in fixing unjust global tax rules.

Wealthy countries say that poor nations should improve their ability to collect taxes and increase revenue. Jacob Lew, the US treasury secretary, said that poor nations are being included in activities that will create

a better set of rules … ranging from making sure that legal avoidance of taxes is more difficult and illegal avoidance of taxes is clamped down.