Sri Lanka’s progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) came under review on Thursday at an SDG Flag Day event hosted by the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Colombo, the Daily Mirror reported.
UN Resident Coordinator Marc-André Franche said the goals gave governments, civil society, the private sector and international partners a common framework for tracking progress and planning beyond electoral cycles.
“When multilateralism is under threat, a shared framework like the Sustainable Development Goals matters more, not less.”
Franche said the framework also helped connect domestic effort with international support at a time when Sri Lanka’s fiscal space remains constrained — a pointed observation in a year when the government’s capacity to fund development has been bounded by its IMF programme.
The ceremony
The SDG flag was hoisted jointly by:
- Wiebe de Boer, Ambassador of the Netherlands
- Marc-André Franche, UN Resident Coordinator
- Dr. Nandika Sanath Kumanayake, Chairman of the Sustainable Development Council of Sri Lanka and Secretary to the President
Ambassador de Boer said the flag-raising was meant to underline the importance of sustaining effort towards the 2030 deadline, noting that SDG flags are raised in many countries at government buildings, companies, educational institutions, libraries and municipalities.
A discussion involving the diplomatic community and civil society representatives followed, covering achievements to date, remaining challenges and opportunities to accelerate implementation.
The 2030 Agenda was adopted by all 193 UN member states in September 2015, setting 17 goals to be met by 2030. With roughly four years left, the report does not give a figure for how many of the 17 Sri Lanka is on track to meet.
Franche has been visible across several files this month, including comments on the legislative process around the 22nd Amendment and UN support for Ditwah resettlement.
