Global Issues & ODA
Foreign Minister Taro Kono Attends the P4G Copenhagen Summit 2018
On the morning of October 20 (local time; the afternoon of the same day, Japan time), Mr. Taro Kono, Minister for Foreign Affairs, during his visit to Copenhagen, the Kingdom of Denmark, attended the P4G Copenhagen Summit 2018, which was hosted by H.E. Mr. Lars Løkke Rasmussen, Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Denmark, and gave a keynote address at Session 1, “Global Leadership for a Sustainable Future.” The overview is as follows.
- At the beginning, Minister Kono expressed gratitude for the support of the global community for realizing the complete, verifiable and irreversible dismantlement (CVID) of all weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missiles of all ranges by North Korea, along with advocating the importance of fully implementing the relevant United Nations Security Council (UNSC) resolutions.
- Furthermore, Minister Kono emphasized that Japan has been engaged in realizing a society in which “no one is left behind” since before the adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), based on the concept of “human security” in order to address the variety of complex, global issues after the Cold War. Minister Kono also expressed the view that the international community should not avert its eyes from harsh realities, and he advocated the need to seriously consider innovative financing approaches, including an International Solidarity Tax, in order to fill the gap in the finances that will be needed to realize the SDGs by 2030.
- Additionally, Minister Kono expressed Japan’s support for P4G, which was established in 2018 with the aim of strengthening public-private partnership, along with expressing respect for the initiative that the leaders of northern European countries, including Prime Minister Rasmussen, are demonstrating in order to promote the SDGs. Minister Kono once again expressed Japan’s determination to strengthen its cooperative relationship with P4G in order to accelerate concrete efforts to realize the SDGs, in the lead-up to the United Nations High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF) at the level of Heads and State and Government that will be held in New York in September next year.
- Session 1 also included remarks on specific measures for realizing a sustainable future from Prime Minister Rasmussen, H.E. Mr. Moon Jae-in, President of the Republic of Korea, H.E. Dr. Mulatu Teshome Wirtu, President of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, H.E. Mr. Nguyen Xuan Phuc, Prime Minister of the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam, H.E. Mr. Mark Rutte, Prime Minister of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, and other leaders.
[Reference] P4G Copenhagen Summit 2018
P4G (Partnering for Green Growth and the Global Goals 2030) is a network that was established in 2018 for the purpose of strengthening public-private partnership in order to realize green economic growth and the SDGs. This Summit was attended by the P4G partner countries, including Denmark, the Netherlands, Viet Nam, the ROK, Bangladesh and Ethiopia, as well as from the business community, including the World Economic Forum (WEF).