ODA Topics 4

Promotion of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
– Japan’s Efforts at the Midpoint Year toward Achieving the SDGs –

Prime Minister Kishida delivering a statement at the SDG Summit 2023 (Photo: Cabinet Public Relations Office)

The international community is at history’s turning point and facing compound crises. These include poverty and disparity, war and conflict, terrorism, refugees and displaced persons, infectious diseases, natural disasters, climate change, and environmental issues.

The spread of COVID-19, Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, and the escalating tension in the situation between Israel and Palestine, among others, reiterate that these global issues closely link to interrelated and compound risks of food and energy security and hit vulnerable people harder, threatening their human security.

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs),Note 1 adopted by the UN in September 2015, are the agenda for the entire international community to tackle global issues in an integrated manner, including peace, the rule of law, and human rights, leaving no one behind. Japan, as a peace-loving nation and a responsible major power, is in a position to lead international cooperation, including for the SDGs, based on the concept of “human security.” In line with these views, Japan will continue to work to address and prevent interrelated and compound risks and contribute to the achievement of the SDGs by the international community.

Achieving the SDGs requires cooperation within the international community beyond the conventional concept of developed and developing countries. It also requires action not only by governments and development agencies, but by all stakeholders, including private companies, local public entities, research institutions, civil society, and individuals. The Government of Japan provides multifaceted support by linking various initiatives using ODA as a catalyst and taking a deep approach so that the entire international community, including developing countries, can achieve the SDGs.

The Government of Japan actively works on achieving the SDGs both in Japan and abroad. It established the SDGs Promotion Headquarters, with the Prime Minister as its head and all the Cabinet Ministers as its members, and formulated the “SDGs Implementation Guiding Principles,” which sets the direction for the promotion of the SDGs.

While 2023 marked the “midpoint” toward achieving the SDGs by 2030, their achievement is in jeopardy as the international community faces compound crises. Amid such a difficult situation, at the “Summit for a New Global Financing Pact” held in June 2023, then Foreign Minister Hayashi emphasized the importance of three forms of solidarity: “solidarity with the private sector,” “solidarity in financing,” and “solidarity for ownership.” At the SDG SummitNote 2 in September, Prime Minister Kishida reiterated that, with the international community facing various challenges, now is the time to return to the starting point of the SDGs: the promise to “Leave No One Behind.” He then emphasized that “human security,” which Japan has consistently advocated, is a key to achieving the SDGs based on “human dignity,” expressing Japan’s determination to strongly lead the international community’s efforts to achieve the SDGs and thereby open the way to the future. Additionally, in December, Japan revised the “SDGs Implementation Guiding Principles” to better align them with the challenges of the new era. Based on the revised new Implementation Guiding Principles, Japan will continue to work toward achieving the SDGs with the international community as a whole, while strengthening collaboration with various domestic and international actors.

Note 1: See the glossary.

Note 2: The SDG Summit is held every four years under the auspices of the UN General Assembly with the aim of accelerating the implementation of the SDGs. In 2023, it was convened on September 18 and 19, and Prime Minister Kishida participated in the Leader’s Dialogue “Unity and Solidarity” on September 19.