President Erdoğan attends Sustainable Development Goals summit
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan attended Leaders Dialogue 1 – Megatrends Impacting the Achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) as part of the SDG Summit in New York.
Making a speech at the summit, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan underlined that Turkey has been building its local and international policies on the principle of “leaving no one behind” since the adoption of the Agenda 2030 and noted that only this way can the goals of eliminating poverty, hunger and inequality and of providing education and healthcare services to all be achieved.
“LACK OF COMPASSION AND EMPATHY UNDERLIES MANY OF THE PROBLEMS EXPERIENCED TODAY”
Stressing the importance of caring about the needs of the least developed countries and vulnerable groups such refugees, President Erdoğan said: “It is lack of compassion and empathy, not the insufficiency of material resources, that underlies many of the problems experienced in the world today.” Stating that Turkey is the country that hosts the largest number of refugees in the world, President Erdoğan said Turkey has spent $40 billion for the refugees that have taken refuge in Turkey, with 3.6 million of them still living in the country.
Drawing attention to Turkey’s ongoing diplomatic efforts for the preservation of tranquility in Idlib, President Erdoğan said: “We have been revitalizing the schools, hospitals and infrastructure and superstructure in the regions across Syria that we have cleared of terrorists. We are now getting prepared to clear east of the Euphrates of terrorists with the same goal. Our goal is to make sure that both the Syrians living in our country and our Syrian brothers and sisters residing in the areas we have rendered secure inside Syria grow up as individuals that would contribute to the reconstruction of Syria following the restoration of lasting peace. We expect all of you to support these efforts Turkey exerts for the good of entire humanity.”
“ALL MUST BENEFIT FROM THE DRASTIC CHANGES TECHNOLOGICAL PROGRESS ENABLES IN EDUCATION, HEALTHCARE, FINANCE AND AGRICULTURE”
Highlighting the role regular migration plays in the maintenance of global labor market, President Erdoğan underscored the need to ensure that everybody benefits from the drastic changes technological progress enables in education, healthcare, finance and agriculture.
Referring to the Turkey-based UN Technology Bank as the first-ever sustainable development goal realized so far, President Erdoğan stated that Turkey has decided to provide $1 million in voluntary contribution to the Bank in addition to the $10 million it has previously committed.
