Statement by H.E. Amb. Asoke K Mukerji, Permanent Representative,  at the 3rd Structured Dialogue on 'Possible arrangements for a facilitation mechanism to promote the development, transfer and dissemination of clean and environmentally sound technologies', June 4, 2014

 

Excellency Co-Moderators,

Thank you for giving me the floor and the opportunity for sharing some comments and suggestions.

At the outset, let me commend you on your excellent leadership of the process thus far.

Let me also congratulate the presenters for their insightful presentations today.

Let me convey our thanks in particular to Prof. Ambuj Sagar for sharing the recommendations of the joint study on possible functions and modalities of a technology facilitation mechanism.

Mr. Co-Moderator,

I would like to begin by reminding ourselves that the objective of these dialogues, as affirmed by GA Resolution 68/210, is to identify Possible Arrangements for a Facilitation Mechanism to promote the development, transfer and dissemination of technologies  . We must remain faithful to this mandate.

In this 3^rd Dialogue, our effort must be to build on the discussions and outcomes of the first two Dialogues held in April this year.

During those two days, several important ideas were presented and many suggestions were made, including by the Indian delegation.

Several of those ideas and suggestions have been well captured in the Co-Moderators Notes which serve as an excellent basis to move these discussions forward.

We look forward to participating constructively and will try and be as specific and concrete in our suggestions as possible.

Mr. Co-Moderator,

The foremost challenge that developing countries face in eradicating poverty and promoting sustainable development is the urgent need for the early and adequate provision of key services ’energy, water, food, health, and sanitation ’ to their people.

To meet these challenges, it is imperative to have a supportive international regime and structured global cooperation facilitating accelerated deployment and transfer of appropriate technologies.

While investment in environmentally friendly technologies has grown globally and there exist many technology related international cooperation arrangements, within as well as outside UN system, their experience and impact has been scattered and limited and not commensurate with the scale of transformation needed to achieve sustainable development.

Moreover, the flow of support from developed countries to developing countries enabling rapid adaptation and penetration of relevant technologies has fallen short of what is needed to meet the global environmental and sustainability objectives.

This dynamic needs to change. And the proposed Technology Facilitation Mechanism can play a central role in this regard.

Mr. Co-Moderator,

We agree with you that a discussion on the possible functions of the proposed Facilitation Mechanism would help us focus on the appropriate structure and modalities of the Mechanism.

In fact, during the previous Dialogues, we had proposed a set of framing questions which could assist us in moving this debate forward in a structured manner.

One of the questions we had suggested we answer collectively was What will the TFM do? What would be its core functions?  

Several important suggestions were made in this regard by member states and also by our panelists.

In fact, the PGA in his closing summary to the 2^nd Dialogue noted that to avoid fragmentations of efforts, which was uniformly acknowledged as a key impediment to greater international cooperation, coordination of efforts and monitoring of existing initiatives could be useful functions to be performed by the TFM.

Several other possible functions have been enumerated by you in your Notes, which we fully support.

Mr. Co-Moderator,

The main purpose of the proposed Technology Facilitation Mechanism (TFM) must be to assist developing countries in bridging gaps by supporting coordinated actions on technology choices, technology adaptation needs, technology policy roadmap, structuring of policy, financing and business model framework for at-scale implementation, and human and institutional capacity strengthening to support these actions.

Accordingly, for attaining sustainable development objectives, the proposed TFM should enable and assist developing countries with the following:

(a)              identification of appropriate technologies to scale-up efforts and accelerate sustainable development objectives

(b)              identification of specific international cooperation needs, including piloting of business models, technology adaptation etc

(c)               support collaborative R&D projects

(d)              support early demonstration projects

(e)              support policy adoption and sharing of best practices for coordinated technology-financing business model implementation

(f)                possible establishment of counterpart national agencies to coordinate technological, financing and institutional requirements, and

(g)              human and institutional capacity building

Mr. Co-Moderator,

We had made several suggestions in the previous Dialogue also on the possible structure and modalities of the TFM.

I would refrain from repeating those suggestions. Several other useful ideas have been shared by others as well. We are willing to listen and work with other delegations to find optimal solutions.

Suffice it to say that there is no dearth of ideas.

What is really required is political will to translate these ideas into action.

We look forward to constructive discussions in this Dialogue with the aim of moving this debate to a meaningful and concrete outcome.

I thank you.

 

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