Remarks of President of the Republic of Indonesia at the Opening of Indonesia’s SDGs Annual Conference 2020, 17 December 2020, from the Bogor Presidential Palace, West Java province

Bismillahirrahmanirrahim.

Assalamu’alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh,

May prosperity be upon us all,

Om Swastiastu,

Namo Buddhaya,

Greetings of Virtue.

Distinguished Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations (UN) and Executive Secretary of the UN ESCAP (Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific), Vice President for Knowledge Management and Sustainable Development Asian Development Bank (ADB);
Distinguished Ministers of the Indonesia Onward Cabinet, High-Ranking Officials and Chairperson of the Committee for Inter-parliamentary Cooperation (BKSAP);
Excellencies Ambassadors of Friendly Countries;
Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen.

All this time, we have worked hard to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) target. The SDGs target is fully in line with the Government’s policy priorities, namely realizing an inclusive and sustainable development to provide equitable welfare for all Indonesian people.

Today, the challenges to achieve the SDGs target are getting tougher. The pandemic has resulted in health and economic crises that worsened the achievements of our SDGs, not to mention the achievements of global SDGs. However, those challenges should not dampen our enthusiasm and should not lower our SDGs target. We have to find new ways. We have to find new breakthroughs so that we can take a leap in achieving the SDGs target.

Esteemed Guests,

There is no other way, innovation must continue. More effective and efficient ways must be developed, and maximum results must be fought for. I believe, we master the science and technology that we can adopt. Every researcher, every academic, every educational institution must have their own merits. Every practitioner, be it in the government, civil society, or the private sector must have different experiences. We have to synergize the wealth of knowledge.

It takes seriousness to share and work together to achieve the set targets. It requires a clear agenda and targets in every forum like this. The national orchestration must be clear. It must be strong so that this sharing of knowledge can be sustainable and can produce concrete recommendations. Every idea must be spelled out in a clear and structured policy action.

I always instruct all government officials to always ask for input from experts. We must take advantage of the latest developments in science and technology. We must continue to innovate sustained by cutting-edge science and technology developments.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I warmly welcome this conference and I instruct Minister of National Development Planning (PPN) / Head of the National Development Planning Agency (Bappenas) to prepare a sustainable national orchestration so that the use of science and technology could be maximized in policy formulation and implementation of government programs, including speeding up the achievement of SDGs targets.

I look forward to your concrete recommendations to be used as a reference to speed up the achievement of the SDGs targets.

I thank you.

Wassalamu’alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh,

Om Santi Santi Santi Om,

Namo Buddhaya.

Translated by Syarifah Aisyah
Reviewed by Muhardi