Speech by HR/VP Mogherini at the Opening ceremony of the European Development Days 2016:
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Excellences, colleagues, friends,
Welcome to tenth edition of the European Development Days.
It is a great honour for me to welcome so many leaders from all around the world – first and foremost the Secretary General of the United Nations – thank you very much for joining us this morning-, the President of the World Bank, so many Heads of State and governments from Africa and the Pacific, leaders from Europe, and let me tell you, from the whole world.
This tenth edition has more guests than ever. But this is not just about leaders and institutions: in ten years, this event has gathered over 40 thousand participants, representatives of the civil society, NGOs, but also business people and firms. And this is what this event is all about: connecting. Connecting the whole development community – from Europe and from the world, inside our institutions and most of all in our societies. Because development is first and foremost about people and people’s lives.
This is a place for circulating ideas, and for discussing how to turn them into reality. This is even more important at this moment in time and history, with so many challenges ahead of us, and with new, ambitious Sustainable Development Goals to put into action.
There is a lot of fear and anxiety in our public opinion and also in our public debate today, in Europe and in several other parts of the world and that is more than understandable : conflicts, crises, inequalities, violence, and there is a good deal of uncertainty about the future. For the first time in our history, our European Union risks to move backwards rather than forward.
But I am not here to tell you how gloomy our perspectives are. We were sharing, with the Secretary General just now, that if you are not an optimist you cannot do this job. In fact, I would like to do the exact opposite with you this morning. Because wherever I go in so many countries, in and outside our European union, I can see that there is so much energy in our people, so many things going on and such a huge potential for growth and development.
Over the past ten years, Africa’s domestic product has more than doubled – and it is expected to double again in the next ten years. Since the beginning of this century, the number of extremely poor people in Latin America has been cut by half. You look at Asia and you see so many rising powers, creating wealth and innovation for millions of people.
As wealth grows, inequalities are also on the rise – all across the globe, including inside Europe. Together with inequality, instability has also soared – and the centres of conflict are indeed multiplying. Tens of millions are on the move, worldwide, fleeing from war zones or seeking the opportunity of a better life. The history of mankind, and let me be very clear on this, the history of Europe, is a history of migrations – but the scale and scope of the current phenomenon are totally unprecedented; and this is a global phenomenon we need to tackle together.
Greater challenges bring greater responsibilities for the international community. We have a duty to contain and face the threats. But we also have a duty – I would say a moral obligation – to unlock the world’s immense potential for growth and for sustainable development. Also because this is the most powerful way to prevent the future crisis, the next conflicts.
This is the reason why we need Agenda 2030 so strongly. This is why we needed the Sustainable Development Goals, and why Europe pushed so hard to get them approved. And, let me once again thank Secretary General Ban Ki-moon for his leadership, his dedication, his efforts to get the Agenda approved. Thank you Mr Secretary General.
You know you will always have Europe at your side in this and as we were determined to have the Agenda approved, we will work for its implementation with all our energies and determination.
Probably for the first time in human history, we are looking at our world as, finally, one world. We are finally starting to understand: if there has ever been an era when a country’s power and wealth could be achieved at the expenses of its neighbour, that era is gone. My neighbour’s prosperity is my own prosperity. Your problem is my problem. My neighbour’s stability is my own stability. And if anyone is left behind, we all fall back. It is one world. We are one.
This is an Agenda for all. It is global, it is for all countries, for all regions, all ethnic groups, all genders and all ages. It cares about our planet’s future, but it also understands that “tomorrow is today,” and it confronts “the fierce urgency of now.” It looks at the economy, but also at climate change, at social inclusion, at good governance and at peace and security. Because if we forget any of these issues, we fail on all the others. If we don’t make progress in any of these fields, we will hold back the world’s incredible potential.
Agenda 2030 shows us how to unlock such potential. When girls get the same education as boys; when women are paid the same as men for doing the same job – only then, will we unlock the world’s potential.
When young people can find a good job, and the opportunities they look for, when they can fully contribute to their community and be fully part of it, when they find their place, their role not in the future but in today’s society – this is how we unlock the world’s potential. And by the way it is how we prevent radicalisation in our societies.
When our economy contributes to fighting climate change, when we move towards a more circular model of consumption and we invest on renewable energy – we are also unlocking our potential for sustainable growth and innovation. This is about the world we’re leaving to our children; but for some of you who are here today, faced with the worrying rise of sea levels, this is also a matter of immediate survival. This is urgent.
When a country is stable and its justice works and is free from corruption; when its police and armed forces truly serve and protect its citizens and its democratic institutions; when there’s freedom of expression and civil society is granted its own space – only then business can prosper, create jobs, and unlock a country’s full potential.
This is the vision laid down by the SDGs. And the same vision will also be the foundation of our new Global Strategy for foreign and security policy of the European Union that I will present in a few weeks time. A Global Strategy, not just a security strategy as it used to be – because there is no real security without resilience, without growth, without democracy and human rights.
The ideals of Agenda 2030 are our European Union’s ideals. It is the vision of President Juncker, and of the entire Commission. We are already the first global aid donor. Together we provide more official development assistance than the rest of the world combined.
And yet, we cannot and we do not want as European Union settle for what we’ve achieved so far. In fact, we are turning upside down our approach to cooperation and development. With two very clear objectives in mind: first we need more investments and second we need more partnerships.
This European Commission is now working on a new and ambitious External Investment Plan, based on the experience of our Investment plan for Europe. Let me be totally frank on this. Public money are vital to foster growth, but they will never be enough. As we invest more, we must also invest better and together.
We need a new alliance among our governments, the global financial institutions and – crucially – the private sector. At times, a small increase in international trade or in foreign investments can have a greater impact on a country’s economy than many State-funded projects. And we know very well that Africa is looking for investments, and not only Africa. For this reason, we are working to get our business on board, to join forces, and to trigger extra public and private investments for up to €31 billion until 2020 – or even twice as much, if Member States will match the Commission’s contribution.
I believe our partners worldwide have already started to see the change. Today we don’t just ask what we can do for them, but what we can together with them. Yes, we have our own priorities as Europeans, but we know we can only do so in partnership with our friends in Africa, in Asia, in Latin America and everywhere else in the world. Only together can we find the right initiatives that can truly help our economies and our people. Only together can we make our cooperation truly meaningful for them.
And so I come back close to the meaning of these European Development Days. We need a real partnership between our Union and national governments, between Europe and whole world; we need the development, the climate and the security community, the private sector and the civil society all together because only together we will turn this agenda into concrete action and unleash our world’s great untapped potential.
So thank you all for being here and welcome to this tenth edition of the European development days. I wish us all great success.
