Prime Minister Hon. James Marape will be presenting, via video, Papua New Guinea’s second Voluntary National Review on Sustainable Development Goals to the United Nations High Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development in July 2025 in New York.
In his message, the Prime Minister will highlight the importance of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) National Voluntary Review (VNR) as a national stocktake and a call to action for the remaining five years.
Prime Minister Marape stated that the presentation of the second VRN by Papua New Guinea reaffirms Papua New Guinea’s commitment to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
He added that the National Voluntary Report will shine the spotlight on what has worked, where the gaps remain, and what must be done between now and 2030 and beyond.
The Prime Minister has urged the Department of National Planning and Monitoring to also promote in the VNR the fact that in a country as ethnically and culturally diverse as PNG, it is an achievement that our democracy is still intact, even during and after the Bougainville crisis.
Prime Minister Marape stated that Papua New Guinea was one of 193 UN-member nations to unanimously adopt the 2030 Agenda in 2015 and started implementation in 2016. This agenda consists of 17 SDGs, 169 targets, and over 240 indicators covering economic growth, social inclusion, and environmental sustainability.
He said the National Government has taken deliberate steps to localise the global SDGs through broad-based consultations with sector agencies, provinces, civil society, the private sector, and development partners.
The Prime Minister added that Papua New Guinea has customised 279 SDG indicators to align with PNG’s development priorities – one of them being the support to Papua New Guineans to create agricultural businesses for themselves.
He further added that of the 279 SDG indicators, 46 were integrated into the Medium-Term Development Plan III (2018 – 2022), and 84 are embedded in the Medium-Term Development Plan IV (2023 – 2027).
Prime Minister Marape also expressed his appreciation of the United Nations Secretary General Anthony Guterres’ planned visit to Papua New Guinea to celebrate PNG’s 50th anniversary prior to 16 September due to the UN General Assembly happening in the same month.