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The Permanent Representative of Romania to the UN attended the Civil Society Forum
On the 2 February 2016, the Permanent Representative of Romania to the UN, Ambassador Ion Jinga, addressed the participants to the Civil Society Forum, which was organized in New York by the NGO Committee for Social Development, the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung Office in New York and the UN Department for Economic and Social Affairs.
The Romanian Ambassador delivered his speech during the plenary session, along with the UN UnderSecretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs, Mr. Wu Hongbo. On this occasion, Romania’s Permanent Representative reaffirmed the crucial role played by the civil society actors in achieving social development, and welcomed the exchange of views on inequalities, and the social dimension of the Agenda 2030.
As Chair of the 54th session of the Commission for Social Development (CSocD), which will begin its works on 3 February 2016, he encouraged the representatives of civil society to participate in an active manner to the works of the CSocD, as this is the first session of a functional commission of ECOSOC to take place after the adoption of the Agenda 2030.
Ambassador Ion Jinga has also emphasized the necessity of substantial partnerships with the civil society, on both national and international level, offering as an example the case of Romania: “Civil society actors are indispensable partners in promoting efficient social policies, in order to break down all types of barriers which keep vulnerable people from full social, economic and political participation in society. Policy makers may not often see the impact their policies have, but activists do, thus providing essential tools for monitoring and feed-back. In Romania, the authorities closely cooperate with the civil society on both national and international level. Citizens’ participation to the elaboration of the public policies was consecrated through the creation of the Ministry for Public Consultation and Civic Dialogue. From an international perspective, Romania supports the participation of the civil society in defining priorities at UN level, because through civil society we are able to hear the voices of millions of people worldwide. Cooperation between the State and the Civil Society has never been more important than it is now, as the Agenda 2030 can only be implemented if we act together. States and Civil Society can and must be partners in building the future we all want. Paraphrasing Rudyard Kipling, we may have millions of reasons to fail in building this partnership, but not a single excuse.”