The UN Agenda 2030 and SDGs opens a new era for a repositioned ACP Group to continue and deepen its decisive role in supporting all ACP member states to achieve the 17 SDGs as the basis for the Sustainable Development of their societies and our only home we have for humanity.

The basis and raison d'étre of the ACP is development and this implies "ending poverty in all its forms everywhere" (SDG #1). The unity and solidarity on which the ACP is founded provides a unifying force in adopting measures to end poverty.

While universal in ambition and intention, there are specific demands, interests and stages of development of the 79 member states of the ACP; and their organisation into Regional Economic Communities (RECs) and Regional Integration Organisations (RIOs) also warrant attention by development activities and through political dialogue and advocacy from the national to regional, continental and global levels. At each level, actions taken by programmes or projects and policy debates are grounded in the principle that poverty eradication can only be achieved by structural transformation of ACP countries’ economies.

This entails how the productive resources of society are organised (an agriculture sector and food security – SDG 2) with the benefit of investment capital to move up commodity or mineral value chains enabling income and jobs to be created in sectors that historically relied mainly on exports of primary products. In this way, the productive sectors are oriented to generate income for individuals and the State so that social services are improved.

As a corollary, healthy lives (SDG3) are necessary for productivity in the economy and this requires inclusive and equitable quality education that promotes life-long learning opportunities (SDG 4). These activities are related to economic growth, full employment and decent jobs (SDG 8) from which better social services can be provided. But in these and related activities a cross-cutting theme has to be “gender equality” (SDG5).

To address specific SDGs it is helpful to align those on the social aspects of sustainable development, as for instance, SDG 2 on ending hunger, achieving food security and improved nutrition, with SDG 3 to ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages. None of this economic transformation can take place without the attention to the heavy investment in affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy (SDG 7) that relies on a resilient infrastructure to promote sustainable industrialisation in the driving force has to be innovation (SDG 9).

In the wider context of the political structure and governance institutions there is concern about inequality among and between countries (SDG 10) as well as reducing the drift from rural areas to the cities with the enormous degradation of cities (SDG 11) and the underlying macro-level need for peaceful and inclusive societies providing “access to justice” (SDG 16).

The above illustrations on the interdependence of social and productive sectors need to be situated in what should not be treated narrowly as “environmental“ concerns but rather underpin the overarching framework “to combat climate change and its impacts” (SDG 13). The fulfilment of this is based on the endorsement and on-going implementation of the UNFCCC of the 2015 Paris Agreement by the Conference of Parties (COP 21). To this must be added sustainably use oceans and seas and terrestrial ecosystems (SDG 14 & 15).