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Rosen Plevneliev at the ‘Rio +20’ Conference: Sustainable economic growth is attainable only in agreement with future generations

Bulgaria believes that economic growth should not be achieved at the expense of future generations, President Rosen Plevneliev said in his speech today to participants in the “Rio+20” UN Conference on Sustainable Development. The President addressed the participants at the third plenary session of the Forum, held in Rio de Janeiro. Bulgaria has a very low public debt of 16 per cent of GDP and is the only European country to have had its credit rating raised during the crisis. This is the result is a culture of stability and fiscal discipline by a series of Bulgarian governments, the President said. Addressing delegates, Plevneliev Plevneliev outlined the main prerequisites for achieving global sustainable economic growth, which at the same time must ensure progress and environmental protection.

President Plevneliev announced that Bulgaria welcomes the proposal for adoption of the UN Sustainable Development Goals, to build on the outcome of the Millennium Development Goals. “We need clear, tangible results generated based on pre-set operational objectives and actions to be performed internationally and nationally in the agreed terms,” the President said. He recalled that since 1992, political commitments to sustainable development have been constantly renewed, but many of the strategies and action plans remain only on paper. There is a coherent development framework for the period after 2015, but the new criteria should be developed at all levels - local, national and global. Bulgaria supports an improved and more effective UN role in co-ordinating, monitoring and reviewing of targets, President Plevneliev said, and emphasised the need to improve the existing institutional framework.

He called for “urgent policy changes, economic models, social behavior and even lifestyles”. This would be possible only if each country undertakes concrete commitments and undertake concrete actions and contributes according to its abilities. For this purpose, governments should create the necessary regulatory and implementation framework. President Plevneliev highlighted the role of the private and NGO sector in being actively involved in fulfilling the objectives of sustainable development.

Young people should participate in decisions related to the long-term commitments, and the principle of ‘grow now, clean later’ does not apply to Bulgaria, President Plevneliev underlined.