Webinar for parliaments of the UNECE region

9 March 2021

The impact of COVID-19 on SDG implementation in the UN ECE region:

What role for parliaments?

Segment 2:   Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals despite the COVID-19 pandemic – an exchange of experiences and good practices

Senator Silvia-Monica Dinică

Vice-President, Romanian IPU Group 

Dear colleagues,

Greetings from Bucharest!

Thank you for the opportunity to contribute to this discussion.

I would like to congratulate the IPU and UNEP for this excellent policy note. As Chairperson of the Economic Committee of the Senate of Romania, I will certainly make good use of the recommendations and best practices provided to us.

Being a co-rapporteur of IPU’s Committee on Sustainable Development, I have worked, together with my colleagues Andries Gryffroy from Belgium, and Patrick Mariru from Kenya, on the resolution on digitalization and circular economy as drivers of sustainable development, and then updated it from a COVID-19 perspective.

The resolution states from the very beginning that the pandemic has exposed the inequalities and challenges addressed by the 2030 Agenda, which makes SDGs achievement all the more necessary and urgent.

We also emphasize that the current crisis has revealed the flaws of the long and complex value chains, and of the linear “take-make-use-dispose” use of resources.

We therefore invite parliaments to promote a green recovery, as precondition for achieving the SDGs, and to see to it that national recovery plans incorporate responsible consumption and production practices, based on digitalization and circular economy, and on the interplay between them.

Many of our recommendations are similar to or complement those indicated in the policy note. These relate particularly to sustainable waste management practices, green procurement, green infrastructure, sustainable production practices and modalities to ensure longer life cycles of products.

We also stress that by implementing the circular economy principles in key sectors, we can successfully address climate change.

Other recommendations relate to the prevention of food waste and loss, to resource recycling, urban sustainability, digital infrastructure, data sharing, and innovation for the development of resource-efficient and clean technologies.

At the same time, we recommend incentives for the implementation of digitalized and circular business models that may seem costly on the short term, but have the potential to bring long-term benefits, such as changes in the consumer behavior, or the scaling and diffusion of new technologies.    

The resolution touches also upon education and development assistance, as drivers of digitalization and circularity, including from a gender perspective.

I will conclude here my brief presentation. I hope that the resolution will be adopted in May and serve as reference for parliamentary efforts to advance the SDGs. 

I would also like to take this opportunity to assure you that in the Parliament of Romania too addressing COVID-19 recovery through SDGs lens is a priority.

These days, for instance, we have on our agenda a draft law meant to help Small and Medium Size Enterprises (SMEs) and the hospitality, restaurants and catering sector to cope with the repercussions of the pandemic.

The support consists in 100% financing granted for the installation of photovoltaic panels and of charging stations for electric and hybrid vehicles. The expected results are an increased use of renewable energy sources, higher energy efficiency, the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, and job creation, while facilitating economic recovery in the hospitality industry and the development of tourism and transport infrastructure.

Of course, there are many other similar initiatives, but I will conclude my intervention here, not before thanking once again the organizers for hosting this webinar.

It is indeed of crucial importance for us, members of parliament, not to waste the opportunity of having a green and resilient recovery. Without it, progress on the 2030 Development Agenda is unconceivable.

Many thanks to you all and stay healthy!