 Felly oedd yn unig yn y ddefnydd yma yma'r digud, yma, yn y taffwyr ar y cyfrannu ar y Llywodraeth yn y rhaid i beth o'i gweithio ar y series? Mae'n gorffodd yn ymgyrch, a mae'n gorffodd yn ddiddorol i ddiweddol yn ein golygu ar y gyrdd yn golygu'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r golygu a'u gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio ar y cyfrannu. Ac mae'n gael ddigon cymdeithasol yng Nghymru, ac mae hynny'n rhan o'r gweithio'r cyfwyrdd ac mae rhan o'r gweithio'r cyfwyrdd, mae'r Ynefin Mymysau hwnnaeth a dwi'n gweithio'r cyfwyrdd ar y cyfeirio newydd mewn cyfwyrdd a'r cyfwyrdd cyfwyrdd ar y gweithio'r cyfrannol. Mae'n gweithio ymddangos cyfwyrdd cyfwyrdd, Mae'r cyfnodd y mwyaf arall, yw 1993, dyma'n amlwg yma'r Ymryd Fyrwyr, ac mae'r Ymryd Fyrwyr yn ymryd Fyrwyr. A yna, mae'n rydyn ni wedi'i gorfa'r Ymryd Fyrwyr, ac mae'r ymryd Fyrwyr yn ymryd Fyrwyr, mewn ymryd Fyrwyr, ac mae'n ymryd Ymryd Fyrwyr. Mae'r Ymryd Fyrwyr yn ymryd Fyrwyr yn ymryd Fyrwyr er mwyn nhw'n gyrfa'r Ymryd Myrwyr. The Finnish Embassy, I think the first secretary there was called Ilka Pekka Simila and is now their ambassador in Vietnam and they had a sauna. So you don't usually expect to go to Cairo to meet a Croatian commissioner in the sauna, but there you are, it can happen. And many years later again, because unfortunately many years have passed, I was working on Southeast Europe while the EU called the Western Balkans a strange enough term, and I started my work and I looked to see some names and I saw that the Minister for European Integration of Croatia was Nevin Mimica. And now I find myself in this job in Irish aid and the commissioner for development is Nevin Mimica. So as I said, I've been following Nevin for years and looking up to him for years. And you're really welcome to Dublin today, Nevin. As I said, we've had a lot of discussions in this group and around the country on the sustainable development goals and the 2030 agenda. Ireland played a strong part in their negotiation, then in the co-facilitation of their adoption, as it were, and then our ambassador, David Donohue, who has also strong links to this institution, has spoken here of them. He then helped co-facilitate the outcome of the refugee and migration summit in September. So the issues facing us today in development for Ireland are really pertinent, really strong. We're combining a strong development cooperation program on the ground with a really strengthened policy engagement. And for us, it is essential that that policy engagement includes also the European Union, because we are, I think we just have to keep saying it and reminding everyone, we are strong, committed members of the European Union, completely committed to the principles and values that underpin the European Union. And I think the European Union's work in development epitomises all those values and all those principles. So we are really interested today, I can assure you it's a very good committed audience, we'll have many questions, on the new environment for development and especially the new European consensus for development, which is being discussed, negotiated and crucially is being consulted on. There's a huge consultation process on it and I think I hope that the commissioner sees his visit today as part of that consultation. So the floor is yours, commissioner. We look forward to hearing from you and I hope you can take as many questions and comments as possible from this very committed and informed audience. Welcome to Dublin and thank you very much. Well, good afternoon to everyone, dear colleagues, dear friends, distinguished guests and dear hosts. I'm really honoured to be today with you here with so committed and part of the development universe actually because what is now getting the right shape once the Sustainable Development Goals agenda is adopted. It's kind of a new development universe that is emerging and we are all part of it and therefore it is important to think together, to work together on making this universe as much of a use, as much of a contribution to the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals. This is the latest in a line of notable speakers in your development matters series of lectures, being part of this overall new development agenda contribution. As Ireland's leading think tank on global issues, the Institute for International and European Affairs brings together a broad range of public and private sector partners and provides expert analysis on the implication of emerging trends. It is precisely in this spirit of collaboration and consultation, the time here, to discuss the future of the European Union's development cooperation in times of global change. Yesterday, the 17th of October, was the international day of eradication of poverty. A stark reminder that despite the significant progress achieved during the last few decades, more than 800 million people still live on less than $1.25 a day and this is definitely 800 million people too many. Today, I would like to share with you my vision for a renewed European Development Policy, which I hope will mean we will no longer need such a day by the time we get to 2030. In 2015, the European Union and its member states were the driving force behind the number of landmark agreements reached in Sendai, in Addis Ababa, in New York and in Paris. With the 2030 agenda and its Sustainable Development Goals, the international community made its first ever global and universal commitment to end poverty and achieve sustainable development in all its dimensions, social, economic, environmental. It makes us proud as Europeans that Ireland led this process alongside Kenya in the United Nations. You successfully united UN member states, civil society and the private sector behind a truly comprehensive and transformative post-2015 agenda. Now we are over one year into this 15 years journey. Some actions have already begun, but at the time when European and global leadership is needed more than ever, we need to do more than initial actions only. History will not judge us on ambitious agreements, but on meaningful results. Development is not about what we promise. Development is about what we do. And we are ready to play our part. Alongside the global strategy for EU foreign security policy, the global strategy that was adopted in June this year at the European Council level, and new overarching initiative on how the European Union's internal and external actions will contribute to the implementation of the SDG. So these are two global overarching strategic documents, global strategy and overarching initiative on sustainable European future. Beside and on top of this, or stemming from these two strategic documents, I will present next month our proposals on how European Union development cooperation can deliver on the 2030 agenda. How our external actions in development should look like, our meaning Member States and European Union managed, European Commission managed development initiatives. In our jargon, this is about revising the European consensus on development, which has guided our actions since 2005. As we all well know, the world has become a very different place since then. To remain relevant, we have to adapt our tools and the ways of work to reflect the complexity of today's global development landscape. Let me be clear, this does not mean throwing everything out of the window and starting from scratch, nor does it mean watering down our principles and our values in the development cooperation. The Lisbon Treaty makes it clear that the core objectives of our development policy remain the eradication of poverty. And it also puts the emphasis on better coordination between the European Union institutions and our Member States, so that instead of having 29 development policies of 28 Member States plus the Commission working disjointedly, we foster a more coherent overall approach that avoids overlaps, makes full use of our respective strengths and maximizes Europe's impact in the world. As you may know, only one quarter of our overall development assistance comes from the EU, from the EU Budget and EU European Union Development Fund. And three quarters come from our Member States. Together, we are greater than the sum of our parts. For this reason, I have from the outset sought to make this development consensus exercise a truly inclusive process and not something drawn up behind closed doors in Brussels. We published an online public consultation this summer through which we received almost 200 replies and inputs from around the world. Many Irish organizations fed in through their international networks as well as civil society organizations based here. Our meeting today is a part of a series of a consultation that I'm holding directly in Member States. Just before we bring forward our proposals at the November Foreign Affairs Council. But this will not be the end of the process. The reason I spoke of a new consensus and not just of a new strategy is because I wish for a genuine agreement under the shared ownership of the EU institutions and all our Member States. A blueprint that can guide all our development actions for the years ahead. This is what we need. I'm pleased to say that the Irish government has been an active and supportive contributor in our discussions so far. I hope that we can agree on a new joint statement between the Commission, Parliament and Council and the Member States in the first half of the next year. The feedback from all of our consultation to date has been clear. We need to do more to do it better and to do it differently. In particular, we need to respond better to complex global challenges. This means recognizing the links between peace, security and development ensuring that all of our responses, including our development humanitarian and migration policies are consistent. This is a point that has come up emphathetically throughout my discussions, including most recently in Warsaw and in Munich. Again, using the jargon, it's about ensuring greater policy coherence for development as well as the overall coherence of our external actions. But how do we achieve this in practice? In my view, the most efficient way to get there is to give more prominence to cross-cutting drivers, which will be essential to deliver across the entire range of sustainable development goals. Among these cutting drivers, or cross-cutting drivers, I would include, for example, migration and mobility, sustainable energy, more private sector investments. But today, I would like to focus on two others, which are particularly close to my heart, women and young people. I feel especially motivated to talk about this here in Ireland, where you have a long legacy of appointing strong female leaders, both at home and in the European and international fora. You are among the few countries to be able to boast not one, but two former female presidents. So I know I'm preaching to the converted when I say that women and young people are the key to breaking the cycle of intergenerational poverty. But without our reinforced concerted efforts, they will continue to be the first to suffer, particularly in conflict situations, as exploited workers, young brides and child soldiers. Women's rights and children's rights are human rights, and to paraphrase the words of Ireland's Mary Robinson, if we do not address the human rights violations of today, they will become the causes of conflicts tomorrow. To be truly sustainable, we must focus on the poorest and most vulnerable people in our societies. Despite some progress, significant gaps persist in terms of health, education, employment, representation and respect of basic human rights, and these inequalities persist in developed countries, just as in developing countries. In terms of education, 123 million young people around the world still lack access to reading and writing skills, and over 60% of those are women. This is exacerbated in times of crisis. My fellow commissioner, Christos Dylianides, was here just a week or two weeks ago to discuss precisely this issue with you earlier this month. The unemployment rate for young people worldwide aged 15 to 24 is over 13% and is set to rise, but simply having a job is not enough. 156 million young people in developing countries live in a working poverty, and around 40% of those who have a job still live on less than $3 a day. Claiming to strive for sustainable development while living behind the next generation is a blatant contradiction in terms. So, therefore, the motto of this all sustainable development goals agenda, leaving no one behind, really means that if we leave a single person, single child behind, we shall fail. We need to be able to offer a brighter future for our young men and women, both at home and abroad. They should have equal access to quality education and decent employment opportunities irrespective of their agenda, costs, ethnic or religious beliefs, disability or other status. Since the very start of my mandate, one of my top personal priorities is that women and girls are at the heart of the European Union's policy on development. With the second EU gender action plan, we now have a sound policy framework at the European Union's level. It provides the direction and the tools for the European Union and our member states to achieve sustainable development goal number five on gender equality and women's empowerment. Apart from specific actions to promote women's rights, we also want to ensure a full and comprehensive gender perspective in all our development programmes and all our activities. All sectors should contribute to gender equality. This includes women and girls empowerment in sectors such as justice, agriculture, energy or in vocational training. I'm sure that my dear colleague and your countryman, Commissioner Phil Hogan, would join me in emphasising the important contribution of sustainable agriculture for both women and young people. Most vulnerable people live in rural areas. Women make up to half of the agricultural labour force in many developing countries, but are often excluded from credit access also from training and basic services as well as land ownership and rights. The conclusion is self-evident. If we are serious about putting an end to poverty and hunger, we need to empower women by linking agriculture with new technologies and using strategies to encourage agribusiness. We can also avoid the rural to urban drift and make sustainable food production a more attractive career choice for young people. In 2015, we launched an initiative so-called agri-fi initiative, the agriculture financing initiative to increase and de-risk investments for the agriculture and agribusiness in developing countries. So far, 27 million euros have been allocated to support civil society, to create jobs and achieve inclusive and sustainable growth in agriculture-based value chains with a specific focus on women and youth. The lessons we learnt from this agri-fi initiative is also very clear. We are a male farmer. You invest in an individual. If you invest in a female farmer, you invest in community. On a larger and more long-term scale, we proposed a new European external investment plan last month. This new plan aims to replicate the success of the internal investment plan for Europe, which has already benefited 1,000 small EU firms and startups, including here in Ireland. With the external investment plan, we want to open up new markets in Africa and the European Union neighbourhood by de-risking the potential costs to investors from both developing countries and Europe, including Irish investors. We want to mobilize European Union and foreign direct investment by leveraging funds from the European Union institutions, our member states, other donors, financial institutions and the private sector. This will help to bring much-needed resources to areas, to countries which would not otherwise receive financial support or investment support, including investments in infrastructure, small and medium enterprises and renewable energies, with a particular focus on creating opportunities for women and young people. With 4.1 billion euros from the EU budget and the European Development Fund, we could now leverage up to 44 billion of investments, or up to 88 billion by 2020 if, or I would say, when member states and other partners match our contribution to this fund. Just take a moment to reflect what a significant contribution that is. 88 billion euros. That is 20 billion more than the current total annual official development assistance of the European Union and the member states. In line with the Addis Ababa Action Agenda, this is a tangible example on how we hope to use official development assistance in a smarter way, as a part of financing package comprising aid, investments and domestic resources. This is so important if we want to move from the billions to trillions needed to implement the sustainable development goals. We need, I'm very grateful to Tishok and Akani for confirming at the UN summit for the adoption of the 2030 Agenda, Ireland's intent to work towards achieving the 0.7% of GNI as official development assistance target. We need to continue our efforts towards meeting this target. Ireland is already exceeding the 0.2% of GNI as a target for the least developed countries. I fully support the notion that we should target aid where it is most needed. And look forward to seeing other member states progressing in that direction of making our development assistance channeled mostly to the least developed countries, fragile countries, countries that are most in need. Least developed countries and fragile states undoubtedly deserve still the highest concentration of our official development assistance. But in the new consensus on development we also need to see how to adapt our partnerships to the increasingly diverse and evolving needs of our partner countries. For middle-income countries we will need to develop new relationships which gradually move away from money to knowledge that focus more on trade, foreign direct investment and knowledge sharing. And we need to shift from a culture of simply measuring how much we put in to measuring what we get out as a result of our development cooperation initiatives. I know that Ireland is committed to improving development effectiveness while improving partner-country ownership for the implementation, monitoring and evaluation of their own actions. We truly share this objective. I understand the Irish government is supporting a joint initiative with UN Women to increase the availability and use of gender-sensitive data in education, employment and asset ownership. These data-driven approaches will be essential in ensuring that we are on track to deliver on our global promises to men and women alike. So, ladies and gentlemen, Irish literary great and Nobel Prize winner, Simon Heaney, said, if you have the words, there's always a chance you'll find a way. Let us not leave it to chance. I just tried to have a few words that might show us the way, but I didn't manage to do it in a few words. I did it in 2000 and more words. But indeed, the essential elements that a future EU consensus on development should clearly address are now in front of us. I know that we have to look together forward to... and I really look forward to hearing your thoughts on how together we can best find that way of making European Union not only the biggest contributor to the official development assistance and to the new 2030 agenda, but of making European Union the best contributor and the best global actor in development policy. So, let's do it together. Your inputs, this discussion today, the previous public consultation, the forthcoming discussion on the draft consensus will definitely contribute to that. Thank you very much.