Complementarities and Synergies between the BRI and the SDGs

Scoping Paper I for 2016 High-level Policy Forum on Global Governance “Belt and Road”: A New Path to Regional Development

The Belt and Road Initiative have a marked overlap with the set of Sustainable Development Goals and the global sustainable development framework. This scoping paper argues that the alignment of China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), an economic framework covering more than 70 countries, with the 2030 Agenda and the implementation of the SDGs holds the promise to confer substantial development benefits and to positon BRI as an accelerator for the SDGs and the expansion of global public goods. The paper highlights areas where tangible opportunities for gains exist from aligning BRI with SDG implementation, and mentions how UNDP can effectively assist, including through the use of data to provide observable information for monitoring and evaluation of BRI implementation, based on the 2030 Agenda architecture of goals, targets, and indicators.