The Sixth North and Central Asia Multi-Stakeholder Forum on the Implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals opened today with delegates stressing the need for policy work in the environmental, social and economic to ensure the achievement of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
“Recent developments show that the period of crises is far from over. COVID-19 recovery efforts in North and Central Asia have been hampered by the geopolitical crisis, followed by rising energy prices, inflation, reduced remittance income and disruptions in the shipping and transport,” said Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana, UN Under-Secretary-General and Executive Secretary of the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) opening the forum.
North and Central Asia is currently not on track to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030. Growing disparities have been recorded in the subregion amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Inequality persists in access to education, while downward trends have also been observed for several environment-related goals.
“Today we face a variety of regional challenges which, if addressed, could bring us closer to achieving the SDGs by 2030. Therefore, we must join efforts to develop more effective policies and solutions practices for the benefit of each Central Asian country. said Abzal Abdikarimov, Deputy Minister of National Economy of the Republic of Kazakhstan.
Over 270 officials and other stakeholders from 34 countries are attending the Forum to share their views and make recommendations on how to accelerate progress towards SDG6 (clean water and sanitation), SDG7 (affordable energy and environment), SDG9 (industry, innovation and infrastructure), SDG11 (sustainable cities and communities) and SDG17 (partnerships for the goals).
Gwi Yeop Son, Regional Director for Europe and Central Asia, United Nations Development Coordination Office, shared, “Countries cannot work in isolation to address the challenges they face. Strengthening connections is important. Connections between countries, in terms of transport, trade and energy infrastructure, play an important role. Partnerships between groups of countries around the world have demonstrated that greater integration is the path to prosperity”.
During the thematic sessions, participants are expected to develop concrete recommendations on, among others, strengthening transboundary cooperation for environmentally sound management of freshwater resources; new investments in research and development, digital transformation and technological solutions to foster innovation; as well as respond to the current trend of population growth to make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable.
Inputs from this year’s sub-regional meeting will also feed into the Asia-Pacific Forum on Sustainable Development (APFSD) and the Global High Level Political Forum (HLPF) in 2023.
