AFSD-2021 Kicks Off in Beirut with Moroccan Participation
Beirut – The Arab Regional Forum for Sustainable Development 2021 (AFSD-2021), organized by the UN Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA), in partnership with UN entities working in the Arab region and the League of Arab States, kicked off on Monday via teleconference, with the participation of Morocco.
The forum brings together high-level representatives, including ministers, senior officials and experts in the fields of planning, development, environment, employment, natural resources, data, statistics, finance and technology, as well as representatives of regional governmental organizations, civil society and United Nations specialized agencies.
AFSD-2021 is convened under the theme “Accelerating progress on the 2030 Agenda post-COVID” and will review SDGs 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 10, 12, 13, 16 and 17.
Moroccan experience in terms of recovery and overcoming the effects of the Coronavirus pandemic will also be discussed, through presentations and speeches by Moroccan officials, experts and academics.
AFSD advocates an inclusive and participatory approach to the follow-up and review of the 2030 Agenda, providing a platform for dialogue among government representatives, parliamentarians, academia, the private sector, regional intergovernmental bodies, civil society organizations, and young people.
It provides a unique forward-looking opportunity to review the Arab region’s development trajectory, discuss practical approaches to tackle the pandemic, and consider the extent to which current and future development planning and policies support SDGs implementation.
AFSD-2021 features a variety of plenaries, special sessions and workshop-style special events touching on three sub-themes, accelerating action on the SDGs in the context of the COVID-19 recovery; response to the COVID-19 pandemic through specialized and priority areas; national, regional and global processes including voluntary national reviews (VNRs) and messages to the global summit.
