Event date
-
City
Cairo, Egypt
Description

Arab Sustainable Development Week 2019: “ Integrated partnership for a sustainable future”

The League of Arab States plans to organize the third edition of the Arab Sustainable Development Week in cooperation with Egypt’s Ministry of Planning, the World Bank, the United Nations and the European Union from 3 to 6 November 2019 in Cairo.In early 2016, the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development came into force, in a step aiming at tackling global issues of development, environment and the quality of human life; As integrated issues, these required setting comprehensive standards, and crystallizing international cooperation formula for the achievement of sustainable development. Although the United Nations SDGs are not considered as binding instruments, they can be viewed as a holistic framework particularly helping the developing countries in evaluating their path, designing plans to bridge the development gap and thus joining the international economies.

The United Nations 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda identified a set of (17) new goals for all countries. Therefore, in order to establish a constructive Arab dialogue forum addressing such a topic, it was useful to prioritize pivotal goals and research issues, taking into account the current circumstances of the Arab region, being the outcome of geographical, political and social factors of truly exceptional nature, if compared to the “normal” circumstances of most world societies. Consequently, the United Nations Sustainable Development Agenda provides the League of Arab States and affiliated institutions with the opportunity to bring the development issue to surface, reestablish Arab societies’ mutual interests and initiate cooperation dynamism in vital sectors, which are inherently based on regional outreach and integration.

The League of Arab States is the most representative of the regional framework of the Arab countries, playing an increasing role in economic, integration and development policies domains of the Arab countries. Since 2016, the Arab League paid due concern to the sustainable development issue, establishing the Sustainable Development and International Cooperation Department in addition to the Arab Committee for Sustainable Development, including Arab states’ focal points from the Economic and Social Council and sustainable development stakeholders together with other ministerial councils and Arab institutions.

The League of Arab States was able to take a leading role in mainstreaming SDGs, assisting Arab states with programs and activities that enhance the implementation of Sustainable Development Agenda and emphasize Arab governmental policymakers adoption of such goals as an integral part of national sustainable strategies.

programs of tangible returns supporting Arab states in achieving 2030 Agenda. We further look for building on the progress achieved by such partnerships for post-conflict development recovery; to enable our people entrench confidence in a future based on peace, cooperation and respect for the other.

Taking into consideration the fact that sustainable development is an endeavor that should be based on cooperation among different regions and countries, the League of Arab States, was the optimal framework to support such cooperation and provide the conditions to translate the UN Agenda into integrated programs in the Arab region The Arab League held in 2017, the Arab Sustainable Development Week under the slogan (Towards Effective Partnerships). The Arab League was capable of employing such partnerships to establish a number of new programs, aiming to push forward sustainable development in the Arab region by assisting the Arab countries to implement the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda. With the slogan of this year’s Arab Sustainable Development Week, (Moving to Action), the performed work starts to achieve and materialize the goals within the specified time frame, namely 2030.

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