The CEI-Executive Secretariat (CEI-ES) together with the Permanent Mission of the Republic of Moldova – holding this year’s CEI Presidency - to the United Nations (UN) will join this year’s High-Level Political Forum (HLPF) on Sustainable Development with an official side-event under the title “Regional cooperation and acceleration of the SDGs implementation: The Role of the Central European Initiative (CEI)”.
The event to be held at the UN Headquarters in New York on 18 July will be opened by CEI Deputy Secretary General, Nina Kodelja, followed by the Permanent Representative of the Republic of Moldova to the UN, Ambassador Gheorghe Leucă. He will be joined by his colleagues – Ambassadors and Permanent Representatives from the Republic of Albania, the Republic of Bulgaria and Italy, the co-sponsors of the event.
The aim of the panel discussion is to showcase CEI’s good practices of regional cooperation and partnerships aimed at complementing and supporting the UN’s work in the delivery of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its SDGs, in particular, those under review this year (SDG 6 – clean water and sanitation; SDG 7 – affordable and clean energy; SDG 9 – industry, innovation and infrastructure; SDG 11 – sustainable cities and communities; SDG 17 – Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalise the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development).
Against this backdrop, keynote speeches will be delivered by Adrian Băluțel, Secretary of State of the Government of the Republic of Moldova; Ivana Živković, UN Assistant Secretary General, UNDP Assistant Administrator and Director of the UNDP Regional Bureau for Europe and the CIS and; Fabio Scano, Special Envoy of the WHO Regional Director for Europe for the Western Balkans. Miloš Prica, Ambassador, Co-chair of 2023 UNECE Regional Forum on Sustainable Development, will also address the audience.
In addition, several CEI partners (Aliona Rotaru, Executive Director, ''Dreamups'' Innovation and Entrepreneurship Accelerator from Moldova and Rade Stanišić, Head of International Project Management Unit from the Port of Bar in Montenegro), who have undertaken activities linked to the above-mentioned goals with the help of the CEI, will share their experience.
While this event highlights the CEI’s efforts on furthering the UN Agenda 2030 and its SDGs, the discussion - moderated by CEI-ES representatives - will also shed light on the CEI general approach, strategies and initiatives within its framework.
The CEI has obtained an Observer Status at the UN General Assembly in 2011. Since then, it presents regularly Resolutions on “Cooperation between the United Nations and the Central European Initiative” on the occasion of the biannual meetings between the UN and regional organisations.