On 24 march, the CEI-Executive Secretariat and the Montenegrin CEI Presidency jointly organised an online event, “SDGs Decade of Action – Exchange of Experiences, Best Practices and Current Challenges in SDGs implementation, Role of Regional Cooperation and Partnerships”.
The meeting - gathering Government officials in charge of the SDGs’ implementation and coordination, as well as representatives from the CEI Ministries of Foreign Affairs, and UN representatives - came at a critical juncture of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
As the COVID-19 pandemic has dampened the achieved progress towards the attainment of the SDGs and exacerbated preexisting inequalities, new transboundary actions and vigorous regional efforts are needed to shift the world onto a resilient path. The event thus aimed to share and exchange knowledge and experiences with relevant stakeholders as well as identify best practices on current challenges at both country and regional level.
The 2030 UN Agenda recognises the pivotal role of regional cooperation in translating the global goals into national sustainable development realities. In this regard, intergovernmental regional organisations have been called upon to complement and support UN efforts in addressing major global challenges and significantly contribute to the achievement of the SDGs.
“Even before the pandemic, progress on the SDGs was uneven and today it is even more challenging to deliver and keep the promise of leaving no one behind. However, the crisis has shown that SDGs provide the roadmap to recovery, build the resilience of our societies and face other future crisis”, said Maria-Francesca Spatolisano, UN Assistant Secretary-General at the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA). She emphasised that in 2021 a reinvigorated commitment to multilateralism and partnerships would be key to the implementation of the 2030 Agenda.
“At the CEI-Executive Secretariat, we very strongly believe in the added value of our partnership, not only as regards the universal values the UN stands for, such as peace and security, but especially as regards the 2030 Agenda and the SDGs’ implementation, which translate into tackling transnational challenges together” said CEI Secretary General Roberto Antonione. “With this in mind, we envisaged today’s event. The aim is to foster a regional dialogue through the exchange of experiences, best practices and current challenges encountered in the SDGs’ implementation, reflecting at the same time on which role regional cooperation and partnerships could have”.
Participants agreed that recovery could not be achieved without the collective multi-stakeholder efforts and strong cooperation at the local, national, regional and international level.
The event has laid the foundations for future sessions where special attention will be paid to specific thematic areas.
For more info: arsova@cei.int