Capital governor visits UN House

Manama, Oct. 30 (BNA): Capital Governor, Shaikh Hisham bin Abdulrahman Al Khalifa visited the United Nations headquarters in Bahrain where he met Amin Al-Sharkawi, United Nations Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative, to discuss areas of enhancing cooperation. The meeting discussed the Volunteer Passport programme and Manama Entrepreneurship Week, an initiative by the Capital Governorate that will run from October 28 to November 2, in addition to several other projects. The governor also met a number of representatives of the programmes and activities of UNDP and congratulated them on the occasion of United Nations Day. He praised the technical assistance UNDP provides to governmental bodies and civil society institutions in the Kingdom, and their support of the Kingdom's efforts to integrate and achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). He expressed his happiness at the cooperation between the Capital Governorate and UNDP, and reflected on the good relations between Bahrain and UN agencies. "We meet today on the 72nd anniversary of the United Nations, a commemoration of the signing of the UN Charter in 1945," said Amin El Sharkawi. "The United Nations is proud of its relationship with the Government of Bahrain, which is reflected in our partnership with the Capital Governorate, to establish joint programs aimed at implementing the Sustainable Development Goals, in line with the Country Programme Document (CPD) which runs from 2017-2020." "The main aim of this cooperation is the joint effort of UNDP and the Capital Governorate to achieve the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Sustainable Development Goals contained therein. This will be achieved through several activities, projects and programmes. We hope to enhance the capabilities of those working within the Capital Governorate through training courses and programs on the objectives and targets of the SDGs, as well as the best ways to integrate them into existing programs and policies." The United Nations Development Programme will do everything in its power to provide technical advice to support volunteering in Bahrain, especially amongst youth, he added. "Some UN agencies with specialised programmes will be invited to participate, such as the United Nations Volunteers Programme (UNV), headquartered in Bonn, Germany. UNDP, through the office of the UN Resident Coordinator in the Kingdom of Bahrain, will communicate with various other UN agencies to participate and support the aforementioned programmes," he said. "The UNDP will do everything in its power to provide technical advice to support volunteering, especially among the youth, which will take the province of the capital as a special priority through various activities and initiatives. Some UN agencies and specialized programmes will be invited to participate in it. Manama Week, currently in its third edition, aims to promote sustainable development and social entrepreneurship and to foster an environment highly conductive to entrepreneurship and innovation, in order to achieve continual development, sustainability and economic prosperity.