Bahrain SDGs progress commended

Manama, Apr. 26 (BNA): Amin El-Sharkawi, United Nations Resident Coordinator, has affirmed the United Nations’ commitment to the 2030 Agenda and the 17 sustainable development goals (SDGs).  "We at the United Nations have taken upon ourselves the task of supporting countries, both locally and regionally, in their efforts to achieve the 17 Sustainable Development Goals through national initiatives aimed at spreading awareness of the culture of these goals, and how to integrate them into society. We held different workshops for this purpose for all sectors and components of society in various sectors, notably - youth, women and persons with disabilities," he said. He also said that "our work continues providing technical and technological expertise to these sectors in order to encourage them to integrate the sustainable development goals in the planning process, the formulation of development policies, investment of resources, attracting capital and other means and mechanisms necessary to achieve these goals and implementing them, in line with the requirements of the development in the Kingdom of Bahrain. El Sharkawi added that "we are keen to transfer successful experiences from other countries, which have adopted sustainable development goals in their projects and programs, especially with respect to environmental projects, infrastructure, social development and others, in addition to transferring Bahrain’s experiences to other countries and introducing Bahrain’s advanced programs, projects and management in the development fields to those countries. He also that we are working to motivate countries, including Bahrain, to present what has been achieved in these goals through a voluntary or optional report reviewing these goals. We also encourage these countries to listen to all voices of civil society, private sector, parliament and academic to enrich this report and include their views and proposals in it. El Sharkawi congratulated Bahrain for taking the leading step in preparing this report for the review at the high-level political forum of the United Nations Economic and Social Council in July of this year 2018. This reflects a high sense and a moral commitment to achieve these goals, and this is clearly reflected in the Government's Action Plan 2015-2018 and the Country Plan signed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), as well as the Strategic Partnership Framework with the United Nations’ agencies for the years 2018-2022, which all help achieving Bahrain's economic vision 2030. He concluded by saying that "we hope to achieve maximum cooperation between the educational sector, at all its various stages and levels, and other parties responsible for the production of this report, revealing the proportion achieved in these goals and what was not achieved, and propose solutions, research, applied and practical projects need to be achieved on the ground, to achieve the greatest diversity and exchange of data, information and experiences, as this review achieves a high degree of transparency and credibility."