Arab Forum for Sustainable Development, 2017

The Forum is a high-level meeting intended as a regional platform to discuss cohesive and coordinated implementation and follow-up and review of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in the Arab region. Firstly, the Forum will set the scene by discussing where the region stands in the second year of the Agenda and subsequently it will be dedicated to country experiences including presentations on how countries have responded to the Agenda in terms of alignment and integration of policies, measurement of progress, multi-stakeholder engagement and means of implementation.

The second component of the agenda will be dedicated to the theme ‘Eradicating poverty and promoting prosperity in a changing Arab region’.  In a series of panel discussions, the participants will discuss the theme through the lens of equality, justice and distribution, economic growth and decent work as enablers for tackling poverty and achieving prosperity, as well as some of the challenges that the region is facing in eradicating poverty and attaining prosperity for all, including fragility, instability and conflict.

The final component of the agenda will focus on the ‘how-to’ of implementing the Agenda with a particular focus on unlocking the potential of regional means of implementation to accelerate the implementation of the agenda.
 
The findings and recommendations, conveying key messages from the region, will be submitted to and presented at the 2017 High-Level Political Forum (HLPF), convened under the auspices of the ECOSOC, ensuring that Arab countries have a voice at global level. The report of the Forum will also be submitted to the ESCWA Executive Committee and Ministerial Session.