Arab Dignitaries Gather in Bahrain Tomorrow, Give Boost to Sustainable Development at Regional and International Levels

Under the patronage of His Royal Highness Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa, Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Bahrain, more than 400 Arab ministers of environment, as well as concerned officials and dignitaries will gather tomorrow in the Second Session of the Arab High-Level Forum on Sustainable Development (AFSD) to set their priorities for regional and international cooperation on the growing number of environmental challenges facing the Arab region. The event, which will kick off at 9:00 am is hosted by the Government of Bahrain at the Ritz Carlton Hotel of Manama, and will close on 7 May 2015. 
The AFSD results, to be embodied in the Manama Declaration, will provide a substantive regional view the 2015 sessions of the High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF) that will be held in New York, from 26 June to 8 July 2015. The AFSD will mirror in its overall structure the HLPF’s theme: “integration, implementation and review.” 
A key agenda item for the Forum will be to identify the major economic, environmental and social challenges especially in light of the continuing conflicts in the Arab region with the aim to enhance the right to development and human dignity. 
Recognizing the central importance of innovative financing to promoting the new set of the sustainable development goals, participants in the AFSD will also consider the role of the institutions and private sector in enhancing the governance process and tools and reorienting markets towards environmentally sustainable development. 
Monitoring the sustainable development progress in the Arab region is also a focus. Participants will discuss the collaboration and partnership between the governments, regional organizations, and UN agencies as well as the ways of implementation of sustainable development goals for the years to come. The meeting is also a unique occasion for the Arab’s environment, financial and social ministers to bridge information and policy gaps on critical sustainable development related issues. 
The AFSD will discuss the core issues on the agendas of the international conferences considered by the United Nations Secretary-General as major milestones for the development horizon to 2030. These events include: the 3rd International Conference on Financing for Development due to take place in Addis Ababa in July 2015; the UN summit for the adoption of the post-2015 development agenda in New York in September 2015; and the 21st session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) to be held in Paris in December 2015. Discussions will be informed by the first edition of the Arab Sustainable Development Report (ASDR) and a paper on financing sustainable development in the Arab region, which will be shared with participants prior to the Forum. 



The scope of the Manama Forum will also cover issues of human security and human rights approaches to sustainable development, which hold particular importance to the Arab region in view of the critical and unprecedented transformations that the region is witnessing at the political, economic, social and environmental levels. The Forum will also look into the reform of development planning and policy design systems, the adoption of evaluation and follow-up mechanisms in light of the data revolution, and building the capacities of development partners in the preparation of national sustainable development reports according to internationally agreed approaches and standards. 

The AFSD is one of five regional fora that were established by the United Nations Regional Commissions, including ESCWA, in accordance with the mandate given to them by the UN General Assembly in its decision 67/290 on 09/07/2013, which recognized the importance of the regional dimension of sustainable development. 

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For more information, please visit: http://www.escwa.un.org/information/meetingdetails.asp?referenceNum=3572E 
For your queries in Manama, Bahrain, kindly contact: 
Ms. Marie Daher Corthay 
Regional Information and Outreach Specialist 
United Nations Environment Programme 
Mobile: +973 36 955 988 
Office: +973 178 12 795 

For your queries in Beirut kindly contact ESCWA Communication and Information Unit (ECIU) on either of the following numbers: 

Mr. Nabil Abu Dargham: +961-70-993144, dargham@un.org; 
Ms. Maryam Sleiman: +961-03-910 930, sleiman2@un.org; 
Ms. Mirane Abi-Zaki: +961-76-04 64 02, abi-zaki@un.org. 

Please direct your emails to: marie.daher@unep.org or escwa-ciu@un.org 

Tweets and updates of the events can be found on: @ UNEP_ROWA, @ESCWACIU, and https://www.facebook.com/pages/UNEP-ROWA/334320739972622 
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