The Arab Forum for Sustainable Development 2018 organised by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA), started on Tuesday under the theme “Natural Resources, Future Generations, and the Common Good,” and lasts for three days.
Qatar is participating in the forum with a delegation led by Ministry of Foreign Affairs Secretary-General Dr Ahmed bin Hassan al-Hammadi.
In a session entitled the Implementation of the 2030 plan: the Arab countries' perspective on integrated development planning and transformational change,’ al-Hammadi stressed in his speech that the issues of sustainable development in all countries of the region have a high priority and special attention by the governments and communities of the Arab world, as they represent a fundamental challenge to the future of the region and its progress and development.
He emphasised that without achieving the desired progress in sustainable development goals and objectives, it will be impossible to achieve a better life for Arab societies, which have been plagued by major social tensions, some of which reached the point of armed conflict, and the dismantling of state institutions and structures, as well as tearing apart its social fabric, which represents a serious threat to the entire development process and a halt to its tracks, in addition to destroying the gains made by these societies in the areas of development.
Al-Hammadi added that stability, civil peace, and social security are the main pillars that provide the environment for development and progress in its tracks, and without these pillars, it will be impossible to achieve and establish the goals of development. “Therefore, Qatar urgently calls for constructive dialogue among the various social and political forces to resolve the crises in the region and the wars taking place in order to find the appropriate ground for progress in achieving development, which is a decisive factor in achieving stability and civil peace,” he added.
Secretary General Al-Hammadi said that since the launch of sustainable development goals on September 25, 2015, Qatar has made an active contribution to achieving these goals in the region as a whole.
He pointed out that the Doha Declaration marked the way forward towards achieving the sustainable development goals. “Qatar remains committed in principle to advance these goals at the national, regional and international levels.”
The secretary general stressed the importance of partnerships for development since without generous support for development programmes it would be very difficult for a number of societies to achieve the desired progress.
He said that Qatar has fulfilled all its commitments of the 17th goal of the Sustainable Development Goals, and has voluntarily established massive partnerships with a large number of least developed countries through programmes in the fields of education, health, employment and humanitarian assistance, whereas this assistance met the needs of 17mn children in the fields of education and health.
He added that Qatar is in the process of developing other development programmes to support the least developed countries, especially in the fields of environment and infrastructure, thus providing them with the capacity to make progress in the sustainable development goals.
Al-hammadi said that Qatar has achieved a great progress in development fields in the last two decades, which has made it move from middle performing countries on the human development index to advanced states. “It is also ranked first among the Arab countries”, he said, pointing to Qatar's work through its 2030 strategy and operational plans, especially the recent 2017-2022 plan launched by His Highness the Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani earlier this year, to achieve the goals and objectives of sustainable development before 2022.
He said that Qatar is deeply aware that sustainable development requires the diversification of economic resources. This is reflected in the fact that the Qatari economy is the fastest growing among the countries of the region, he said, adding "We are currently working in spite of the crisis in the region to increase growth through diversification of the economy and to invest it better to achieve progress in all areas of development and to improve the quality of human well-being in Qatar".
In his address at the opening of the forum, Under-Secretary General of the UN and Executive Secretary of (ESCWA) Mohamed Ali Al Hakim said that the objective of the annual forum is to map out development issues in Arab countries and stimulate cooperation among the countries of the region, in addition to supporting the development process in the Arab world in line with the objectives of the 2030 Sustainable Development Plan of the ESCWA.
