Under the patronage of UN Messenger of Peace and Chairperson of the International Humanitarian City (IHC) HRH Princess Haya Bint Al Hussein, wife of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of UAE and Ruler of Dubai, IHC hosted the UNDP Arab States Regional Management Meeting in line with the broader goals of the Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Global Initiatives to invest AED 1.5 billion in knowledge with the aim of empowering communities in the region and around the globe.

United Nations Resident Coordinators and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Resident Representatives and Country Directors from the organisation’s 18 offices in the Arab States region, alongside top global UNDP officials and experts, met in Dubai over the past three days at the IHC to discuss strategies to ensure the implementation of Agenda 2030 and its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which were adopted by UN Member States at the Sustainable Development Summit in September 2015.

Hosting the meeting in the year of its 50th Anniversary reflects the UAE’s commitment towards international development and its tremendous appreciation for the work of the United Nations and its leaders in that domain.

Abdullah Al Shaibani, Secretary General of the Executive Council of Dubai and IHC Board Member opened the meeting with UNDP Administrator Helen Clark, the United Nation’s top ranking development official.

In his opening speech Al Shaibani focused on the importance of sustainable development for the prosperity of the Arab region and underlined the UAE’s commitment to support the global 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda, especially in infrastructure development, health care provision, and renewable energy, as well as critical humanitarian assistance.

He also shed light on the UAE’s achievement as humanitarian capital of the world with Official Development Assistance reaching 23 billion dirhams in 2015. Additionally, he applauded Dubai’s leadership for supporting global sustainable development through the Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Global Initiatives, of which the IHC is a part.

"It is inspiring to gather with UNDP senior management of the Arab States Region here in the UAE, one of the economies which have witnessed the most growth in the world and a country leading the way on sustainable development," said UNDP Administrator Helen Clark. She commended the UAE for embracing the concept of sustainability from a social, environmental, and economic perspective in its Vision 2021 plans, and for consistently supporting sustainable development efforts in the Arab region and the world, adding that "This year, the implementation of Agenda 2030 begins in earnest, calling on the UN development system to provide integrated and coherent support to Member States’ efforts to realise the central promise of Agenda 2030, to leave no one behind."

UN Resident Coordinators discussed the challenges facing the implementation of the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda across countries of the Arab States region and best means to support Governments in the region in the implementation of the SDGs. They stressed the importance of coordination among all UN agencies involved, especially in helping countries to mainstream the SDGs in their national plans, accelerate action to achieve them and institute the requisite policies to facilitate such action.

"In the Arab States region, where conflict and natural disasters have together eroded decades of human development gains, development action to achieve the SDGs must be coupled with concerted action to meet and reduce humanitarian needs," said Sima Bahous, UN Assistant Secretary-General, and UNDP Assistant Administrator and Regional Director of the Regional Bureau of Arab States. "UNDP continues to lead the UN efforts to harmonize its crisis response to build the resilience of affected communities to cope and recover from crises and to sustain development gains over time."

Source:WAM