MINSK, 15 November (BelTA) - In February 2018 Belarus plans to hold its first big forum on the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), with the invitation of national coordinators from the countries of Europe and the CIS, National Coordinator for Achieving the SDGs, Deputy Chairwoman of the Council of the Republic of the National Assembly Marianna Shchetkina told the media ahead of the seminar Sustainable Development Goals - Implementation at the National and Regional Levels on 15 November, BelTA has learned.
International experts will arrive in Belarus at the end of November. They will assess the efforts of Belarus in achieving the SDGs, and give advice following the results of the monitoring. Meetings will be held with the Council for Sustainable Development, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and other ministries. “We will keep working, as we have suggested holding the first big forum in Belarus in February 2018. We would like to invite all national coordinators for achieving the SDGs from the countries of Europe and the CIS, as also representatives of the United Nations,” Marianna Shchetkina said.
Preliminary meetings were held with entrepreneurs and at the level of partnership and parliamentary groups on this topic. Parliamentary hearings are planned to be held at the Council of the Republic in December to discuss partnership and cooperation between the government and the society in achieving the SDGs.
"The most important thing is the good motto of the SDGs: no one should stay aside. This can be achieved only through joint efforts of the entire civil society and all the branches of the government. When we work out certain indicators on the international arena (this work is conducted by the Belarusian Statistics Committee), our next important step will be the implementation of all these norms and indicators in the sectoral state programs, the national system of sustainable development,” added Marianna Schetkina.
The seminar “Sustainable Development Goals - implementation at the national and regional levels” is running Minsk on 15 November. The seminar focuses on the development of the national system of indicators to monitor the SDGs, their implementation in the economic, environmental and social fields, the main approaches to the national strategy for sustainable socio-economic development of Belarus in the context of the SDGs. The publication “Belarus' starting positions with regard to the Sustainable Development Goals” and the national versions of the UN SDG logos were unveiled during the event.
The seminar will be held as part of the program “Support to the National Coordinator on Implementation of Sustainable Development Goals and Strengthening the Role of the Parliament in the Implementation of Sustainable Development Goals” which is financed by the UN Development Program. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is the national executing agency. The project partners are the Council of the Republic of the National Assembly and the National Statistics Committee of Belarus.
