Cairo — A pre-event of the Africa Regional Forum on Sustainable Development (ARFSD) kicked off here today with a meeting of Major Groups and other Stakeholders (MGoS) to discuss how the continent can effectively implement Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development and Africa's transformation Agenda 2063 in an integrated way to ensure that all of Africa's people prosper.
The Forum who'se theme is "Ensuring inclusive and integrated implementation and follow-up of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and Agenda 2063" is hosted by the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), the African Union Commission (AUC) and the Government of the Arab Republic of Egypt to review progress towards the implementation of the two sustainable development agendas.
Opening the meeting, Director of ECA's Special Initiatives Division, Fatima Denton said the meeting "underlines the importance of both agendas to the structural transformation and overall sustainable development in the region, and affords Africa the opportunity to continue to critically reflect on, articulate and adopt effective approaches for the integrated implementation of the two agendas."
She added that the meeting theme serves to send a strong message in the region-wide and to the international community and mobilize their support to implement and follow-up the two Agenda in an integrated manner.
This year's conference takes place against the backdrop of the adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals, agenda 2030, where African leaders, along with other world leaders, recommitted themselves to the pursuit of a more sustainable development pathway. In this context, African countries have a dual transition: a global level transition from the Millennium Development Goals to agenda 2030; and a regional level transition to Agenda 2063.
The regional forum is first following the adoption of the 2030 Agenda in September 2015 and will therefore focus on integration Africa's transformation blueprint, Agenda 2063 with 2030 to ensure seamless implementation of the two.
The conference will deliberate on pertinent issues of how countries can harmonise frameworks and establish common mechanisms of implementation, monitoring and evaluation to achieve Africa's collective goals of sustainable development and transformation. A common development framework for Africa has the potential to be a powerful driver of sustainable pro-poor growth in African countries. The ARFSD will provide regional level inputs into the global High Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF) which is the central platform for the follow-up and review of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Sustainable Development goals.
HLPF is the most inclusive and participatory forum at the United Nations, bringing all States Members of the United Nations and States members of specialized agencies together. All people can participate in HLPF through the major groups and other stakeholders format. All stakeholders are also invited to organize side events, and register multi-stakeholder partnerships and voluntary commitments in support of the SDGs.
