Nouakchott — The Ministry of Economy and Finance of the Islamic Republic of Mauritania conducted, from May 2 to 3, 2019 in Nouakchott, a national workshop for the consultation, review and validation of the national Voluntary National Review (VNR) report on the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals in Mauritania (SDGs, Agenda 2030).
The meeting was organized with the technical support of ECA, UNDP and UNICEF, with the aim of helping enrich Mauritania's VNR report. Once reviewed by the technical steering committee, the report will be submitted to the United Nations High Level Political Forum (HLPF), scheduled to take place in New York in July 2019.
By including SDG goals in the SCAPP (Strategy for Accelerated Growth and Shared Growth), Mauritania became one of the first countries to include Agenda 2030 in their national development strategies.
"The VNR report highlights Mauritania's achievements so far, the challenges the country is still confronted with and its lessons learned, with a view to accelerating the implementation of the 2030 Agenda. The VNR recommendations and suggestions will also help the country strengthen national policies and institutions, mobilize support from all stakeholders and build partnerships for the implementation of the SDGs," said José Lévy, UNDP Resident Representative a.i. in his opening speech.
The Agenda 2030 has been designed to reduce poverty and inequality, foster the transition towards an economic model that preserves the environment and natural resources, and build sustainable and resilient societies, while leaving no one behind. said Marieme Bekaye, an expert at the ECA Office for North Africa. "The purpose of the VNR is to show how countries translate the commitments made within the framework of Agenda 2030 into policies, programs and concrete actions that are likely to promote a real socio-economic transformation in response to the concerns of the populations and especially the most vulnerable," she added.
"With this report enriched by your contributions, our country will make an uncompromising assessment of the implementation of the SDGs so far, and will move on with hope and trust by consolidating the achievements made so far and avoiding past pitfalls ", concluded the Mauritanian Minister Delegate to the Minister of Economy and Finance in charge of the budget Mohamed Ould Kembou.
Ould Kembou stressed the need to strengthen coordination among the various actors and stakeholders to ensure the successful implementation of SDGs in Mauritania: "The implementation of the SDGs clearly requires that all efforts be combined, wherever they are, in order for our country to initiate its real economic and social take-off towards SDG achievement by 2030, but also in order for it to build a modern society that is both developed and deeply anchored in its civilizational values " .
More than 60 representatives of the public administration, elected representatives, the civil society, the private sector, academia and technical and financial partners took part in the workshop. The event was further enhanced by the participation of Boubacar Kane, Minister of Health and Sidi Ould Salem, Minister of Higher Education, Scientific Research, Information Technologies and Communication.
The July 2019 session of the HLPF is scheduled to take place under the theme "Empowering people and ensuring inclusiveness and equality". This event be an opportunity to conduct an in-depth review of national and local progress on SDGs 4 (quality of education), 8 (decent work economic growth), 10 (reduction of inequalities), 13 (climate action) and 16 (peace, justice and strong institutions) and 17 (partnerships).
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For more information about this event, please contact Cheikhna Aidara (UNDP), Tel. +222 46 48 29 08; e-mail: cheikhna.aidara@undp.org or Houda Filali-Ansary (ECA) at +212 (0) 673 734 462; e-mail: filali-ansary@un.org.
