Bahrain participates in UN high-level meeting on SDGs

Manama, Sept. 18 (BNA): On behalf of His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, Deputy Prime Minister, Shaikh Khalid bin Abdulla Al Khalifa, today took part in the High-Level Meeting of the United Nations on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), with the participation of the Cabinet Affairs Ministry’s Undersecretary, HH Shaikh Isa bin Ali Al Khalifa. The kingdom’s participation in the high-level UN meeting, held today via video conference, is based on an invitation addressed to HM the King by the UN Secretary-General, António Guterres. The virtual meeting was held ahead of the 75th Anniversary of the United Nation which will be marked on September 21 under the theme “The Future We Want, the UN We Need: Reaffirming our Collective Commitment to Multilateralism”. Shaikh Khalid bin Abdulla expressed profound thanks and gratitude to HM the King for deputising him to take part in the high-level event on his behalf, which, he said, reflects the royal interest in consolidating the kingdom’s status as an active member in the International Community, through its positive and constructive partnership with the UN and its various agencies and organisations. The deputy premier stressed that the kingdom’s participation embodies HM the King’s support for all international efforts aimed at promoting SDGs in a way that serves the entire humanity, and keenness to translate them into the ground in the economic, social and environmental levels, at the local level for the benefit of the Bahraini citizens whom HM the King considers the core of development and its ultimate goal. He asserted that based on the royal directives, and within the framework of the interest of His Royal Highness Prime Minister Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa, and the follow-up of His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, the Crown Prince, Deputy Supreme Commander and First Deputy Prime Minister, Bahrain has taken multiple steps and initiatives to achieve SDGs, through adapting its development programmes to SDGs, noting that the kingdom was among the first countries that achieved the Millennium Development Goals in 2015. He affirmed that the kingdom had put forward the necessary institutional mechanisms to ensure the sound implementation of SDGs in accordance with the best international standards, noting that SDGs are the basis of the government’s programmes which are national medium-term plans to achieve the Economic Vision for Bahrain, 2030. He added that as soon as Bahrain had adopted SDGs, HRH Premier issued Edict 21/2015 forming the National Committee for Information whose mandate was to follow up on the Post-2015 Development Agenda. In 2019, the Cabinet requested all ministries and government departments to adapt their goals, plans and policies to SDGs. Shaikh Khalid bin Abdulla called on the International Community to unify their efforts and focus their potentials on the third SDG, related to health and wellbeing, in order to contribute to overcoming the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and its global impacts. He pointed out that the kingdom, thanks to HM the King’s leadership and directives, the interest of HRH Premier and the follow-up of HRH the Crown Prince, has managed to mitigate the health, economic and social impacts of the pandemic for all social segments and institutions, noting that Bahrain’s experience in fighting the pandemic deserves to be emulated. Member states’ leaders, representatives and heads of government, as well as SDGs’ officials took part in the high-level meeting, opened by the UN Secretary-General. The event focused on the best ways to ensure speedy recovery from the pandemic, and the progress made so far in implementing SDGs.