Opinions & Interviews

MINSK, 12 January (BelTA) – The first regional forum of national coordinators for the sustainable development goals (SDGs), which is due to take place in Minsk on 21-22 February, will become a platform for exchanging advanced experience, Marianna Shchetkina, Deputy Chairperson of the Council of Republic of the National Assembly of Belarus, National Coordinator for Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, said as she met with representatives of the foreign diplomatic corps on 12 January, BelTA has learned.

Marianna Shchetkina noted that traditionally the countries are represented at the UN forums in Geneva or New York at a high level. Diplomats and politicians make serious preparations for such events where they lay out the official positions of their states. “We lack working meetings and open discussions to learn from each other. That is why we suggest setting up such a discussion platform to exchange experience. It would be useful for us as we would be able to learn from each other and establish communication,” the national coordinator stressed.

In her opinion, the forum is of great importance as not all the countries fully understand how to build work in order to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. “Being appointed to a newly created position of the national coordinator, I have realized that global goals with this system-based approach are something new not only for our country, but for the whole world, too. Everyone has questions of how to build the proper management architecture within a country so that the approach could be systemic and traceable. It is necessary to work together to achieve results,” she said.

The idea of holding the forum in Minsk was supported by UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed.