The Region’s Countries Will Meet at ECLAC to Evaluate Progress on Fulfillment of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development

The sixth meeting of the Forum of the Countries of Latin America and the Caribbean on Sustainable Development – where authorities and representatives of governments, the United Nations System, international organizations, the private sector, academia and civil society will review the progress and challenges related to implementing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in the region – will take place on April 25-28 at ECLAC’s headquarters in Santiago, Chile.

The regional forum – which has been held annually since 2017 – aims to provide those responsible for implementing the 2030 Agenda in countries with a space conducive to peer learning through a set of interactive sessions in which, by discussing experiences and shared goals, they can identify good practices, enabling the Forum’s member countries to offer recommendations and present them to the United Nations High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF). The HLPF is the global mechanism for follow-up on the 2030 Agenda, and it meets each year in July in New York under the auspices of the General Assembly and the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC).

This sixth intergovernmental meeting will be inaugurated on Wednesday, April 26 at 8:30 a.m. local time in Santiago, Chile (GMT-4) by Santiago Cafiero, Minister of Foreign Affairs, International Trade and Worship of Argentina, the country that is serving as Chair of ECLAC in the 2022-2024 biennium; Amina Mohammed, Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations; Paula Narváez, Permanent Representative of Chile to the United Nations, in her capacity as Vice President of the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC); and José Manuel Salazar-Xirinachs, Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC).

It will be preceded on Tuesday, April 25 by a meeting of the mechanism for civil society participation in the Sustainable Development Agenda and in the Forum, and by a gathering of the Regional Collaborative Platform for Latin America and the Caribbean.

In the framework of the Forum, José Manuel Salazar-Xirinachs will present a document entitled “Halfway to 2030 in Latin America and the Caribbean: progress and recommendations for acceleration,” the sixth report on regional progress and challenges in relation to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in Latin America and the Caribbean, which has been prepared by the Secretariat (held by ECLAC) and which analyzes the evolution and current state of progress towards Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 6, 7, 9, 11 and 17, along with projections for their fulfillment by 2030.

The meeting contemplates statements by Latin American and Caribbean country representatives at two sessions entitled “Accelerating the recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic and the full implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development at all levels” and “Strategies to advance implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in the Caribbean.”

In addition, five panel discussions have been organized in which the Forum’s member countries and other actors will be able to present and share their experiences and challenges in relation to implementing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in the following areas: Clean water and sanitation (SDG 6); Affordable and clean energy (SDG 7); Industry, innovation and infrastructure (SDG 9); Sustainable cities and communities (SDG 11); and Partnerships for the Goals (SDG 17).

Finally, on Friday, April 28, a high-level roundtable will take place under the theme of “Path to the SDG Summit. Transformative initiatives: creating opportunities to strengthen commitment to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its full implementation at all levels,” where prominent figures and authorities from the region will debate transformative initiatives for confronting global challenges and creating opportunities to bolster the commitment to the 2030 Agenda and accelerate its full implementation, in view of the Summit on the Sustainable Development Goals (to be held on September 19-20, 2023 in the framework of the UN General Assembly’s high-level segment).

The full programme of the sixth meeting of the Forum is available at the event’s special website: https://foroalc2030.cepal.org/2023/en