25 Apr 2018 – 9:37
QNA
Beirut: Secretary-General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs H E Dr Ahmed bin Hassan Al Hammadi has that stability, civil peace, and social security are the main pillars that provide the environment for development and progress in its tracks, and without these pillars, it will be impossible to achieve and establish the goals of development.
“Therefore, the State of Qatar urgently calls for constructive dialogue among the various social and political forces to resolve the crises in the region and the wars taking place in order to find the appropriate ground for progress in achieving development, which is a decisive factor in achieving stability and civil peace,” he added.
He was delivering a speech at the three-day Arab Forum for Sustainable Development 2018 organised by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA), under the theme of Natural Resources, Future Generations, and the Common Good.
In a session entitled the implementation of the 2030 plan: the Arab countries’ perspective on integrated development planning and transformational change, Dr Al Hammadi stressed in his speech that the issues of sustainable development in all countries of the region have a high priority and special attention by the governments and communities of the Arab world, as they represent a fundamental challenge to the future of the region and its progress and development.
He emphasized that without achieving the desired progress in sustainable development goals and objectives, it will be impossible to achieve a better life for Arab societies, which have been plagued by major social tensions, some of which reached the point of armed conflict, and the dismantling of state institutions and structures.
Dr Al Hammadi said that since the launch of sustainable development goals on September 25, 2015, the State of Qatar has made an active contribution to achieving these goals in the region as a whole. He pointed out that the Doha Declaration marked the way forward towards achieving the sustainable development goals.
He said that the State of Qatar has fulfilled all its commitments of the 17th goal of the sustainable development goals, and has voluntarily established massive partnerships with a large number of least developed countries through specific programs in the fields of education, health, employment and humanitarian assistance, whereas this assistance met the needs of 17 million children in the fields of education and health.
The Secretary-General of the Foreign Ministry said that Qatar has achieved a great progress in development fields in the last two decades, which has made it move from middle performing countries on the human development index to advanced states.
It is also ranked first among the Arab countries, he said, pointing to Qatar’s work through its 2030 strategy and operational plans, especially the recent 2017-2022 plan launched by Emir HH Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani earlier this year, to achieve the goals and objectives of sustainable development before 2022. He thanked the Lebanese Republic for sponsoring the fifth session of the Arab Forum for Sustainable Development.
In his address at the opening of the forum, UN Under-Secretary General of the United Nations and Executive Secretary of (ESCWA) Mohamed Ali Al Hakim said that the objective of the annual forum is to map out development issues in Arab countries and stimulate cooperation among the countries of the region, in addition to supporting the development process in the Arab world in line with the objectives of the 2030 Sustainable Development Plan of the ESCWA.
