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2. Oman keen to build upon achievements in attaining sustainability goals: Asa’ad

Times of Oman

Muscat: The 18th annual conference of the Arab Administrative Development Organisation (ARADO) of the Arab League kicked off yesterday under the patronage of His Highness Sayyid Asa’ad bin Tariq Al Said, Deputy Prime Minister for International Relations and Cooperation Affairs and Personal Representative of His Majesty the Sultan.

The conference, entitled “The Role of Arab Governments in Achieving Sustainable Development Goals 2030”, will discuss several issues related to the future and roles of governments in Arab countries.

Sayyid Asa’ad bin Tariq Al Said, said that the Sultanate, thanks to the Royal Directives of His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said, is keen to achieve the goals of sustainable development approved by the United Nations General Assembly in the presence of world leaders and heads of governments on September 25, 2015.

He added that the Sultanate has achieved good indicators in the goals of sustainable development and that it is continuing to achieve prosperity and human development on the basis that man is the ultimate goal of development, adding “We in Oman are keen to develop our economy while preserving the environment to protect the rights of future generations.”

He pointed out that such conference is an opportunity for the exchange of experiences by specialists in the fields of sustainable social, economic and environmental development, praising the efforts of the organisers of this conference and wishing success for everything that would improve aspects of human life in the world.

For his part, Sheikh Khalid bin Omar Al Marhoon, Minister of Civil Service said that the 18th Conference “The Role of Arab Governments in Achieving Sustainable Development Goals 2030” in the Sultanate is an evidence of the status of the Sultanate in the international arena.

He pointed out that the qualitative participation of international figures specialised in the themes of the conference will add to the interest of many in this regard. “We are in the Sultanate and despite the shrinking of financial resources in the recent period, thanks to the Royal Directives of His Majesty, spending continues as it was on education, health, security and social welfare. The Sultanate has been able to achieve many of the objectives of sustainable development (17 goals) during the last period and this confirms the sound economic and social policies applied by the Sultanate.”

For his part, Ahmed Aboul Gheit, Secretary General of the Arab League, made a video speech saying that achieving the goals of sustainable development as a governmental and international commitment represented by the signing of world leaders on September 25th, 2015.

He pointed out that the achievement of these objectives is focused on the effective role of governments, where the national development plans are designed in accordance with the agreed-on 2030 development goals, which will lead to sustainable economic growth and consolidate the efforts to build the state of institutions, indicating that sustainable development has become the focus of efforts in the Arab countries as there has been a conviction among governments and representatives of the civil sector that development is an integrated process that starts from man and ends with man.

The activities of the first day of the conference started with a session in which Sulaiman bin Abdullah Al Hamdan, Minister of Civil Service in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia spoke about the role of digital transformation in sustainable development and the experience of the Ministry of Civil Service. Dr. Hala Helmi A’Said, Minister of Planning, Follow-up and Administrative Reform of the Arab Republic of Egypt, spoke about Egypt’s experience in developing and implementing a sustainable development strategy.

Mohamed bin Abdel Qadir, Minister Delegate to the Prime Minister in Charge of Reforming the Administration and Public Service in the Kingdom of Morocco, spoke about the role of the public facility to achieve the goals of sustainable development. Dr. Mahmoud Mohieldin is the World Bank Group Senior Vice- President for the 2030 Development Agenda, United Nations Relations, and Partnerships, addressed the sustainable development goals in the Arab world.

The first of the discussion sessions entitled “Goals and Objectives of Sustainable Development 2030” included the mechanisms of planning and the provision of developmental requirements and entitlements, in which Dr. Abdullatif Zaghnon, Director General of the CDG Capital in the Kingdom of Morocco presented a paper on the role of the Fund for achieving sustainable development goals 2030.

PDO External Affairs and Value Added Director Abdul Amir bin Abdul Hussain Al Ajmi, presented a paper on the role of the company in promoting sustainable development objectives to support the efforts of the government and what are the most important current projects to support the efforts.

Dr. Ghaith Fariz, Director of the UNESCO Regional Bureau for Sciences in the Arab States presented a paper entitled “Knowledge: A Gateway to Achieving Sustainable Development Goals 2030 in the Arab Region.

For his part, Dr. Joss de Haoui, Director of the Department of Governance and Peace”-Building for Arab States, addressed the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) during his paper on the challenges facing governments in the preparation of national development plans and presented a paper on the role of the Anti-Corruption Commission in achieving sustainable development goals 2030.