Urgent action needed on COVID-19 recovery to stay on course for sustainable development (FROM UN ESCAP)

Urgent action needed on COVID-19 recovery to stay on course for sustainable development

ESCAP to highlight Asia-Pacific priorities at United Nations’ High-Level Political Forum

The global crisis resulting from the spread of COVID-19, has had a major effect on sustainable development targets, with health systems overwhelmed, businesses shut down, and students kept out of school. The poor and vulnerable have borne the brunt of the pandemic, and tens of millions are expected to experience extreme hunger and poverty.

Governments and key stakeholders will come together at the High-Level Political Forum (HLPF) 2020, which opens today, to assess the pandemic’s impacts on countries’ initiatives to deliver on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development as well as collectively deliberate upon urgent global actions to support recovery and building back better.

In addition to bringing the outcome of regional level deliberations to the global platform, the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) will hold a series of side events and other activities in collaboration with member States and various partners. 13 ESCAP member countries will also present Voluntary National Reviews (VNR) at the Forum. 

Members of the media and public are cordially invited to tune in to these virtual events.

ESCAP at HLPF Highlights

TUESDAY, 7 JULY

18:30 – 19:45 (GMT+7)
Side event on “Fast-Tracking the SDGs: Driving Asia-Pacific Transformations” co-organized by ESCAP, ADB and UNDP
Webcast: www.youtube.com/unescap
19:00 – 20:00 (GMT+7)
Side event on “SDG Review as an Engine for Action: Promising Practices from Around the World” organized by Partners for Review (GiZ)
Register for webcast: https://www.partners-for-review.de/

WEDNESDAY, 8 JULY
18:30 – 20:00 (GMT+7)
Side event on “SDG 7 Policy Briefs: Achieving SDG7 and Agenda 2030 in the Time of COVID-19” co-organized by the Permanent Mission of Norway and SDG7 Technical Advisory Group
Register for webcast: https://bit.ly/SDG7HLPF

20:00 – 21:00 (GMT+7)
Plenary on “Responding to the Economic Shocks, Relaunching Growth, Sharing Economic Benefits and Addressing Developing Countries’ Financing Challenges”
Webcast: http://webtv.un.org/

MONDAY, 13 JULY
19:00 – 20:00 (GMT+7)
Side event on “Regional Mechanisms for Peer Support to Voluntary National Reviews: The VNR Twinning Experience” co-organized by ESCAP with the Governments of Armenia, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan
Webcast: www.youtube.com/unescap

TUESDAY, 14 JULY
04:00 – 05:30 (GMT+7)
Side event on “Accelerating Transformative Pathways for Equitable Development in Small Island Developing States” co-organized by ESCAP and the Government of Papua New Guinea
Webcast: www.youtube.com/unescap

WEDNESDAY, 15 JULY
13:00 – 14:30 (GMT+7)
Special Event on “Regional Session of Global Technical Meeting (GTM): Reimagining Volunteering for the 2030 Agenda”
Webcast: https://unitednationsvolunteers.swoogo.com/gtm2020

20:00 – 21:00 (GMT+7)
Plenary on “Regional Transformations Towards the SDGs in a COVID-19 Era: Messages from the Regions”
Webcast: http://webtv.un.org/

For more HLPF information: https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/hlpf/2020