The United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) and its partners,namely the League of Arab States,the United Nations Environment program and the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs,organized the Arab High-Level Forum on Sustainable Development,held in Amman from 2 to 4 April 214,in cooperation with the Ministry of Planning and International Cooperation and the Ministry of Environment of Jordan. The Arab Forum served as a regional preparatory meeting for the second session of the High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development,to be held in New York,in July 214. The Arab Forum also included a session focusing on the regional preparations for the 214 Annual Ministerial Review on the theme “Addressing on-going and emerging challenges for meeting the Millennium Development Goals in 215 and for sustaining development gains in the future”.
The Forum provided a platform for discussing: progress made in the Arab region towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals and means of accelerating their achievement and sustaining future gains; a proposed set of sustainable development goals for the Arab region; the proposed Arab Strategic Framework for Sustainable Development that ESCWA and its partners are developing; the means for implementing sustainable development commitments in the Arab region; and the future functions and organizational aspects of the Arab Forum on Sustainable Development.