Training is a key focus of UAE’s sustainability goals: Minister

dubai — A sizeable chunk of the UAE’s commitment to achieving UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 2030 is focused on providing technical assistance and training, said Reem Al Hashimy, Minister of State for International Cooperation and Chairwoman of the National Committee on SDGs.

The UN SDGs are a set of 169 targets lined within 17 goals set by the UN General Assembly in 2015. Zero poverty, climate action, zero hunger, gender equality, and reducing inequalities are a few of these goals.

While speaking at the fourth official meeting of the UAE national committee on SDGs at the UN World Data Forum 2018, the minister said: “SDGs are not just UN or policy talk. It is what we want for our families and us in the future.”

The UAE was recognised as the world’s top donor of development aid in 2017, according to a report from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). However, majority of the country’s focus and commitment goes towards technical assistance and training, as it is vital to achieving the UN SDGs, Al Hashimy said.

Also speaking at the meeting were Amina Mohammed, deputy secretary-general of the United Nations, and Minister of State for Happiness and Wellbeing Ohood bint Khalfan Al Roumi.

UAE Vision 2021 and UN SDGs

At the meeting moderated by Hind Al Shamsi, lead researcher for competitiveness, strategy department, Federal Competitiveness and Statistics Authority (FCSA), Al Roumi explained that the UAE had aligned 52 national indicators of the Vision 2021 goals with the UN’s 17 SDGs.

“The UAE has been at the forefront of the development by enhancing human life and wellbeing. UAE Vision 2021 was drawn in 2010, ahead of the SDGs (drawn in the 2015 UN General Assembly). We aligned our national indicators with the global goals … moreover, departments are working to ensure that the national KPIs and global SDGs are met collaboratively and innovatively,” Al Roumi said.

The minister also gave two examples of efforts taken by the UAE government to achieve globally sustainable goals. “In 2016, the UAE launched government accelerators, an ambitious initiative that will accelerate the achievement of the National Agenda of the UAE Vision 2021. The second example is the UAE Ministry of Environment and Climate Change’s efforts to improve air quality by installing a system that will remove the ill effects of nitrous oxide from 160,000 cars. These initiatives are all made possible through private and government collaboration,” Al Roumi said.

SDGs are not just UN or policy talk. It is what we want for our families and us in the future.” Reem Al Hashimy, Minister of State for International Cooperation