The Minister of Planning, Dr. Khaled Battal Al-Najm, delivered the Iraq speech to the annual United Nations High-Level Political Forum, held in New York.
in his speech from Baghdad, the Minister announced, via closed-circuit television, the launch of the second national voluntary report on the achievement of the sustainable development goals, which came under the title (Iraq…and a return to the development path), indicating that this report represents an attempt to review the experience of Iraq. development, and the approach taken to achieve the sustainable development goals, referring to a series of national consultations in which many social and economic actors, youth and women groups, civil society organizations, government institutions, as well as professors and experts from university professors participated in preparing this report, which focused on important tracks , including administrative decentralization, and an analysis of the experience of seven selected governorates for the purpose of shedding light on their sustainable development performance.
The Minister went on to say that the voluntary report included a number of internal and external messages. The Ministry of Interior focused on the fact that young people represent the engine of change and the tool for development, and they are the pinnacle of the demographic gift, as well as working to create positive competition at the level of local governments, and for everyone to join forces to enhance community security facing challenges, especially the COVID-19 pandemic. While the external messages focused on the importance of international partnerships, and the serious work to stay on the right development path.
In his speech, the Minister reviewed the efforts of the Iraqi government to restore the development path, by preparing plans that respond to the repercussions and address problems and challenges, including the white paper, the national document for recovery, the plan for the return of the displaced, and a set of strategic decisions of the Council of Ministers, stressing that the implementation of sustainable development goals , depends mainly on integrating partners and stakeholders, led by youth, in the development process, and providing efficient and responsive financing frameworks through restructuring the federal budget, attracting foreign investment, and involving the private sector.
It is worth noting that Iraq has previously submitted its first national voluntary report on sustainable development in 2019, and this year it presents its second voluntary report, out of 45 countries that submit their voluntary reports,
The report was prepared in cooperation with the United Nations Development Program in Iraq, and a number of experts from university professors participated in its writing, including Dr. Adnan Yassin, Dr. Wafaa Al-Mahdawi, Dr. Hassan Latif, while the Undersecretary of the Ministry of Planning, Dr. Maher Hammad Johan, headed the preparation team. Which included a number of heads of formations, general managers and experts in the Ministry of Planning