The Regional Forums for Sustainable Development, convened annually by the Regional Commissions, have consolidated their status as the regional platforms for assessing progress and exchanging knowledge, best practices and solutions to support the implementation of the 2030 Agenda, in line with regional priorities and specificities. Countries have continued to receive support in the preparation of voluntary national reviews, benefiting from the wealth of knowledge and experiences shared in these forums.

The Regional Forums are convened in collaboration with United Nations agencies and bring together stakeholders from across the three dimensions of sustainable development, including from Member States, as well as regional and sub-regional organisations, international financial institutions, the private sector, academia and civil society organisations.

In 2020, five sessions organised by the UN Regional Commissions will take place:

• ECA: 6th session of the Africa Regional Forum on Sustainable Development, 24–27 February 2020, Victoria Falls Town, Zimbabwe
• UNECE: 3rd session of the Regional Forum on Sustainable Development for the UNECE Region, 19–20 March 2020, Geneva, Switzerland
• ESCAP: 7th Asia-Pacific Forum on Sustainable Development, 25–27 March 2020, Bangkok, Thailand
• ECLAC: 4th session of the Forum of the Countries of Latin America and the Caribbean on Sustainable Development, 28-31 March 2020, Havana, Cuba
• ESCWA: 7th session of the Arab Forum for Sustainable Development, 7-9 April 2020, Beirut, Lebanon

These Regional Coordination Mechanisms will ensure to meet the integrated policy advice needs of the 2030 Agenda, strengthen the policy-operational linkage including in strategic planning and regional and subregional programming, avoid duplication and overlaps, and guarantee a more coherent and robust accountability to ECOSOC and its oversight of the regional level results.

Regional governments are invited to be attentive of the registration deadlines and participation opportunities within these special sessions to follow up on and review the implementation of the 2030 Agenda and its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Source: http://www.regionalcommissions.org/