10th Africa Regional Forum on Sustainable Dev’t kicks off in Addis Ababa

Addis Ababa, April 23, 2024 (FBC) – The 10th Africa Regional Forum on Sustainable Development, hosted by the Government of Ethiopia, kicked off in Addis Ababa earlier today.

The opening of the forum was attended by the United Nations Deputy Secretary-General Amina J. Mohammed, Executive Secretary of the UN Economic Commission for Africa Claver Gatete, Ethiopia’s Minister of Planning and Development Fitsum Aseffa, representatives of various African countries, and the UN Resident Coordinators from across Africa.

The tenth session of ARFSD is being held under an overarching theme “Reinforcing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and Agenda 2063 and eradicating poverty in times of multiple crises: The effective delivery of sustainable, resilient and innovative solutions” The three-day gathering is also organized by the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) in collaboration with the African Union Commission, the African Development Bank and the United Nations system organizations.

In 2024, member States and their partners are past midway in the implementation of the 2030 Agenda and yet progress on most SDGs is off-track – “progress on most of the SDGs is either moving much too slowly or has regressed below the 2015 baseline.” UNECA indicated that achieving the SDGs by the set deadline of 2030 is contingent on stepping up implementation through ambitious and bold solutions and action. For Africa, integrated implementation of the SDGs and the Agenda 2063 is essential and actions and solution to achieve both are needed.

The ARFSD-10 is said to be a timely opportunity to address shortcomings and capitalize on emerging opportunities to ensure robust, accelerated and timely implementation of the SDGs and Agenda 2063. The Forum is hoped to mobilize effective Africa engagement in the Summit of the Future to be held in September 2024 and generate Africa’s priorities and inputs to the Summit.

The Forum was preceded by pre-events, held from 17 April to 22 April 2024. The main Forum is also expected to feature selected side events aligned with the theme and subthemes of the Forum.