Georgia presents second Voluntary National  Review of progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals

On July 13, 2020 Georgia presented the second Voluntary National Review (VNR) of Sustainable Development Goals implementation at the virtual United Nations High-Level Political Forum (HLPF) on Sustainable Development, which took place under the auspices of the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC).

The theme of this year's the largest annual UN meeting was "accelerated action and transformative pathways: realizing the decade of action and delivery for sustainable development”. This year 47 UN member states participated and highlighted their progress towards achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Georgia, Mr. Lasha Darsalia presented the Voluntary National Review and addressed questions from other Member States.

The report focuses on Georgia’s three priority directions: economic growth; human capital development and social welfare; and democratic governance. In addition to achievements the report also highlights challenges ahead and areas where further work is needed.

At the HLPF two side events were organized with Georgia’s participation. One on “Regional Mechanisms for Peer Support to Voluntary National Reviews: The VNR Twinning Experience” was co-organized July 13 by the UN Economic Commission for Asia and the Pacific with the Governments of Armenia, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan, to share experiences and learn from each other, in the spirit of South-South cooperation.

The second side event on “Education and innovation: partnerships for accelerating action to provide quality education for everyone” was co-organized by Georgia and the Estonia. It focused on children receiving quality education. Esma Gumberidze, Georgia's Youth Representative to the United Nation, also took part in the meeting and spoke about the challenges faced by adolescents and young people in Georgia and highlighted the areas defined by the reform of the Youth Agency, which will serve to create an ecosystem of support and knowledge  to help young people progress along their educational journey.

The  full Voluntary National Review is accessible in English: https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/memberstates/georgia

You can watch the full video of the VNR presentation here (starts at 17:25): https://bit.ly/2ZrQOdI

More information on the Forum: https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/hlpf/2020