(ESCAP news) | The United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) and the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES) have affirmed their commitment to work together to promote sustainable development in Asia and the Pacific, through a new Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Forum on Sustainable Development (APFSD) in Bangkok this week.

The MoU will support collaborative activities between the two organizations, including producing analytical works, policy tools and promoting knowledge-sharing and regional cooperation. ESCAP and IGES have also agreed to consider organizing policy dialogues to assist member States in working toward implementation and follow-up and review of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Through the MoU, the two organizations aim to synergize their work on environment and sustainable development to increase the effectiveness and impact of their respective work, and to strengthen the science-policy interface in Asia and the Pacific through joint analytical work that promotes informed policy dialogues.

United Nations Under-Secretary-General and Executive Secretary of ESCAP, Dr. Shamshad Akhtar, highlighted that the partnership is extremely timely.

“At the 2016 Asia-Pacific Forum on Sustainable Development in Bangkok this week, member States are discussing regional priorities for implementation of the 2030 Agenda. The new partnership between ESCAP and IGES will allow us to better serve the Asia-Pacific region through enhanced support to member States in their efforts to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).”

“By combining ESCAP’s role as the convener of the intergovernmental process in Asia and the Pacific, with IGES’s research expertise on sustainable development, this new partnership aims to produce even higher quality analytical work to help policymakers and other stakeholders to effectively implement the 2030 Agenda,” said Dr. Akhtar.

Prof. Hironori Hamanaka, Chair of the Board of Directors of IGES added, “We have a long history of conducting practical and solutions-oriented research and prioritising the need to realise sustainable development in the Asia-Pacific region through our analytical work. This partnership with ESCAP is an important step for IGES to further our mission to serve as a ‘change agent’, facilitating the achievement of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and improving the economic and social well-being of all citizens in the region.”

Other planned collaborative activities include the development of publications, including a regional assessment on environment and development policy integration. ESCAP and IGES may also cooperate in the area of climate change, in particular climate finance, building on existing research collaboration.

Source:
@BRUDIRECT.COM

by Katie Elles, ESCAP-SCAS

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