The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia's delegation to the United Nations High-Level Political Forum (HLPF) concluded its participation at the event with a call to the international community to become a unified force in the pursuit of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The Kingdom's delegation led by the Ministry of Economy and Planning (MEP), included representatives from the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development, the Ministry of Environment, Water & Agriculture, the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, and the General Authority for Statistics. Over the course of the forum, the Kingdom's delegation participated in several sessions on the efforts to achieve the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, with wide participation from governmental, private, non-profit, research centers and international organizations. The discussion sessions focused on 5 of the sustainable development goals: Quality Education, Gender Equality, Life Underwater, Life on Land, and Partnerships to Achieve Goals. Speaking at the conclusion of the event, Deputy Minister for Policies and Economic Planning Ayman Afghani said: "The discussions we have had, and the dialogues we have held with our partners at the HLPF have yielded an unequivocal consensus: working together is infinitely better than working alone in our pursuit of sustainable development." "As the global COVID-19 recovery effort continues, we must make it our mission to catalyse collaboration and collectively pave the way towards a more sustainable future for all." Afghani added: "The message from Saudi Arabia to the international community is clear: we remain committed to working together, contributing to global progress, and helping to achieve our shared goals." Additionally, a number of bilateral meetings were held with the heads of a number of international organizations and UN member states to share best practices and discuss aspects of cooperation to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. During the HLPF in New York, the Kingdom hosted a side event titled "Saudi Arabia's Efforts Towards Achieving the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda" to highlight the progress the country is making in the SDGs – with particular emphasis on the SDGs in the spotlight at this year's forum: SDG4, SDG5, SDG14, SDG15 and SDG17. The side event heard from delegates how the Saudi government is investing heavily in enhancing its education ecosystem to achieve SDG4 (quality education) and how the Kingdom's broad program of gender reforms have been recognised globally for affecting rapid and substantial improvement on the SDG5 (gender equality) metric. Delegates then moved on to explain how the implantation of the Saudi Green Initiative (SGI) is aiming to drastically reduce carbon emissions, protect Saudi's aquamarine life and preserve its natural biodiversity as the Kingdom pursues the objectives of both SDG14 (life below water) and SDG15 (life on land). The side event concluded with delegates agreeing that truly impactful sustainable development is not possible without commitments by international partners to work together and join forces to deliver a collaborative and coordinated response to the uncertain socioeconomic conditions emerging across the world today. The 2022 edition of the HLPF arrives with tremendous momentum behind Saudi's socioeconomic transformation being driven by Saudi Vision 2030, which finds natural synergies with the UN's 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The HLPF is the United Nations main platform for following-up and assessing the progress that has been made by countries across the 17 SDGs. The HLPF is held at the UN's Headquarters in New York City and organized by the UN Economic and Social Council, with government entities, private sector organizations, non-profits and think tanks participating every year in the forum.
