The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have been put on spotlight at the first-ever High-level National Forum on the SDGs on 4th October 2021 as Mongolia’s key stakeholders in development, including the Parliamentarians, the Cabinet ministers, Diplomatic Missions, representatives from the civil society, development partners and the academia, and most importantly from the private sector, discussed the importance of integration of the SDGs in the national policies and programs and their implementation in Mongolia.

In his opening remarks, H.E Speaker of the Parliament G. Zandanshatar highlighted the importance of multilateral cooperation for the intensification of the SDGs in Mongolia while announcing that a Multistakeholder Council for Sustainable Development (MCSD) will be set up at the Parliament of Mongolia to ensure coordination and whole of society approach for SDGs implementation in Mongolia.

H.E. L.Oyun-Erdene, Prime Minister of Mongolia emphasized some of the key measures by the Government for the socio-economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic within a short period of time. He underscored the Government’s recent commitment to the Government budget for 2022 that included some reforms towards sustainable financing. For instance, the Government aims to support stronger middle-income group of population as a way to eradicate poverty and end hunger nationwide. Therefore, the development policies will be shifted from social welfare to the creation of employment opportunities for the people.

The UN Resident Coordinator Tapan Mishra thanked Mongolia’s Government for their decisive actions and commitment to the SDGs in the midst of the fight against the devastating pandemic. “I am particularly pleased that the National Committee for Sustainable Development has recently adopted the national SDG targets and indicators and look forward towards the Parliament’s support in reviewing and adopting them during the upcoming sessions. Anchoring the nationalized SDG targets and indicators in the national development policies and programmes, supported by adequate financial resources and monitoring mechanism, is crucial for achieving the 2030 Agenda,” said Tapan Mishra.

The keynote speech of the forum was delivered by UN Assistant Secretary-General for Economic Development, Chief Economist, UN-DESA Mr. Elliott Harris, who accentuated the effective recovery from the extreme impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic that has exacerbated the various forms of vulnerabilities and interdependence the world faces today.

“Governments can now formulate more ambitious policies aimed at reducing vulnerabilities an integral objective of the recovery plans,” said Mr. Harris. He further noted that the pandemic has underscored the importance of social protection, the need to buttress public health systems; and the accelerating digitalization of the economy. “It has shown that we need to put greater emphasis on improving the quality of investments in education, health, basic infrastructure and information and communications technologies, within the existing resources,” he added.

Among the esteemed panelists were the Deputy Speaker of Parliament S.Odontuya, MP J.Ganbaatar and M. Oyunchimeg, who gave a broader overview on the legal frameworks on localizing SDGs in Mongolia and adoption of nationalized targets and indicators by the Parliament.

At the second panel discussion of the forum, the role of the private sector was highly emphasized, as noted the Member of Parliament J. Ganbaatar noted that the private sector that has good governance will be the driving forces for the acceleration of the agenda for sustainable development.

Acknowledging the fact that achieving the SDGs is everyone’s business, the UN Mongolia welcomed the Parliament’s leadership the acceleration of the SDGs through this important multi-stakeholder mechanism. It implies a new set of partnerships involving parliamentarians, national and local governments working with the private sector, academia, civil society and development partners, as emphasized by the Resident Coordinator.

At her closing remarks of the forum, Ms Kh.Bulgantuya, Member of Parliament and the Chair of the Sub-Committee on the SDGs announced the launch of the Multistakeholder Council for Sustainable Development (MCSD) to be an effective regulatory mechanism, which will serve as a platform for cohesive and coherent policy-making and implementation for achieving the 2030 Agenda and Vision 2050.

Source:UN Mongolia