A Week of Expert Roundtable Discussions on the SDGs Kickstarts in Kabul

July 27, 2019

SDGs Roundtable Discussions in Ministry of Economy in Afghanistan. © UNDP / S. Omer Sadaat / 2019

The first day of the week-long roundtable discussions on how to transform the war economy in Afghanistan to a peace economy started today at the Ministry of Economy of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan. The session was co-chaired by Minister Mustafa Mastoor and UNDP Resident Representative for Afghanistan Mr. Abdullah Al Dardari.

Opening the session, Dr. Mastoor thanked UNDP for fulfilling its promise, and assembling this group of renowned international experts with diverse background and expertise, to Kabul to discuss Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and integrating the goals in to the strategic plans of the government. “We are here to address the root causes of slow development and find opportunities and involve other potential partners such as private sector, civil society and citizens in the discussions and decisions”.

The Minister also emphasized on closer coordination between all partners involved with supporting and promoting SDGs so there can be real progress made towards achieving it. “This should not be only a UN initiative, it should be and it is the shared responsibility of all of us” said Minister Mastoor. “In addition to the ‘whole of government’ and ‘whole of society’ approach we need to have ‘whole of partners’ approach to succeed.”

Speaking at the session, Mr. Dardari emphasized on the need to move away from isolated projects to coherent and interconnected programmes that focus on macro-economic transformation of the country and asked the participants to present ideas and approaches that work for peace economy. “The core of these discussions will be how to move from a war economy to a peace economy” said Mr. Dardari.

Mr. Dardari underlined the importance of involving Afghanistan’s neighbors and wider international community in helping Afghanistan turn the page towards a robust economy that prospers in time of peace, not just for itself, but also for the countries in the region. “Finding solutions for the disagreements, and finding synergies, potential for partnership and linkages between regional and international partners help us towards a ‘win-win’ situation, and will transform the whole region” added Mr. Dardari.  

The panel discussions will take place over a period seven days with various government ministries and will mainly be focused on identifying the priorities of Afghanistan based on the present capacities and constraints and explore options for economic models that work best for peace. The experts will discuss integrated economic models with the relevant government entities and put forward options to accelerate the achievement of SDGs in Afghanistan.   

This is the first time such a group of experts and academics with a focus on macro-economics come to Afghanistan to start the conversation on transforming Afghanistan’s war economy to a peace economy and change the approach to development from isolated projects to integrated programmes.

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© UNDP / S. Omer Sadaat / 2019

© UNDP / S. Omer Sadaat / 2019

© UNDP / Farhad Zalmai / 2019

© UNDP / S. Omer Sadaat / 2019

© UNDP / S. Omer Sadaat / 2019

© UNDP / S. Omer Sadaat / 2019

© UNDP / S. Omer Sadaat / 2019

© UNDP / S. Omer Sadaat / 2019

© UNDP / Farhad Zalmai / 2019

© UNDP / S. Omer Sadaat / 2019