Policy dialogue among partners is an essential tool of building and sustaining peace and achieving prosperity in an increasingly complex world.
Today, the League of Arab States, the Government of Japan, and the United Nations Development Programme launched a new initiative on policy dialogue. The tri-partite framework has the objective of supporting the League of Arab States to strengthen cooperation among its Member States to accelerate the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals including in countries affected by conflict or recovering from crisis.
This initiative comes at a time when the Arab region is facing pressing challenges that impact ongoing efforts to achieve lasting peace and prosperity and meet the social and economic objectives and aspirations of its peoples.
Yet around the region there are also many instances of progress underway, and emerging trends signal the possibility of an ever more robust social contract centered on inclusive development and responsiveness to people's needs. Moreover, despite the continued instability facing some countries, the region started to witness a de-escalation of conflict intensity, with a decrease by 73% of battle-related deaths between 2014 and 2018. Digital technologies also are also spurring innovation across the region and pointing to important possibilities for growth in years to come.
The Policy Dialogue Initiative launched today will be centered upon a series of senior-level roundtables bringing together officials from the League of Arab States, the Government of Japan, and UNDP and other relevant UN agencies to identify common and actionable priorities for joint work in support of peace and prosperity across the Arab region. Today partners convened for the first roundtable, during which priorities in the area of education were discussed.
"The League of Arab States highly appreciates its longstanding partnership with both Japan and the UNDP," said Ambassador Hossam Zaki, Assistant Secretary-General of the League of Arab States. "It is especially pleased to jointly launch this trilateral Policy Dialogue that aims to further advance peace, security and stability, enhance capacity building, and contribute to the attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals in the Arab region. This inaugural Roundtable will afford LAS, Japan and the UNDP an important platform to strengthen their cooperation with the objective of improving the provision of quality education as a foundational pillar of human development and driver of economic development and prosperity throughout the Arab region."
"On behalf of the Government of Japan, let me express my pleasure to jointly launch this tri-partite platform together with LAS and UNDP." said Masaki Noke, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Japan to Egypt. "This is an important part of our contribution to building peace and stability toward prosperity in the region. We start with the theme of education. It is decisive for the region's future and a priority in our cooperation, with examples such as Japanese-style primary and secondary schools and Egypt-Japan University of Science and Technology. We are also hoping that our discussion at the first LAS-JAPAN-UNDP Roundtable today will assist LAS through informing other key initiatives that LAS is undertaking, including the Japan-Arab Political Dialogue."
"Dialogue is a pivotal means for strengthening policies in support of sustainable development and the Sustainable Development Goal," said Mourad Wahba, Associate Administrator and Director of the Regional Bureau for Arab States, UNDP. "UNDP appreciates the opportunity to support Japan and the League of Arab States to strengthen their engagement, and is pleased to join in this effort to support policymakers across the region to chart the road ahead for a future of peace and prosperity."
