On behalf of Vienna Economic Forum on 7th June 2023 the VEF President Amb. Victor Jackovich participated on the Sustainable Development Goals Summit 2023, organized by the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA).
This virtual Informal Stakeholder Dialogue created an opportunity for major groups and stakeholders to share inputs to the Zero Draft Political Declaration for the SDG Summit 2023.
Hereby is the text of the VEFcontribution to the discussion, given by Ambassador Victor Jackovich:
Vienna Economic Forum is an International non-governmental organization (NGO) based in Vienna, Austria. It gathers the most prominent members of business communities from Austria and from a total 13 member Countries in Southeast Europe and in the region „from the Adriatic to the Black Sea„. The organization has been active for 20 years as a platform for substantive discussions about regional and global economic issues. Vienna Economic Forum has consultative status within the framework of the UN’s ECOSOC.
Vienna Economic Forum congratulates the efforts and progress made by DSDG and DESA in developing a relevant agenda and draft declaration for future action to be adopted at the Summit 2023 in September. This includes efforts to invite stakeholder organizations, such as VEF, to provide additions and comments.
In this regard, from the standpoint of Vienna Economic Forum, we focus on our priority of Southeast Europe and the region „from the Adriatic to the Black Sea.“ In this regard, we hope the draft declaration can provide strengthened emphasis on education, youth organization, health care, digitalization and regional cooperation (particularly in post-conflict areas).
Vienna Economic Forum, of course, also supports the „Vienna Program of Action for Landlocked Countries 2014-2024.“
The 2023 SDG Summit will be chaired by the President of the General Assembly (PGA) and convened on 18-19 September 2023 in New York, during the United Nations General Assembly high-level week. The outcome of the Summit will be a negotiated political declaration.