The Parliamentary Assembly of the Mediterranean (PAM) participated at the 2nd World Parliamentary Forum on “Sustainable Development Partnership Towards Sustainable Energies for All”, held in Bali on 12-13 September and hosted by the Parliament of Indonesia. Parliamentarians from 46 countries attended the event.
The Bali event targeted specific sub-topics which are fundamental to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals, such as cities development, education and technology and the role of women.
PAM was represented by Vice President Hon. Bilal Qasem, who addressed the conference and underlined the long standing commitment that the Assembly has always attached to the issue of sustainable development, since its establishment.
Hon. Qasem recalled the many initiatives carried out by PAM on topics related to sustainable development, such as climate change, renewable energy, waste management, food security and transport.
In his conclusions, Hon. Qasem reaffirmed PAM’s intention to give its contribution in the international arena, and stated that PAM will build on the main outcome of the Bali event to trigger an open, fruitful debate among Mediterranean MPs in order to “contributing to make concrete steps ahead on the path of sustainable development, from all perspectives, keeping in mind that sustainable development is a multi-faceted issue which requires a comprehensive, multi-subject approach”.
In the document released at the end of the conference, parliamentarians committed themselves to do their utmost to raise awareness on the importance of the SDGs 2030 and affirm their intention to follow up the outcomes of the event at a national level, as well as to establish the adequate mechanism, within their national parliaments, to work closely in cooperation with governments.
In particular the parliamentarians agreed to:
Scale up efforts to raise awareness among parliaments in each participating countries on the importance of SDGs achievement; Establish the necessary mechanism to work closely with the government and other stakeholders to ensure the effective parliamentary functions on legislation, budgeting, and oversight in accordance with the national SDGs roadmap; Take follow up actions to the outcomes of WPFSD both at the national and international levels in partnership with other parliamentarians, development partners, and relevant stakeholders; Continue regular holdings of WPFSD as the key global parliamentarian forum to facilitate exchange of views, knowledge, and best practices towards the achievement of SDGs 2030.