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Sustainable development goals in #Palestine

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A delegation of local and regional authorities in the EU and the Mediterranean has called for more political action to implement the United Nations’ sustainable development in Palestine, writes Mass Mboup.

The call came at a meeting of the executive board of the Euro-Mediterranean Regional and Local Assembly (ARLEM) on 30 June, hosted by the city of Ramallah and the Association of Palestinian Local Authorities.

Representatives also called for consideration of ways to develop the blue economy and to deepen integration and economic relations between local and regional authorities throughout the Mediterranean region.

CoR’s President Lambertz; the Mayor of Ramallah, Musa Hadid, and Mina Bouhdoud, Mayor of Lagfifat in Morroco and co-chair of the meeting.

The meeting follows the February 2019 annual meeting of ARLEM in Seville (Spain), which focused on the advancement of the UN SDGs at city and regional levels. The SDGs provide a framework for the joint EU-Palestine strategy, and each municipality is trying to progress towards the UN’s 17 goals.

Since 2010, ARLEM has served as a platform for cooperation between local and regional politicians from the EU and the Mediterranean regions. Its recommendations inform decisions taken by the EU and the Union for the Mediterranean. The platform brings together 80 members and two observers from the EU and its Mediterranean partner countries.

As well as the UN’s sustainable development goals (SDGs), the meeting discussed developing the blue economy in the Mediterranean, as well as ways to establish deeper economic integration in the region generally.

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Musa Hadid, mayor of Ramallah and president of the Association of Palestinian Local Authorities, who hosted the meeting, said he believed there is a “community of mayors and governors in Europe and around the Mediterranean who are keen to support the development of each other's cities and regions.” He added: "Over the past nine years, ARLEM has shown that there is a community of mayors and governors in Europe and around the Mediterranean who are keen to support the development of each other's cities and regions. Palestine needs support and, potentially, other cities and regions could provide particularly practical help, because they know the challenges of providing core services.”

Musa Hadid also mentioned the “very specific and significant practical challenges” that Ramallah and Palestine face.

‘Collective political action’ only way to meet sustainable future – CoR president

European Committee of the Regions President Karl-Heinz-Lambertz said that he believed that the majority of the UN Sustainable Development Goals could be best addressed by working at either local or region levels.

“In Europe, the UN SDGs are spurring international collaboration between cities and regions; perhaps we can bring Palestinian local authorities into this cooperation. The UN SDGs already shape the European Joint Strategy in support of the Palestinian Authority, so city-to-city collaboration would reinforce the EU's approach," he said.

Mayor of Lagfifat, Mina Bouhdoud, who co-chairs ARLEM, acknowledged the “very constrained and extremely challenging circumstances in which Palestinian communities work.” She said that in such circumstances, partnerships and common objectives, including achieving the UN’s sustainable development goals, are “even more important”.

“In Morocco, national, regional and local authorities are working more and more closely together to advance the UN's Sustainable Development Goals”, she said.  I hope that Palestinian authorities and communities can also work effectively together towards the UN's 17 goals.”

“We believe that global challenges require local responses. We must help each other. We need to work on finding ways to partner with Palestinian mayors. We need to look beyond traditional development tools and tap the potential of peers-to-peers partnerships," added Juan Espadas Ceja, the mayor of the fourth largest city in Seville.

Leila Ghannam, Governor of Ramallah and Al-Bireh, also addressed the ARLEM delegation.

Other participating ARLEM representatives included Lütfü Savaş, Mayor of Hatay in Turkey and, from the European Union: Markku Markkula, from  Espoo in Finland and 1st vice president of the CoR; Olgierd Geblewicz, President of the province of West Pomerania and leader of the presidents of Polish provinces; Arnoldas Abramavičius of Zarasai district in Lithuania and the CoR's rapporteur on the SDGs; Vincenzo Bianco, former interior minister of Italy and former mayor and current council member of Catania; Paweł Grzybowski of Rypin in Poland; Jean-Francois Barnier, Mayor of Chambon-Feugerolles in France; and Uno Silberg of Kose municipality in Estonia. According to an EU official, the meeting in Ramallah  was also a great opportunity for members of ARLEM to deepen its knowledge of the situation in Palestine. From the interviews given to the Palestinian media, President Lambertz said that the meeting was to show solidarity with the Palestinians, to discuss ways of advancing the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals, and to see the reality on the ground.

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