On March 13, as part of its nationwide advocacy efforts, the Platform "SDGs for All'' organized a press conference at the Belgrade Media Center, urging the new Government to commit to sustainable development, continue drafting the country’s Development Plan, and involve civil society organizations and other non-state actors in development policy dialogue, planning, and implementation processes.

At the conference, the Platform representatives specifically called on the new Government to integrate the implementation of the 2030 Agenda into its work program, aligning it with EU accession efforts. A specific ministry should be designated to coordinate the Agenda’s implementation, ideally the one responsible for drafting the Development Plan. The Government must continue its transparent and efficient efforts in preparing and adopting the Development Plan, ensuring it encompasses reforms for EU accession and sustainable development goals.

Additionally, active involvement of civil society, universities, and other stakeholders in both the preparation and monitoring of the Development Plan is crucial. Decision-makers are encouraged to adopt these proposals to enhance development planning and engage the wider public in shaping Serbia’s priorities.

As the immediate next step, the Platform will address its proposals to the Members of Parliament, ministries within the current Government and other relevant institutions, and in the forthcoming period the Platform will use various dialogue formats with the representatives of relevant institutions and other stakeholders to reiterate the key messages raised at the press conference and to follow up on the new Government’s commitment to sustainable development and the 2030 Agenda implementation.

The conference was organized on behalf of the "SDGs for All" platform. The "SDGs for All" platform is supported by the governments of Switzerland and Germany, and is implemented by Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH, within the "Public Finance Reform - Agenda 2030" project. Partners in the project are Belgrade Open School, BFPE Foundation for a Responsible Society, Center for Advanced Economic Studies, Ana and Vlade Divac Foundation, Center for Democracy Foundation, Timok Youth Center, and Smart Kolektiv.

Text taken from the Platform SDGs for All portal.

Photo author: Belgrade Media Center