Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe, 19 February 2020 (ECA) - United Nations Deputy Secretary General, Amina J. Mohammed, arrives in Zimbabwe on Saturday to attend the Sixth Africa Regional Forum on Sustainable Development (ARFSD) that is being hosted by Harare in partnership with the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA).
Ms. Mohammed will on Monday 24 February 2020 first attend an African youth engagement forum for the decade of action which is calling on nations to accelerate implementation of the sustainable development goals
Dubbed UN@75 - The future is now, the forum will allow Ms. Mohammed and other senior UN officials like Vera Songwe, the Executive Secretary of the ECA, to interact with the youth, and seeks to inspire them, especially young African ladies, that they can actively contribute to shape the present they live in and the future they want.
Collective actions needed around youth and women empowerment will also ne discussed.
The forum is expected to increase interest and determination from young African leaders, in particular young ladies, to be active global citizens, and to contribute to the advancement of the 2030 agenda for sustainable development and Africa's Agenda 2063 in their communities and at global level.
The forum will contribute the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) youth forum to be held in New York in April; to the high-level meeting of the General Assembly on the UN@75 anniversary in September and the High Level Political Forum (HLPF).
Ms. Mohammed will also attend the special session of the Regional Coordination Mechanism for Africa (RCM-Africa), an inter-agency meeting held annually to improve cooperation and coordination among the organisations of the UN system.
She will also attend the first meeting bringing together all UN Regional Coordinators on the African continent, also in Victoria Falls.
Ms. Mohammed will then attend the ARFSD which runs from 24-27 February under the theme; "2020-2030: A Decade to deliver a transformed and prosperous Africa through the 2030 Agenda and Agenda 2063." The forum takes place at the Elephant Hills, allowing the continent to take stock of where Africa is in terms of implementing the two agendas and come up with actions needed to accelerate implementation to ensure no-one is left behind.