Dubai, United Arab Emirates – February 4, 2020: Countries in the GCC must accelerate their efforts if they are to meet the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), according to Oliver Wyman’s latest report.
Titled ‘A Decade of Action: Delivering Sustainable Development Goals in the Gulf’, the report looks at why SDGs, launched in 2015, are critical and why it is imperative for governments in the Gulf, with the active engagement of private enterprise, to strive to meet the goals in time.
The SDGs provide governments with an organised and unified structure to address interconnected developmental issues such as poverty, economic inequality, education, the climate crisis, peace, justice, and responsible consumption and production. However, despite progress in areas such as poverty eradication, the 193 countries that have committed to these goals have met with limited success in streamlining their operations towards accomplishing the 2030 Agenda.
“The Gulf region is not any different, and progress in addressing these pressing challenges has been remarkably slow,” said Jeff Youssef, Public Sector Partner at Oliver Wyman.
“Based on what we have witnessed so far, there is little chance the region’s economies will meet the 17 goals in time, and that will have serious socio-economic implications across the region. There is no blanket solution to regional responses towards SDGs, but it is imperative that governments and private enterprises in the Gulf come together and accelerate their efforts to ensure a promising future for coming generations.”
Delivering the SDGs still remains a formidable governance challenge for all countries, irrespective of their stage of development or income levels, says the report.
The biggest hurdles facing the implementation of SDGs in Gulf countries are shortcomings in institutional mechanisms that deliver SDGs’ insufficient clarity on benefits and gaps in the evidence base; and the lack of sufficient financing.
For further information, please download the full report from here.