On April/23-24, 2017, Ms. Razan Zuayter was invited to speak at the introductory session during the preparatory conference on environmental issues and regional priorities in Cairo, Egypt.

The meeting was held by ESCWA in collaboration with the General Secretariat of the League of Arab States and the United Nations Environment Programme. The meeting was attended by member countries in the joint committee for environment and development in the Arab world who discussed regional priorities related to the environmental dimension of sustainable development goals. 

 Ms. Zuayter spoke about the barriers to achieving the Sustainable Development 2030 Goals as a result of the turbulent protracted crises in the region.

 Ms. Zuayter emphasized the importance of cooperation and collaboration between civil society organizations, and suggested the following:

(1) Effective reform of agricultural policies

(2) Bridging between relief and humanitarian projects and development projects

(3) Shifting the dependency away from imports towards a stronger reliance on local production in an effort to strengthen food sovereignty and hence self-determination over political decisions

(4) Call for an immediate stop of the wars plaguing the Arab World, particularly noting that Yemen is on the brinks of a country-wide famine as a consequence of war.