APN Board member Ms. Zuayter was invited to speak at the Arab Forum for Sustainable Development in Morocco, organized by the morrocan minister Ministry in charge of General Affairs and Governance, the Economic and Social Commission of the United Nations (ESCWA) and the League of Arab States and in collaboration with UN organizations working in the Arab region.
The forum was titled “Eradicating Poverty and Promoting Prosperity in a Changing Arab World” and is considered as a high-level meeting and a regional platform for discussing the implementation of the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals in the Arab region.
Ms. Zuayter spoke during the “Implementing the 2030 Sustainable Goals from an Arab Perspective” session, where she recognized the active participation of civil society organizations and thanked the organizers for using the Arabic language. Ms. Zuayter noted Mr. Mohammad Maaytah, Deputy General Director of the Policy and Reform unit at the Prime Minister’s Office in Palestine, who called for an end to the fragmentation of the Palestinian leadership and the need to address issues of conditional development aid.
Ms. Zuayter also addressed Ms. Haifa Al Mogrin, President of the Sustainable Development Goals Department at the Ministry of Economics and Planning in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, about the importance of mobilizing towards the fifth goal of "gender equality" and called for all countries to immediately stop all regional forms of protracted crises, replacing them with fruitful dialogue.
During Ms. Zuayter’s speech in the 6th session on “Building Prosperous Communities through Peace and Stability” she spoke about the barriers to implementing a development agenda unless there is an immediate halt to all wars and the resumption of major political reform. Ms. Zuayter also suggested combining development with relief, and searching for funding that is not crippling. Ms. Zuayter assured that peace and stability lacking justice, equality, and respect to human rights are will be insufficient to build prospering communities, pointing to the fact that many countries enjoy peace and stability with no prosperity due to the inequitable distribution of resources and the absence of food security or environmental justice. Ms. Zuayter reiterated that what is needed in the Arab world is heightened self-confidence such that when there is a will, there is a way.
During the food security and development session, Ms. Zuayter also called on Mr. Mohammad bin Abdullah al Rumeihi, the Qatari Minister of Environment, for the following:
(1) Allow Civil Society to grow in Qatar
(2) Bring Qatari funding to the Arab League and other regional organizations in support of regional efforts and as a means of shifting away from foreign funding
(3) Strengthen the role of Qatar in acting as a mediator between Arab countries, similar to the role played in Beirut
Following the meeting, Ms. Razan Zuayter, as Head of the Arab Network for Food Sovereignty, was invited to an introductory lunch at the National Federation for the Agricultural Sector in Morocco, hosted by the union's President Mr. Said Khair and other members.
A link to Ms. Zuayter's speech in Rabat