On October 6th and 7th, 2022 the Austrian Federal Government, SDG Watch Austria and the Ban Ki-moon Centre for Global Citizens convened the 2. SDG Dialogforum Austria to discuss current opportunities and prospects for the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals.

“It’s promising to see that this year’s Forum will go beyond promoting solutions and will aim to build and enhance implementing partnerships among government, private sector, and civil society at eye level.” – 8th UN Secretary-General and Co-chair of the Ban Ki-moon Centre for Global Citizens Ban Ki-moon said in his opening remarks of the 2nd SDG Dialogforum

The two-day forum featured multistakeholder discussions in various formats aiming to accelerate the effective implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals.

The event moderated by BKMC CEO Monika Froehler, started on February 6th, with opening remarks by Franz Wirtenberger from the Austrian Chancellery and Annelies Vilim, CEO of AG Globale Verantwortung. Thereafter, to curate cutting-edge ideas, solutions, and partnerships, for decision-makers in so-called “Innovation Pools”, a public multistakeholder discussion, comprised of participants from the federal administration, civil society, academia, and the private sector discussed the following topics:

     

      • How much energy does Austria need? Ways towards a social and nature-based energy transition

      • Skills for the 21st Century

      • Equal Opportunities – wellbeing and social Inclusion of children and youth

      • Austria’s development policy. Reacting to multiple crises. Fostering resilience

    The closing of the first day featured a summary of the highlights from each Innovation Pool in anticipation of the second day of the SDG Dialogforum 2022, during which a high-level panel would pick up the results.

    On October 7th, official welcome messages from Peter Launsky-Tieffenthal, Secretary General in the Federal Ministry of European and Foreign Affairs; Ban Ki-moon, BKMC Co-chair; Thomas Alge CEO of ÖKOBÜRO; and lastly Achim Steiner Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme opened the floor to a ceremony of Regional Best Practice Cases highlighting projects of effective SDG implementation in Upper Austria, Lower Austria and Styria with the help of the Austrian Sustainable Development regional coordinators.

    At the 2. SDG Dialogforum press conference, Minister Karoline Edtstadler announced the commitment of the Austrian government to work on the submission of the next Austrian Voluntary National Report by 2024. This will be done by broad consultations with all relevant stakeholders including government, civil society, academia, private sector, and youth.

    “I can announce that we are currently working on the 2nd Voluntary National Implementation Report and will decide in the coming weeks in the Council of Ministers to present it by 2024.“ – Federal Minister for EU and Constitution Karoline Edtstadler

    Moderated by PULS 4 News Chief, Corinna Milborn, a high-level panel welcomed speakers Karoline Edtstadler, Federal Minister for the EU and Constitution, Leonore Gewessler, Federal Minister for Climate Action, Environment, Energy, Mobility, Innovation and Technology, Johannes Rauch, Federal Minister for Social Affairs, Health, Care and Consumer Protection, Peter Launsky-Tieffenthal, Secretary General in the Federal Ministry of European and Foreign Affairs and Gerd Müller, Director General of UNIDO.

    The ministers and high-level representatives addressed the partnerships suggested by the Innovation Pools and reflected on Austria’s efforts to implement Agenda 2030 and its 17 SDGs to date.

    Main points of the discussion were an increased need for energy security, energy efficiency measures, and alleviating financial measures, the enhancement of early childhood support, mapping of the skills for the 21st century for Austria and the countries responsibility to focus some efforts of its development cooperation activities on resilience and food security particularly in the global south. The two-day event underlined the importance of partnerships and dialogue to not only achieve the SDGs but also to fight global challenges. The SDG Dialogforum has allowed for the government and civil society to formulate meaningful partnerships within the years ahead to accelerate the implementation of the SDGs until 2030.

    Access our Flickr Album from Day 1 HERE

    Access our Flickr Album from Day 2 HERE

     

    Overall, the event saw over 1000 participants (live and virtual) and additionally reached over 20.000 through social media.

    The BKMC thanks all co-organizers for their tireless efforts to make the 2nd Dialogforum Austria such a success. Read the event report in German

    Watch the full recording in German of Day 1

    Watch the full recording in German of Day 2