The Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) will launch the UN Decade for SE4All 2014-2024 in the Arab region, in line with the Secretary-General’s SE4All initiative, and in correspondence to the joint statement signed by the Executive Secretaries of the five UN Regional Commissions for "The Fifth International Forum on Energy for Sustainable Development".

The launching will convene high ranking Arab government officials responsible for implementing sustainable energy policies in their respective countries, key international and regional organizations and experts as well as sister UN organizations.

It will reflect on the regional roadmap proposed by the Executive Secretaries of the five UN Regional Commissions to accelerate the pace of achieving the SE4All objectives. It will explore the opportunities associated with the role of sustainable energy as an enabling ingredient of social and economic sustainable development in the region and discuss specifically the financial resources required to achieve the SE4All objectives in the region, as well as the different options to mobilize them. The discussions will also reflect on early related success-stories in the region, the establishment of new partnerships that can lead to concrete change on the ground; and examine the role of SE4All in the context of the Post-2015 Development Agenda, including the proposed Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) on energy.