Over the past decade, the Arab region witnessed disruptive and unforeseen socio-economic, political, and environmental challenges. These challenges include conflicts and political instability, food insecurity, water scarcity, soaring unemployment, and gender inequality, and others. Given the recurrent and rapidly evolving nature of development challenges in the Arab region, streamlining the efforts of all relevant stakeholders to address them and achieve sustainable development is critical to the sustainable future of the region. One crucial step in this streamlining process is to strengthen the cooperation between the UN system and Academia. This synergy can contribute to directing academic research and development to priority development challenges of the Arab region. Academic institutions are well-positioned to use foresight to identify future critical and recurrent problems and advise the UN on programmatic direction as well as assist the UN system with innovative solutions to advance sustainable development and provide the evidence needed for policy-making.
 
This meeting aims thus to launch the Academic Network for Development Dialogue (ANDD). This regional network shall focus on creating an intellectual sharing process to bridging the local knowledge gap and foster academic expertise and scientific findings to support progress towards sustainable development in the region, including supporting evidence-based action by the UN system.
 
The Academic Network for Development Dialogue will be established as a partnership between universities and educational institutions in both the region and worldwide with the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) supported by the Academic Council on the United Nations System (ACUNS) and the Qatar University