UN-ESCWA is organizing the “Arab Regional Forum on Energy for Sustainable Development: Strategies, Policies and Plans”, which will be held in cooperation with the Environment Agency – Abu Dhabi, the CAMRE Technical Secretariat and UNEP/ROWA at the Hilton Hotel, Abu Dhabi, on 1 February, following the International Conference on Integrated Sustainable Energy Resources in Arid Regions, held between 28 and 31 January 2007. Opening at 9:00am Thursday, the Forum intends to bring together a wide range of national officials, experts and professionals together with representatives and experts from the regional organization to review and update the current plans and progress achieved on Energy for sustainable development and related environmental issue; discuss the cluster of strategies and policies that have been identified preliminarily during the Arab preparations for the fourteenth session of the Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD-14), in view of the current implementation status and foreseen needs in the region; and consolidate a cluster of recommended strategies and policies to be presented to CSD-15. National experts from UN-ESCWA member countries will be participating in this Forum, as well as members of the UN-ESCWA Committee on Energy; national focal points of the “Regional Mechanism on the Development of Energy Uses for Sustainable Development”; members of the Joint Committee on Environment and Development in the Arab Region (JCEDAR); representatives from the concerned United Nations bodies, Arab regional organizations (Arab League and its subsidy bodies), UNEP/ROWA representatives and international agencies.