As the world is still struggling to fight the COVID-19 pandemic and its disruptive impact on agricultural value chain, the private sector and farmers in the Arab region are facing burdens on how to continue delivering along the agricultural value chain and ensure the continuity of supplies to consumers, for sustaining their livelihoods, from farm to fork. The United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) leads on this Zoominar session to highlight the role of the private sector in the use of innovation and technology and the potential role of the public-private partnership and regional cooperation in reaching out to smallholders and building their resilience to crises, disasters and COVID-19 pandemic. The session is being held within the context of the International Forum on “International Forum on Innovation in Agri-Food Systems to achieve SDGs”, that was planned to take place in Saudi Arabia in March 2020 in preparations for the G20 meeting in KSA.

Within the framework of the “Regional Initiative for Promoting Small-Scale Renewable Energy Applications in Rural Areas of the Arab Region (REGEND)” Project, the UN Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) is organizing a Webinar on “Case study on Lebanon’s policy regulatory reforms and financial and legal frameworks needed to promote small-scale renewable energy technologies and applications in rural areas”.
 
The webinar will present and discuss Lebanon’s case study and provide guidelines to conceptualize REGEND’s policy  toolkit as regional strategic guidelines to improve the enabling environment for the private sector and women entrepreneurs to invest in income-generating activities by increasing the use of small-scale RE technologies and applications in productive activities in the rural areas.

Within the context of regional preparation for Rio+20, the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) and the Arabic Industrial Development and Mining Organization (AIDMO) are organizing in cooperation with the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)/ Regional Office for Western Asia in Bahrain, the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ) and the League of Arab States/ Technical Secretariat of the Council of Arab Ministers Responsible for the Environment  a conference on “The Role of