This workshop intend to provide capacity building support to Member countries and Regional Organizations on the Arab trade integration performance with the objective to accelerate the full implementation of PAFTA and facilitate the negotiations on the ACU taking into account Arab trade integration projects with the rest of the world and the changing global trade policies.

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.

The Social Development Division at ESCWA has conducted in the period of four months in 2010 three online discussion forums on the following thematic areas: (a) Government -civil-society participation in public policy processes including social policies (1 July to 30 August 2010); (b) Media and Development (1 August to 30 September 2010); and (c) Social Integration towards achieving participation (1 September to 30 October 2010).

The 29th Ministerial Session of ESCWA is being held from 13 to 15 December 2016 in Doha, Qatar, on the theme: “2030 Agenda- Implementing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) at the National Level