Beirut, 2 February 2021--Since 2019, the Lebanese economy is in free fall, a dramatic situation which was further exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic and last summer’s Beirut Port explosion.

The EGM on "Participatory Community Development"(Manama, 12-14 October 2009) was merged with the Arab League workshop on "Local Community Development", and held under the patronage of Bahraini Minister of Social Development HE Fatima Mohammed Al Belushi, and in close cooperation with the Ministry of Social Development in Bahrain.

Geographic location is needed to know where a situation is present or where an event has occurred, and to allow decision makers to respond. The integration of geospatial information with data and statistics for SDGs is also instrumental for the production of a number of indicators and in enabling data interoperability across data ecosystems and linking data sets within and across countries.

The Arab High Level Conference on Beijing+20, entitled “Towards Justice and Equality for Women in the Arab Region”, opened this morning in the Egyptian capital Cairo, and will continue until tomorrow Tuesday 3 February, in Sofitel Hotel, El-Gezirah.
Speeches delivered during the opening session were by the League of Arab States Secretary-General Nabil Al Arabi, United Nations Under-Secretary-General and ESCWA Executive Secretary Rima Khalaf, and Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations and Executive Director of UN Women, Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka.