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 policy brief provides an overview of the Madrid International Plan of Action on Ageing and the key results and recommendations of the third regional review and appraisal process in ESCWA countries.

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.