Kagame has arrived in Zambia to launch of the SDG Centre’s Sub-Regional Centre for Southern Africa in Lusaka
Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame who is also the Chairman of the board of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Centre for Africa, today arrived in Zambian capital Lusaka, where he will join his counterpart President Edgar Lungu for the launch of the SDGs Sub-Regional Centre for Southern Africa.
Rwanda hosts the SDGs Center for Africa – part of the global goals launched three years ago where the 193 members of the United Nations signed up.
“Time is of the essence. 2030 is only a decade away, and our continent is not on track to meet the targets,” he said.
The Head of State highlighted that the Agenda 2030 was meaningful to Africa, saying that it was up to governments, private sector and civil society to make the most of it.
“The ambitious goals represent real, tangible progress in the well-being of our people, namely; improvements to health, economic opportunity, gender parity, and environmental protection, to name just a few,” he noted.
Kagame said those are things that are visible to anyone and that people can feel in their own lives, insisting that the new Centre and the sub-centres will be championing that.
The sub-regional centre launched alongside Zambia’s President Edgar Lungu is a result of the pledge made by the latter and is expected to provide advice and expertise to national governments, private sector, civil society and academic institutions in order to accelerate the implementation of the SDG agenda.
Next month, at the United Nations General Assembly, Kagame said, leaders will participate in the SDG Summit, a high-level political forum to assess progress made, and renew the global determination to achieve the goals.
The sub-regional center, he said, will assist southern African countries to unlock bottlenecks that hinder the smooth implementation of the SDGs and help achieve the goals.
“The SDG Sub-regional Center is an international not-for-profit institution, which, once launched, will provide technical support, neutral advice, and expertise to national governments, private sector, civil society, and academic institutions in order to accelerate the implementation of the SDG agenda,” he said in a release.
Already, countries like Liberia have committed to host the West Africa centre.
