[UPDATED] Govt to set up national SDG centre: PM

KUALA LUMPUR – The government will set up a centre to empower and intensify Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) programmes in the country and to keep track of their progress, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob said. 

He said the establishment of the centre under the Prime Minister’s Department Economic Planning Unit was given the nod during the National SDG Council meeting which he chaired yesterday. 

“This sustainable development agenda requires comprehensive and inclusive involvement, as well as efforts from all parties to raise the level of awareness among Keluarga Malaysia at the grassroots level and also among private companies,” he said in a statement today.

Ismail said the meeting had also agreed on the implementation of voluntary local review (VLR) at the local authorities’ municipal and district councils as well as state government levels, in which a minimum of one report must be provided by each state. 

Each state is encouraged to prepare the VLR as a guide in monitoring Malaysia’s progress towards national development growth in order to achieve social, environmental and economic balance, the prime minister said.

In addition, he said the Environment and Water Ministry has also been asked to finalise the carbon market framework at the end of this year to facilitate Malaysia’s transition into a low-carbon nation. 

Ismail yesterday chaired the council meeting for the first time since its establishment in 2016, involving stakeholders from the public and private sectors, academic and civil society organisations, to discuss the country’s sustainable development agenda.

The council’s members include state chief ministers, federal ministers, secretaries-general and heads of departments, cluster leaders of the SDG working committee and several members of parliament.

The SDGs are being implemented in three phases according to the national development plans, starting with the 11th Malaysia Plan (2016-2020), the current 12th Malaysia Plan (2021-2025) and the 13th Malaysia Plan (2025-2030).

Malaysia’s SDG progress report is carried out every four years, in line with the United Nations’ (UN) recommendation that reports be presented periodically through the VNR. 

The prime minister said Malaysia has presented the VNR in 2017 and 2021 at the UN High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development to fulfil the country’s global-level obligations.

He added that the VNR provides inclusive reports on the country’s progress and challenges in implementing the SDGs at the national level.

The meeting also took note of current global and local challenges and situations as well as the decline in several countries’ SDG achievements due to the negative impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, the challenges of global climate change, the inflation crisis and international geopolitical turmoil, Ismail added.

“The government is committed to achieving the 2030 Agenda and strengthening actions to achieve the 17 SDGs in order to become a sustainable country by 2030 by involving the entire Keluarga Malaysia in the nation’s socioeconomic development plans,” he said. – Bernama, September 6, 2022