The Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Conclave 2020: Partnerships, Cooperation and Development of North Eastern states organized by NITI Aayog begins in Guwahati today. The three-day event will continue till 26^th February at Assam Administrative Staff College. The inaugural session was chaired by Dr Jitendra Singh, Minister of State(IC), Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER), Government of India. The Chief Ministers of North Eastern states, Dr. Rajiv Kumar, vice-chairman, NITI Aayog, Renata Lok- Dessallien, UN Resident Coordinator, India and Shri Amitabh Kant, CEO, NITI Aayog were present in the event.

In the inaugural session, Dr Jitendra Singh said in his keynote address that significant transformations have happened in the last 6 years in North-Eastern region in terms of development. Roads, railways, airports connectivity has improved a lot in the region during this period, he added. Mentioning North East as one of the preferred destinations for young start-ups from all over India today, the minister said that North East has immense potential in every sector and entrepreneurship friendly atmosphere has been created in the region by the Government.

Dr.Rajiv Kumar, Vice Chairman, NITI Aayog said in his opening remarks that this conclave will help to mainstream North-East states in national development agenda. In this conclave clear strategy and agenda will be discussed to find out how each state can achieve development goals, he said. Dr Kumar requested each state to place SDG monitoring units in their respective states to improve the quality of data.

Shri Amitabh Kant, CEO, NITI Aayog in his introductory remark mentioned that this is the first regional SDG conclave and all North Eastern states will participate and take forward the agenda on SDG in this conclave.

Shri Sarbananda Sonowal, Chief Minister of Assam, in his special address extended his gratitude to NITI Aayog for organising the conclave in Guwahati. He said that this initiative of NITI Aayog will definitely contribute to the development of North-Eastern region.

The objective of the opening session today was to set the context of the conclave in terms of progress on SDGs in the country and in the North-Eastern region.

The three-day event is expected to see representations from the North-Eastern states, Central Ministries, academia, civil society and international development organizations. Following the inaugural session, the technical sessions would include SDG localization in the North East, economic prosperity and sustainable livelihoods, climate adaptive agriculture, health and nutrition among others.

This conclave is part of the NITI Aayog’s continuous efforts towards fostering partnerships at the sub-national level. Each of the sessions, chaired by a renowned specialist will take stock of progress and discuss various issues of the region.

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