Bahrain Visions Forum 2020 set

TDT | Manama

A number of high-profile personalities from around the world will be participating in this year’s “Bahrain Visions Forum: Shared Visions for a Successful Future”, to be held under the patronage of His Royal Highness the Prime Minister Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa.

The event, organized annually by HRH the Premier’s Court, will be held virtually on September 29, in cooperation with the World Health Organisation (WHO). A group of senior UN and WHO officials will be speaking, under the theme “Sustainable Development Goals: Beyond COVID-19 Pandemic”.

This year’s forum coincides with the high-level meetings of the 75th session of the UN General Assembly (UNGA 75), which proves HRH the Prime Minister’s keenness to consolidate international efforts in facing various global challenges.

HRH the Premier will address the forum through a message that will highlight his visions on ways to face the pandemic’s economic, social, and health challenges at the global level. HRH the Prime Minister will also urge the international community to step up sustainable development efforts so that they achieve the goals of growth and progress for peoples and communities.

Foreign Affairs Minister Dr Abdullatif bin Rashid Al Zayani and Foreign Affairs Ministry undersecretary and Bahrain Centre for Strategic, International and Energy Studies (Derasat) Board of Trustees chairman Dr. Shaikh Abdulla bin Ahmed Al Khalifa will participate in the forum, which will also feature UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres, WHO director-general Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, and UNESCO director-general Audrey Azoulay, among others.

Keynote speakers in the webinar include 2018 Nobel Peace Prize winner Dr Denis Mukwege, and Special Envoy on Financing the 2030 Agenda Dr. Mahmoud Mohieldin. The forum aims to focus on sustainable development goals (SDGs) in the post-pandemic period in order to reach results that would contribute to developing a clear roadmap regarding the necessary measures to build a more flexible, cooperative, and appropriate global system for the post-coronavirus phase.

Since its launch in 2018, the forum has succeeded in attracting high-level participants, including world leaders, heads of governments, and heads of international and regional organizations, in addition to private sector leaders, academia, NGOs, diplomats, intelligentsia, as well as press and media personnel.

It has become an important annual platform for discussing major topics, which reflects the key role Bahrain is playing in addressing pressing global issues. This year’s edition will discuss common visions that contribute to facing the current global challenges resulting from the pandemic, and ways to mitigate their effects on the international efforts to implement the sustainable development goals agenda.

The Bahrain Visions Forum 2020 also aims to provide a platform for the world to discuss global security and stability after the COVID-19 pandemic, including ways to make sure that the difficulties and challenges imposed by it do not impede countries’ efforts to achieve SDGs.

The forum will address several topics, including the health system’s response to the pandemic and the search for a vaccine, COVID-19 as a catalyst for more peace and security, the global dimension of risks to lives and livelihoods, technology as a tool that brings the world together, incorporating the gender perspective in the strategic thinking for a safer world, and calls to protect the environment in an innovative and unprecedented way.