Jointly Building Belt and Road towards SDGs



The Economic Analysis and Policy Division (EAPD) of the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA) is implementing a multi-country, multi-year project to strengthen national capacities for jointly building the Belt and Road towards the Sustainable Development Goals. The project activities focus on training of policy-makers and technical staff to enhance their analytical capacities in designing coherent and integrated macroeconomic, social and environmental policies and promoting the achievement of the SDGs. Analytical and modelling tools, tailored to country needs, will be used to facilitate the implementation of capacity development activities and strengthen the capacity of policy makers to integrate macroeconomic, environmental and social policies in national development strategies for achieving the goal of poverty eradication and other SDGs, under the broad context of implementing the 2030 Agenda.

Background



The scale and ambition of the 2030 Agenda of Sustainable Development requires an intensive global engagement in support of the implementation of all the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and targets, bringing together Governments, the private sector, civil society, the United Nations system and other actors and mobilizing all available resources. The implementation of the 2030 Agenda and the achievement of the SDGs will depend on the concrete actions, including strengthened international cooperation, taken at global, regional, national and subnational levels, by all the stakeholders.

The Project is funded by the UN Peace and Development Trust Fund (UNPDF): "2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development Sub-Fund" (2030 ASD Sub-Fund), and aims to contribute to strengthening the effects of international development cooperation under the Belt and Road on the achievement of the 17 SDGs in the participating countries, with positive spill-overs to the achievement of the SDGs in the rest of the world.


Objective



The Project aims at strengthening the capacities of the policymakers in the countries along the Belt and Road for assessing the potential effects of the Belt and Road for the achievement of the SDGs, and formulating appropriate policies to maximize the potential benefits and manage the potential risks. To this end, the Project will focus on:

  • Establishing an institutional network among the countries along the Belt and Road for research on the economic, social and environmental effects of the cooperation activities under the Belt and Road, and on national and cross-county policies to promote and harness these activities for the acceleration of the SDGs;

  • Promote capacity development and assists interested Governments in translating the suggested policy options into programmes at the country level and help build national capacities, through policy dialogues at national, regional and global levels.
  • Expected Accomplishments



    The Project will achieve two expected accomplishments, namely:

  • Strengthened capacities of national policy-makers and officials to analyze and formulate more integrated policies, including through the use of modelling tools, such as the enhanced World Economic Forecasting Model (WEFM) of EAPD, for actions under the BRI in order to promote the achievement of the SDGs both within and across countries;

  • Strengthened and deepened engagement for policy analysis and policy dialogues among the policy-makers and experts from the participating countries along the BRI, including engagement with international organizations.


  • Methodology



    The EAPD/DESA will mobilize national experts and national policy institutions in the countries along the Belt and Road to form a broad network for policy research.

    The Project will organize training of policy-makers and technical staff to enhance their analytical capacities in designing coherent and integrated macroeconomic, social and environmental policies for participating in the BRI and promoting the achievement of the SDGs. Analytical and modelling tools, tailored to country needs, will be developed to strengthen the capacity of policy makers to integrate macroeconomic, environmental and social policies in national development strategies. The Project will further organize multi-country policy dialogues and deepen engagement and policy dialogues between the participating countries and international organizations, including through existing platforms at the United Nations.

    The Project will utilize the existing WEFM as the basic analytical framework, by expanding the scope of WEFM to cover more indicators associated with the SDGs and include more policy instruments related to the five priority areas (five types of connectivity) under the Belt and Road.

    The Project will be implemented in close collaboration with national stakeholders and UN country teams in participating countries as well as relevant international organizations such as ESCAP, ECE, ECA, ESCWA, UNDP and UNCTAD.


    Major Deliverables



    Modeling Tools

    Developing modelling tools for each participating country through adjusting and recalibrating the WEFM country models

    National Capacity

    Building national capacity by organizing dissemination/training workshops on the use of modelling tools and quantitative methods at the national level

    Policy Dialogues

    Organizing policy dialogues and exchanges at national, regional and global levels based on the modelling outputs and the deliberations at national and regional level workshops

    Presentations

    Facilitating national voluntary presentations on the BRI and SDG outcomes in various multilateral forums

    Project Reports

    Producing and disseminating two project reports, which document the technical analysis and appropriate policy options for the BRI in connection with the SDGs, to further inform policy-makers and facilitate decision-making at national and regional levels



    Implementation coordination national partners



    Azerbaijan

    Azerbaijan

    Ministry of Economy

    Bangladesh

    Bangladesh

    Planning Commission
    Policy Research Institute

    Czech Republic

    Czech Republic

    Ministry of Foreign Affairs

    Kazakhstan

    Kazakhstan

    Ministry of Economy

    Romania

    Romania

    Ministry of Foreign Affairs



    DESA Focal Points



    Mr. Namsuk Kim

    Projects Coordinator, EAPD, UN-DESA

    kimnamsuk@un.org
    +1 (212) 963 4737