The IFLA Europe Regional Division Committee (IFLA EU RDC) plans to physically attend the European Regional Forum on Sustainable Development, organised by the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE), in Geneva.

The IFLA EU RDC is sending a representation committee to physically attend the 2022 UNECE Regional Forum on Sustainable Development, while many members of the IFLA EU RDC are planning to attend this online.

What is the 2022 UNECE Regional Forum on Sustainable Development?

The Regional Forum on Sustainable Development was established by the Economic Commission for Europe at its sixty-seventh session in April 2017, with the aim to create “a regional mechanism to follow-up and review the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development”.

The report of each Regional Forum provides the region’s official input to the High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development, the UN’s central platform for follow-up and review of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development at the global level.

Each of the five UN Regional Commissions is convening annual Regional Forums in their respective region to share experiences and discuss concrete solutions on how to achieve the SDGs (see information on other Regional Forums).

Read more about the 2022 UNECE Regional Forum on Sustainable Development.

This year’s theme

How to build back better from the COVID-19 crisis while advancing the full implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in the UNECE region? The 2022 UNECE Regional Forum on Sustainable Development aims to uncover concrete policy actions to accelerate SDG progress and support efforts to build a resilient and sustainable economic recovery.

Library advocates on the ground

 Frédéric Blin, Head of Services and Collections at the National and University Library Strasbourg (France). Vice-Chair of IFLA Europe Regional Division Committee. Former IFLA GB member (2011-2015) and Treasurer (2013-2015).

Maia Simonishvili is a member of the IFLA European Regional Division Committee, since 2021. A graduate of Tbilisi State University, where she studied Philology and Cultural Resource Management, Maia worked for almost ten years as a newspaper and radio journalist, both in her native Georgia and in Germany (where she was a fellow at the Foundation of Lower Saxony and an intern at the Hannoversche Allgemeine Zeitung,2002). Translator of the book “Germans in Georgia” by Daphne Springhorn, oral-history-project about the German minority in Georgia at the Goethe-Institute Tbilisi, published in 2004. worked as an intern at the Yale University Library, a fellowship from CEC ArtsLink for Artist and Cultural managers(2008). Since 2010 has studied at the Ilia State University, Identity Studies (Ph.D.). In 2012 studied at The New School as a Carnegie Research Fellow. Since 2006 have worked as a leading specialist of the Public Relations and Cultural Programs Division at the NPLG, since 2012 works as a curator of the Anglo-American Reading Hall of the National Parliamentary Library of Georgia and promotes different digital resources for readers. Among her projects: collaboration with different foreign libraries for developing emigrants archives and new initiatives, developing and curating of foreign book collections, organizing cultural events, and working with media. She collaborates with the National Foundation of Georgian Literature to publish Georgian translations in foreign countries. Active supporter and participant of MOOC, digital universities, and social networks. Member of the ICOMOS Georgia and the Internet Governance Forum. Occasionally, dedicates her free time to supporting women’s rights, children’s rights, and media literacy. Favorite hobbies: Art, Music, friends, travel, innovations, and different cultures