KATHMANDU, Mar 25: The government has formed two high-level committees and nine thematic working Groups to rollout and implement the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030.
National Steering Committee (NSC), chaired by the Prime Minister and Chairman of the National Planning Commission (NPC), is the apex body for guiding the pursuit of SDGs. The NSC has Vice Chairperson of the National Planning Commission (NPC), Minister for Finance, Minister for Foreign Affairs, and Chief Secretary of the Government of Nepal as members, according to the NPC. “The secretary of the NPC Secretariat will serve as the Member Secretary of the NSC," the commission added.
The second mechanism is the Implementation Coordination and Monitoring Committee which is chaired by NPC Vice Chairperson Min Bahadur Shrestha. NPC member in looking after macro-economic issues is the deputy coordinator.
The secretaries of the Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Presidents of Nepal Chamber of Commerce (NCC), Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI) and Confederation of Nepalese Industries (CNI) will serve as members, while and the joint secretary of the Economic Management Division of NPC will be the member secretary. These committees are also mandated to include representatives of civil society and other stakeholders as 'invited members'.
This is the first time that the leaders of the private sector have been formally included in high-level official committees responsible for the implementation of globally-agreed Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) or the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) since 2000.
The Economic Management Division of the NPC Secretariat will act as the SDG Secretariat headed by the Joint Secretary of the Division.
Similarly, nine thematic working groups will support these committees. NPC Members Swarnim Wagle (Economic Development), Chandra Kanta Paudel (Industrial Development), Sunil Babu Shrestha (Urban Development), Geeta Bhakta Joshi (Social Development), Kripa Sindhu Prasad (Employment Management), Prabhu Budhathoki (Agriculture, Climate and Environment), Hirendra Man Pradhan (Physical Infrastructure), Arbind Kumar Mishra (Energy Development), and Secretary of the NPC Secretariat Chandra Kumar Ghimire (Peace, Justice and Inclusive Institutions) will head the thematic working groups.
These thematic groups will comprise of members from concerned ministries, private sector, civil society and senior officials of the National Planning Commission Secretariat.
Detailed terms of reference of the committees and working groups include tasks related to the initiation and consolidation of policies and programs, resource mobilization, coordination with all stakeholders, periodic reporting, monitoring and evaluation, the NPC added.
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