HPC participates today in the second Arab preparatory meeting for the launch of the Arab Council for Population and Development. The meeting is held jointly by the Arab League, UNFPA and the Middle East and North Africa Health Policy Forum on December 19-20, 2018, under the title “Enhancing the role of national population councils and committees in Development” and is attended by representatives of national population councils and committees in the Arab world as well as demographic researchers, experts and academia from the region.
During the event, HPC Secretary General, Dr. Abla Amawi, indicated that the purpose of this important meeting is to prepare for the launch of the Arab Council for Population and Development and draft its statute. She added that the Council is being established following a proposal submitted by Jordan at the 18th meeting of heads of national Arab population councils and committees held last year in Jordan. The proposal was approved by the Arab League’s Economic and Social Council during its 102nd ordinary session earlier this year.
Dr. Amawi further explained that this meeting will follow up on key outputs of the first preparatory meeting, discuss ways to proceed work on various population and development issues in the Arab region, as explore research efforts, gaps and outlook in the context of the International Conference on ICPD +25, sustainable development goals in Arab countries, youth migrations in the Arab region and the development of a composite indicator to measure the sustainable development indicators which were adopted at the International Conference on Population and Development.
The meeting aims to prepare for the 52nd Session of the Commission on Population and Development which will be held in New York early next year, and to follow through with preparations for the launch of the Arab Council for Population and Development. This will include the formulation of a plan that covers all the population-related programs and areas of work of the council, the identification of future approaches, options, challenges and gaps, and outlining proposals for studies on how to enhance the roles of national population councils and committees in the Arab world to bridge these gaps.
Further, the meeting seeks to achieve a better understanding of population issues in light of the current circumstances and an enhanced awareness of decision-makers. It also aims to formulate a proposed roadmap for implementing the Programme of Action for the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development in cooperation with academia, researchers and experts from the Arab region to identify priority areas and learn best practices in this field.
