Salzburg Global Proud to Support Global Festival of Ideas for Sustainable Development

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Feb 22, 2017
by Salzburg Global Seminar
Salzburg Global Proud to Support Global Festival of Ideas for Sustainable Development

Fellows encouraged to sign up to watch festival which aims to drive action on sustainable development goals

Photo: Flickr/Global Festival of Ideas for Sustainable Development

Salzburg Global is encouraging Fellows to sign up and take part in the inaugural Global Festival of Ideas for Sustainable Development.

The three-day event, which began on Wednesday (March 1), is taking place at the World Conference Center in Bonn, Germany.

Leading thinkers, policy-makers, and business leaders are gathering at the event, which is being organized by the UN SDG Action Campaign and the Overseas Development Institute (ODI).

The festival is highlighting the latest innovations, tools, and approaches to SDG implementation while increasing awareness and understanding on how to drive action for sustainable development.

Salzburg Global is one of several organizing partners for the event. Others include the City of Bonn, Cepei, Data-Pop Alliance, Engagement Global, Plan International, the UNDP, the World Food Programme (WFP) and the World Resources Institute (WRI).

The event has also received backing from the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development.

The UN SDG Action Campaign is an Initiative of the Secretary-General, which celebrates people who are transforming lives and tackling the most complex, intractable development problems.

This campaign was launched at the festival on Wednesday and will aim to provide real-time cutting-edge advocacy support, big data expertise, and analytics to governments and multi-stakeholder partners to ensure the Sustainable Development Goals agenda is carried out.

The 193 Member States of the UN committed to achieving 17 Sustainable Development Goals by 2030.

People due to speak at the festival included Global Director of the UN SDG Action Campaign Mitchell Toomey and Ingrid Gabriela-Hoven, the Director General of Global Issues, Sector Policies and Programmes for the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development.

Other speakers lined up were Alaa Murabit, leading international advocate for inclusive peace processes and UN SDG Advocate, Sarah Poole, Deputy Assistant Administrator, UNDP, Meng Zhaoli, Chief Economist at Tencent, one of the world’s biggest internet companies, David Donoghue, Permanent Representative of Ireland to the United Nations and Kumi Naidoo, Launch Director, Africans Rising For Justice, Peace and Dignity.

Mitchell Toomey, Director of the UN SDG Action Campaign, said, “We are here to connect the private sector, governments, and civil society to provide them with the latest innovations and approaches to realize the SDGs. We have to make sure they can bring real solutions to their regions and inspire billions of people everywhere to work together to take action for sustainable development.”

Alex Thier, Executive Director of the Overseas Development Institute (ODI), said, “The inaugural Festival will chart new thinking on the world’s biggest development challenges and mobilize key partnerships and resources to drive action now and in the future.”

Ingolf Dietrich, Commissioner for Agenda 2030, Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), said, “I am pleased to open the first Global Festival of Ideas for Sustainable Development in Bonn. This Festival, supported by the German government, has brought together people from all over the world to advance the 2030 Agenda. 

“The UN SDG Action Campaign, and its Global Campaign Center in Bonn is a testament to the universal nature of the SDGs that will be a core theme at this year’s Festival and those to come. The aim of the 2030 Agenda is to bring about fundamental lifestyle changes in all spheres of society, to help to protect and sustain life and the climate on our planet.”

This year's Global Festival of Ideas for Sustainable Development is the first in the series of annual forums.

People can watch plenary sessions taking place at the festival via live-stream. To sign up, use this online form.

People can also keep up to date with the festival on social media. The Global Festival of Ideas has a Facebook and Twitter presence. The hashtag to use during the festival is #GFI4SD.