3 November 2017: After endorsing the Pacific Roadmap for Sustainable Development in September, governments and UN officials met to discuss its implementation. The Roadmap addresses targets set under the SDGs, the SAMOA Pathway and other regional frameworks.

The Pacific Roadmap was endorsed at the 48th Pacific Islands Forum meeting, held in Samoa, in September 2017. Pacific governments began drafting the Roadmap in 2016 in order to identify steps toward preparing regional indicators, organizing an integrated regional reporting process, and assisting Member States that request support for monitoring and reporting.

Gathering from 1-3 November 2017, in Apia, Samoa, at a meeting hosted by the Government of Samoa, the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat (PIFS) and the UN system, country and UN leaders discussed how the Roadmap can be implemented. Peseta Noumea Simi, Chair of the Pacific SDGs Taskforce and CEO for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Samoa, said the Roadmap reflects the Pacific region’s collective approach to ensuring that no one is left behind.

Delegates also discussed the 2018 Pacific Sustainable Development Report, which is currently being prepared. They identified issues to be prioritized by the Pacific region at the 2018 session of the UN High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF). In addition, delegates attended a one-day National Workshop on Voluntary National Reviews (VNRs), hosted by the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), where Samoa presented its experience of submitting its VNR in 2016. Samoa was one of the first countries in the world and the first among SIDS to present a VNR to the HLPF. [PIFS Press Release] [SDG Knowledge Hub Story on Drafting of Pacific SDG Roadmap]