Representatives of the “SDGs for All” Platform participated in a societal dialogue organized by the Ministry for Human and Minority Rights and Social Dialogue on March 20th at the Palace of Serbia. The event, titled “Dialogue for Achieving Sustainable Development Goals,” was dedicated to the Performance Audit Report “Sustainable Development Goals: Preparedness of the Republic of Serbia for the Implementation of the 2030 Agenda” by the State Audit Institution.

Presenting the third monitoring report of the Platform published in the last quarter of 2023, Sanja Ilić from the Belgrade Open School (BOŠ) explained the objectives and structure of the report, highlighting key recommendations and comparing them with the most important findings from the State Audit Institution’s report.

Concluding her presentation, Sanja Ilić asserted that the recommendations of the “SDGs for All” Platform largely overlap with those of the State Audit Institution, especially those calling for continued preparations and adoption of the Development Plan of the Republic of Serbia – the most important overarching document – which includes the SDGs from the 2030 Agenda and reforms in the process of EU accession. Additionally, she emphasized the need to adapt the 2030 Agenda, goals, and sub-goals to the national context while establishing a national set of indicators to monitor progress in implementing the SDGs. Finally, she called for the formation of a new Interdepartmental Working Group for the Implementation of the 2030 Agenda or another permanent working body to institutionalize, regulate, and support intersectoral cooperation and coordination.

Platform representatives took the opportunity to reiterate some of the key messages conveyed to the future Government of the Republic of Serbia at a recent press conference, including the necessity to integrate the implementation of the 2030 Agenda into the Government’s work program, to align this process with efforts to join the EU, to designate a specific ministry for coordinating implementation activities towards achieving SDGs, and to continue efforts in preparing and adopting the Development Plan transparently and efficiently, with active participation from civil society, universities, and other stakeholders.

The event brought together a significant number of representatives from relevant national and local institutions, as well as civil society. Opening remarks were delivered by Minister for Human and Minority Rights and Societal Dialogue Tomislav Žigmanov, German Ambassador to Serbia H.E. Anke Konrad, Swiss Ambassador to Serbia H.E. Urs Schmid, President of the State Audit Institution of Serbia Dr. Duško Pejović, and the Acting Assistant Minister for Multilateral Cooperation from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Katarina Lalić Smajević.