The Permanent Representative of Latvia to the United Nations in New York, Ambassador Andrejs Pildegovičs, has been appointed to act as co-chair of the United Nations Science, Technology and Innovation Forum in 2021, to be held on 4–5 May in New York. The Ambassador of Indonesia to the UN has been appointed as the other co-chair.
The forum ensures the sharing of opinions on science, technology and innovations for the implementation of the UN Sustainable Development Goals. The appointment of a representative of Latvia to act as a co-chair of the STI Forum can be attributed to Latvia’s commendable performance in contributing to the work of the UN Economic and Social Affairs Council (ECOSOC), as well as in digital matters and the use of technologies for sustainable development.
The event brings together representatives from UN Member States, agencies and bodies within the UN system, civil society, and the private and academic sectors. Conclusions of discussions help to advance the work of the United Nations High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development, which is the main coordinating format to monitor the implementation of the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
The UN Multi-stakeholder Forum on Science, Technology and Innovation for the SDGs is one of the ECOSOC formats. The duties of the two co-chairs include drafting of the event’s programme and running its work.
On 1 January 2020, Latvia launched a three-year period of work on ECOSOC, the main UN body in charge of sustainable development and economic matters. Latvia has been elected to two subsidiary bodies of ECOSOC: the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women; and the United Nations Commission on Science and Technology for Development.