The Petroleum Development Oman (PDO) presented successful energy-efficient projects that the governments can adopt at the 18th Annual Conference of Arab Administrative Development Organisation (ARADO). Energy is one of the important aspects among the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Some of the highlighted projects were renewable energy projects.
“The country is talking about diversifying the economy and looking beyond oil and gas. We have some experience on how to focus on renewable principles. By doing this, we can reduce the country’s dependence on oil and gas and maybe divert gas for other uses the government can utilise and minimise carbon footprint,” said Abdul Amir bin Abdul Hussein al Ajmi, External Affairs and Value Creation Director, PDO.
The 2030 agenda, which makes a “Leave No One Behind” pledge, calls for participatory and inclusive processes in achieving SDGs.
According to experts, with 17 goals that are interlinked, the government cannot handle them alone — it requires partnership at different levels, including the private sector, civil society, academia and citizens.
According to Jose Manuel Galvin, Specialist in Governance and Lifelong Learning Operations Department at European Training Foundation, several countries are expanding the institutional coordination framework established during the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) era, while others are establishing new frameworks for institutional coordination, including shared responsibility through vertical coherence (across different levels of government) and horizontal coherence (engaging partners outside government) as well as mobilising parliaments.
The conference also dwelt on the role and importance of anti-corruption agencies.
According to Arwa Hassan, Programme Director of GIZ, the key issues that an anti-corruption agency should be working on are ensuring equal opportunities for candidates and parties.
“Vote-buying and manipulation of voters should be banned, while expenditure ceiling should be imposed on political party campaigns. Election commissions should be fully independent,” said Hassan.
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