The Regional Symposium on “Strengthening the Capacities of Public Institutions and Developing Effective Partnerships to Realize the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development”, organized by DPIDG/UNPOG with support from MOIS and Incheon Metropolitan City Government of the Republic of Korea, was successfully held from October 24 to 26, 2018 in Incheon, Republic of Korea. The Regional Symposium was attended by over 200 participants from 55 countries representing government agencies, international organizations including United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP), United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction Office for Northeast Asia and Global Education and Training Institute (UNISDR ONEA-GETI), GCF, and African Development Bank, think tanks, academia, Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) and the private sector. UN Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs, Mr. Liu Zhenmin, attended the Symposium and delivered the opening and closing remarks.

The symposium provided a good platform for decision-makers to discuss challenges and share knowledge on how to strengthen public governance and bolster capacities of public institutions to implement the SDGs in Asia and the Pacific with selected Eastern African countries. The event offered the opportunity for country participants to be inspired by innovative approaches to delivering inclusive public services to vulnerable groups and explore ways to engage all stakeholders in decision-making processes, build resilience, leverage frontier technologies for advancing the 2030 Agenda, strengthen statistical capacities for monitoring of SDG implementation and build effective partnerships.

The key outcome messages and lessons learned from the symposium are expected to contribute to the High-level Political Forum (HLPF), particularly on reviewing the SDG 16 with regards to building effective, inclusive and accountable public institutions. Participants also shared their views on how UN DESA/DPIDG can support capacity development efforts by designing a strategy to better facilitate capacity development in countries in special situations to engage in North-South, South-South and triangular cooperation – “thinking-out-of-box” while mobilizing support from CSOs and the private sector.