National Centre in the works to empower SDG programmes - Ismail Sabri

He said the establishment of the centre under the Prime Minister's Department Economic Planning Unit was given the nod during the National SDG Council meeting which he chaired yesterday.

"This sustainable development agenda requires comprehensive and inclusive involvement, as well as efforts from all parties so as to raise the level of awareness among Keluarga Malaysia (the Malaysian Family) at the grassroots level and also among private companies," he said in a statement today.

Ismail Sabri said the meeting had also agreed on Voluntary Local Reviews (VLR) at the local authorities' municipal and district councils as well as state government levels, in which a minimum of one report must be provided by each state.

Each state is encouraged to prepare the VLR as a guide in monitoring Malaysia's progress towards national development growth in order to achieve social, environmental and economic balance, the prime minister said.

In addition, he said the Environment and Water Ministry (KASA) has also been asked to finalise the carbon market framework at the end of this year in efforts to transistion Malaysia into a low-carbon nation.

Ismail Sabri yesterday chaired the National SDG Council meeting for the first time since its establishment in 2016, involving stakeholders from the public and private sectors, academics and civil society organisations, in which the country's sustainable development agenda was discussed.

Members of the council include the menteris besar and chief ministers, senior ministers and federal ministers, secretaries-general and heads of departments, cluster leaders of the SDG Working Committee and several members of parliament.

The SDGs are being implemented in three phases according to the national development plans, starting with the 11th Malaysia Plan (11MP), from 2016 to 2020, the current 12MP (2021-2025) and 13MP (2025-2030).

Malaysia's SDG progress report is carried out every four years, in line with the United Nations' (UN) recommendation that reports be presented periodically through the Voluntary National Review (VNR).

The prime minister said Malaysia has presented the VNR in 2017 and 2021 at the UN High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (UN HLPF) to fulfill the country's obligations at the global level, where the VNR provides inclusive reports on the country's progress and challenges in implementing the SDGs at the national level.

The meeting also took note of current global and local challenges and situations as well as the decline in several countries' SDG achievements due to the negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the challenges of global climate change, the inflation crisis and international geopolitical turmoil, Ismail Sabri added.

"The government is committed to achieving the 2030 Agenda and strengthening actions to achieve the 17 SDGs in order to become a sustainable country by 2030, this by involving the entire Keluarga Malaysia in the nation's socio-economic development plans," he said.