The Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI) is pleased to announce its Twenty-first Sustainable Development Conference (SDC). The overarching theme of this year's Conference is 'Corridors of Knowledge for Peace and Development'. The Eleventh South Asia Economic Summit (SAES XI), which is being hosted by SDPI in Islamabad this year, will also coincide with the SDC. The joint mega-events will be held from 4 - 7 December 2018 in Islamabad, Pakistan.
OVERARCHING THEME OF THE SDC:
The Twenty-first SDC will not only discuss the economic corridor, but also other corridors of connectivity and knowledge that can steer us towards peace and development. Looking at the emerging global trends, countries are embarking on following more inward-looking policies, led by the United States with its 'America First' rhetoric and the UK's decision to leave the European Union. Such a direction is raising concerns about how increasing nationalist policies will impact the future of various multilateral trade agreements, global solidarity, social policy, trade and development.
While a few regional organisations and processes may have stalled, the road to development must go on. This growing trend should not be allowed to impact research and development efforts and learning from each other's best practices. In fact, new collaborative partnerships need to be established on knowledge sharing and building bridges, while simultaneously strengthening old ones.
Development of infrastructure should not be the only indicator of sustainable development. South Asia, in particular, needs to strive for a higher aim - a holistic approach where one is looking at human development as a whole. This region's future lies in strategic policies that are pro-people where no one is left behind in the uphill task of development. The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) aim to 'transform the world' by 2030, countries in partnership can strive to achieve this by transforming the region. Ban Ki Moon in his address at COP 22 in 2016 said that there is no Plan B as there is no Planet B. The development thought processes and strategic policies, thus, also need to be founded on this premise.
From poverty, hunger, health and education to climate change, gender equality, water, sanitation, energy, environment and social justice - the Conference will have dedicated sessions on key issues such as these which also form part of the SDGs; and, many more overlapping sub-themes relevant to Pakistan and other countries.
SDC Plenary Sessions: In the SDC plenary sessions, keynote speeches will be delivered by prominent scholars, policy makers and practitioners under the umbrella of the overarching theme.
Journalism Awards Plenary: One plenary will be dedicated to the Journalism Awards and to media professionals' untiring efforts to raise the issues of sustainable development during the current year.
Recapping the previous SDC: The Twentieth Sustainable Development Conference (SDC) titled 'Seventy Years of Development: The Way Forward' from 5 - 7 December 2017 organised by the Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI) will be remembered within and by the development sector of Pakistan and the region for some time as one of the largest congregation of biggest, best and brightest minds coming together in 40 panels, roundtables and podium discussions, many of which were concurrent including four plenary sessions. A total of 269 panellists representing the following 16 countries became part of this mega event: Afghanistan, China, Ethiopia, Finland (Via Skype), France, Germany, India, Italy, Nepal, Pakistan, Thailand (via Skype), The Philippines, Sri Lanka, Switzerland, UK, the USA. An audience of over 3,000 attended the three-day flagship event of SDPI.
Eleventh South Asia Economic Summit: The Eleventh South Asia Economic Summit (SAES XI) will focus on various topics and issues important for the South Asia region's current political economy. Apart from the plenary sessions aiming to discuss strengthening of broad-based dialogue across South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) member countries, concurrent sessions would aim to discuss business-to-business and people-to-people connectivity, creating and strengthening trade and investment value chains, regional trade in services, cooperation in energy and water sectors, and strengthening dialogue mechanisms to tackle the impact of climate change in the region.
Since 2008, SAES is being led by a group of five eminent think tanks that have been taking turns to organise the annual event in one of the SAARC countries since 2008. The co-organisers include the South Asia Watch on Trade, Economics and Environment (SAWTEE), Nepal; Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD), Bangladesh; Research and Information System for Developing Countries (RIS), India; Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI), Pakistan; and Institute of Policy Studies of Sri Lanka (IPS), Sri Lanka. The business community across South Asia also remains an important partner in this meeting. Most notably SAARC Chamber of Commerce and Industries and South Asia Centre for Policy Studies (SACEPS) have been knowledge partners in this effort.
Given the presence of the regional think tank community, this year's SAES will also discuss how Track 2 and Track 1.5 efforts could support the formal SAARC process in areas such as trade, energy, transport, environment, climate change, disaster risk reduction and water.
The policy recommendations and related output of this Summit are formally communicated to all member countries through the Ministries of Foreign Affairs and the SAARC Secretariat.
CONFERENCE OUTCOMES:
A peer reviewed anthology based on the conference papers presented is launched at the succeeding Conference. In keeping with this tradition, the Twenty-first SDC will launch the SDC 2017 anthology titled 'Seventy Years of Development: The Way Forward', along with other publications.
As done so in earlier SD Conferences, SDPI will compile the policy recommendations from the 30 plus panels and plenary sessions which will be communicated to the respective Ministries and at regional level institutions. The compiled recommendations along with detailed reports of the sessions will be published in a special edition of SDPI's Research and News Bulletin.
The Conference will provide an interactive forum to meet with experts and to find relevant ideas and solutions in an atmosphere of sharing and exploring.
SDC keynote plenary sessions and selected panels will be broadcast live on SDPI's web-based TV (www.sdpi.tv) for wider dissemination. Notifications on the Conference will be shared on SDPI App.
CONFERENCE FORMAT:
There will be three to four keynote plenary sessions in which prominent keynote speakers will be invited to address significant areas as highlighted in the overarching theme. The plenary each day will be followed by concurrent sessions / panels on sub-themes. The plenary will last for one hour and 30 minutes while the duration of each panel will be two hours with three to five presentations followed by question-and-answer session.
DATES TO REMEMBER:
Submission of abstracts: 15 August 2018 (extended till 14 September 2018)
Submission of documents by Indian and Bangladeshi passport holders: 1 September 2018
Submission of documents by all other international passport holders: 15 September 2018
Submission of Conference papers: 1 November 2018
Twenty-first SDC and SAES XI: 4 - 7 December 2018
CALL FOR ABSTRACTS:
Under the overarching theme, a number of panels based on sub-themes will be organized. Panel titles along with write-ups will be uploaded at the Conference web link mentioned below. Speakers are requested to submit their abstracts corresponding and suitably associated to the panel sub-theme objectives addressing the questions specifically being addressed in that particular panel. For details of the panels, authors' guidelines, submission deadlines, etc., please visit our web link www.sdpi.org/sdc.php
All abstracts will go through a software review for originality and if cleared will be reviewed by an editorial committee. Only those speakers with short-listed abstracts will be informed and will be requested to submit their papers by the deadline, i.e. 1 November 2018. Potential speakers are requested to specify the panel title while submitting an abstract.
List of proposed panels along with their panel write-ups will be made available at www.sdpi.org/sdc.php Please continue to visit the weblink.
For further details, please contact the SDC Unit:
Ms Uzma T. Haroon, Director SDC Unit
Email address: uzma@sdpi.org
Ms Imrana Niazi, Coordinator SDC
Email address: imrana@sdpi.org
Ms Tayyaba Hanif, Assistant Coordinator SDC
Email address: tayyaba@sdpi.org
Sustainable Development Conference Unit
Sustainable Development Policy Institute
Taimur Chambers, # 10-D (West),
Fazl-e-Haq Road, Blue Area, Islamabad, Pakistan
Ph: (+92-51) 2278134; 2278136
Fax: (+92-51) 2278135
URL: www.sdpi.org
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