Mauritania organizes Side Event on Sidelines of High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development 2024 in New York

The Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development, Abdessalam Ould Mohamed Saleh, chaired, on Thursday at the United Nations Headquarters in New York, a side event on the sidelines of the 2024 High-Level Political Forum organized by the United Nations on Sustainable Development, dedicated to the theme “Strengthening the transformation path in Mauritania for a more resilient and sustainable future that will achieve progress in achieving the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals”.
In addition to the Minister, the event was attended by HE. Mr. Sidi Mohamed Ould Mohamed Laghdaf, Mr. Haoliang Xu, Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations and Deputy Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme, Ibrahima Thiaw, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification, Mansour Ndiaye, Resident Representative of the United Nations Development Programme in Mauritania, and Michael Hasler, Minister Advisor to the Head of the Political Section of the Permanent Mission of the Federal Republic of Germany to the United Nations.
This event was marked by a keynote presentation by the Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development, in which he addressed the development challenges in the Sahel region in particular and the African continent in general, where he indicated that overcoming these challenges requires overcoming the obstacles arising from the effects of climate change, demographic growth and the acceleration of population concentration in cities, through a radical transformation in the economic model followed so far to ensure an economic growth rate within 10% over a period of thirty years.
The Minister explained that this required transformation is possible provided that the transition to a green economy is made by investing the huge capabilities of our country in the field of renewable energies and green hydrogen, which will allow the valorization of our natural resources.
To help bring about this transformation in the economic model, the Minister stressed that international grants and assistance will not suffice regardless of their size, but rather two basic conditions must be met, the first of which is to reconsider the structure of international finance in accordance with the call of the Secretary-General of the United Nations, and the second is to stimulate the private sector to invest heavily in promising sectors.
The presentation was accompanied by discussions that focused on the role that development policies based on a sustainability approach and taking advantage of the opportunities offered by green energy can play in driving the pace of development in countries on the path of growth.
The speakers praised the Mauritanian experience in this field and the promising prospects of the country.