KINGSTON, Jamaica — Jamaica will participate in the United Nations High Level Political Forum on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in New York from July 16-18.

According to a release from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, State Minister Pearnel Charles Jr will lead Jamaica’s delegation supported by Director General of the Planning Institute of Jamaica and Jamaica’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations in New York.

Charles Jr noted that the “This review will give Jamaica an opportunity, not only to assess the implementation progress to date, but to mobilise international partners to advance the Vision 2030 National Development Agenda.”

“Jamaica will be one of 47 countries delivering their Voluntary National Review (VNR).

Specifically, Jamaica joins Bahamas in being the only two Caribbean countries participating in the 2018 VNR process. The VNR presentations represent a new informal platform, referred to as labs. The presenting country in the lab setting of a group of countries will share their SDG implementation progress and field questions from participating countries