First "Geneva Readings" held at the UN Office in Geneva

On December 7, 2021, the United Nations Office in Geneva hosted the first “Geneva Readings” dedicated to the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals, as well as the role of large business structures in this process.

The organizers of the Geneva Readings are the Permanent Mission of the Russian Federation to the UN Office in Geneva, the International Union of Non-Governmental Organizations “Eurasian Peoples' Assembly”, the Russian UN Association and the Cultural Seasons Charitable Foundation.

The Geneva Readings were opened with a Round Table “Geneva SDG Readings: Implementing the 2030 Agenda in a New Reality. Experience in presenting VNO SDGs, practical achievements of Russian regions, business opportunities”.

The Director General of the United Nations Office at Geneva Tatiana Valovaya welcomed the participants of the Round Table. Opening the event, she expressed the wish that the “Geneva Readings” held for the first time would become annual.

“This will be the basis for a new expert platform for multilateral cooperation to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals,” said Tatyana Valovaya.

Gennady Gatilov, Permanent Representative of Russia to the UN Office in Geneva, stressed in his welcoming speech that the topics discussed at the first "Geneva Readings" are important and relevant for accelerating social development.

Secretary General of the Eurasian Peoples' Assembly Andrei Belyaninov wished the participants of the "Geneva Readings" effective work and thanked the organizers and moderators of the sites for fruitful cooperation.

The opening of the Geneva Readings was greeted by the Director of the UN Information Center, Vladimir Kuznetsov.

The conference was moderated by

• Mario Apostolov, Regional Adviser, United Nations Economic Commission for Europe,
• Elmira Shcherbakova, member of the General Council, Chairman of the Council for International Cultural Cooperation of the Eurasian Peoples' Assembly, representative of the Cultural Seasons Foundation.

The roundtable participants discussed the experience of Russia and other CIS countries in integrating the Sustainable Development Goals into local programs.

Presentations were made by:

• Artem Kiryanov, Deputy of the State Duma of the Russian Federation, Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Economic Policy,
• Natalya Stapran, Director of the Department of Multilateral Economic Cooperation and Special Projects, Ministry of Economic Development of Russia,
• Lyudmila Berg, Deputy Minister of International and Foreign Economic Relations of the Sverdlovsk Region,
• Dmitry Bogdanov, Minister of Economic Development and Investments of the Samara Region,
• Taliya Minullina, Member of the Government of the Republic of Tatarstan, Head of the Investment Development Agency of the Republic of Tatarstan,
• Alexey Bondaruk, Deputy Head of the Department for External Economic and International Relations of the City of Moscow, Moscow Government,
• Svetlana Smirnova, First Deputy Secretary General - Head of the General Secretariat of the Eurasian Peoples 'Assembly, Chairman of the Council of the Russian Peoples' Assembly, member of the Presidential Council for Interethnic Relations,
• Alexey Borisov, First Deputy Chairman of the Russian UN Association, Vice-President of the World Federation of UN Associations.
• Aigul Solovieva, Chairman of the Board of the Association of Environmental Organizations of Kazakhstan,
• Alexandra Akkirman, Government and Public Relations Manager, Coca-Cola in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan,
• Vladimir Torin, Director of Communications, EuroChem,
• Elena Feoktistova, Managing Director for Corporate Responsibility, Sustainable Development and Social Entrepreneurship of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (RSPP),
• Elena Topoleva-Soldunova, Director of ANO "Agency of Social Information",
• Marina Vashukova, Executive Director of the Association "National Network of the Global Compact" (UN Global Compact in Russia),
• Irina Zhukova, Director for Sustainable Development and Corporate Programs of Affiliated Companies Philip Morris International,
• Zubair Omarov, Assistant to the General Director of Kizlyar Brandy Factory JSC.

The expert community, which included deputies of the Russian State Duma, representatives of the UN Economic Commission for Europe, the Civic Chamber of Russia, federal and regional authorities, were presented with examples of the implementation of corporate programs and activities in the field of sustainable development of large international manufacturing companies. Participants of the Geneva Readings also discussed the practice of corporate volunteering; successful partnership formats between business, government and the non-profit sector.