Doha, January 22 (QNA) – The State of Qatar assumed on Sunday the presidency of the 42nd meeting of the Council of Arab Ministers of Social Affairs that will convene in Doha on Jan. 25-26, 2023, preceded by a preparatory meeting for senior officials.

The agenda of the meeting includes a myriad of vital topics related to the fields of family, childhood, rights of persons with disabilities and elderly, social welfare and other wide range of files.

Assistant Undersecretary for Social Affairs at the Ministry of Social Development and Chairman of the 42nd meeting of the Council of Arab Ministers of Social Affairs Family Ghanem bin Mubarak Al Kuwari said that such an important meeting comes in continuation of the joint coordination and cooperation to transfer expertise and knowledge between the Ministry of Administrative Development, Labor and Social Affairs and its counterparts in the Arab states to further capitalize on the distinguished experiences in protection and social care aspects.

The agenda of the meeting includes numerous vital topics that will be formulated into effective policies, recommendations, draft resolutions and decisions to be further submitted to Their Excellencies, Arab Ministers of Social Affairs in their meeting which is due to convene on Jan. 26, Al Kuwari pointed out.

He indicated that the meeting will discuss topics in the areas of family, childhood, rights of persons with disabilities, eradication of multidimensional poverty in Arab states, in addition to the topics relevant to elderly and aspects of protection, social care, standards of social action and social workers, program of Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development, as well as the action plan of the Council of Arab Ministers of Social Affairs, and a plethora of activities and proposed studies.

For his part, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development for Rehabilitation and Social Guidance in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Dr. Abdullah Al-Wahaibi said that the current session comes as a complementary to the previous efforts and meetings, in pursuit of exploring the best means of promoting the social development in the Arab region, for the service of the social issues to attain the highest level of evolution in various fields of social development.

The efforts of the Technical Secretariat of the Council of Arab Ministers of Social Affairs, in cooperation and coordination with Their Excellencies the ministers and concerned officials in the member states, have been straightforward to implement the outcomes of the 11th session of the meeting, Al-Wahaibi pointed out. He added that such efforts have achieved and implemented the social dimensions of Sustainable Development Goals.

The Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development in Saudi Arabia, and stemming from the Vision of Saudi Arabia 2030, has launched numerous initiatives to serve persons with disabilities, including partnership initiative with the non-state sector and the Purple Saturday initiative, Al-Wahaibi pointed out.

He noted that the ministry is currently working to conduct a holistic evaluation process for persons with disabilities, which includes health, social, economic and functional aspects. He outlined that the current agenda of the meeting abounds with social topics that require further scrutinization and discussion to take the appropriate decisions accordingly, for the sake of achieving and implementing the social dimensions of Sustainable Development Goals 2030.

In addition, Technical Secretariat of Arab Social Ministerial Council Tareq Al Nabulsi emphasized that the current session of the meeting comes within a new trend in the world, which represents recovery from Coronavirus (COVID-19), pointing out that such a trend started in the past session that was convened in Saudi Arabia, within the framework of recovery and moving forward to implement the Sustainable Development Plan 2030.

This event comes after the Arab states have made significant and numerous strides with respect to promoting the rights of weak and vulnerable segments in the community, with the rights of persons with disabilities and elderly coming at the forefront, Al Nabulsi pointed out.

He stressed on the importance of taking into account all unprecedented challenges facing the Arab region which precipitate the synergistic efforts and capitalizing on the available technology and potential.

In light of those challenges, the Arab Social Ministerial Council has been keen to coordinate with the State of Qatar and the presidency of the Executive Office of the Council of Arab Ministers of Social Affairs to crystalize all challenges in the draft agenda to consider all these developments, he said. (QNA)