Washington, July 16, AZERTACAzerbaijan has become the first country in the region and CIS area to submit its second Voluntary National Review (VNR) on the country’s Sustainable Development Goals at High-Level Political Forum (HLPF) at the UN headquarters in New York, USA. Addressing the Forum, Deputy Prime Minister, Chair of the National Coordination Council for Sustainable Development Ali Ahmadov highlighted the main messages for the second VNR of Azerbaijan on SDGs. “Fulfilment of SDG-related commitments is one of the crucial components of Azerbaijan’s state policy. Building opportunities for inclusive and sustainable economic growth for all and ‘leaving no one behind’ is a priority for Azerbaijan and we have demonstrated firm commitment to transitioning to sustainable development and aligning our national development strategy to the SDGs. We have been working to align our policies and national development agenda with SDGs and will continue our efforts in developing and implementing a National Action Plan for the implementation of national SDGs. We have focused on implementing programs and targeted interventions that will result in more economically sound, socially responsive and environmentally friendly results. Priority has been given to improving statistical frameworks, enhancing infrastructure and human capacities towards more detailed data generation, and analysis and strengthening of international partnerships,” Deputy Prime Minister Ahmadov said. Pointing to the challenges facing Azerbaijan in achieving the SDGs, Ali Ahmadov said that the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict poses a serious threat to peace, security and cooperation in the South Caucasus. As part of the visit, the Azerbaijani delegation, which includes Permanent representative of Azerbaijan to the United Nations Yashar Aliyev, Deputy Minister of Justice Togrul Musayev, Deputy Minister of Labor and Social Protection of the Population Matin Karimli, Head of the Department of the Cabinet of Ministers Shahin Sadigov, Secretary of the National Coordination Council for Sustainable Development Huseyn Huseynov, will hold bilateral meetings with a number of UN senior representatives, as well as delegations of other member states.Azerbaijan joined the UN Sustainable Development Goals for 2016-2030 programme. Under the decree of President Ilham Aliyev of October 6, 2016 the National Coordination Council on sustainable development of the Azerbaijan Republic and the Secretariat of Council acting on regular basis was established. The Azerbaijani government has mobilized all forces for realization of the tasks following from Sustainable Development Goals.The second VNR report of Azerbaijan is available on the UN's official website (www.sustainabledevelopment.un.org). Yusif BabanlySpecial Correspondent