A member of MLA Council was supported by IFLA to represent Maldives Libraries at the 10th Asia-Pacific Forum on Sustainable Development (APSFSD), from 27 to 30 March 2023, Bangkok, Thailand. The forum provided opportunities to access the progress of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) at the regional level and a platform to share experiences with UN, UN officials, Governmental officials and other agents such as Civil Service Organization representatives.

During the 3-day forum, insights into the difficulties faced by different regions were highlighted and the most noticeable gap was found to be the availability of data to support the progress of SDGs which were set for the 2030 by the United Nations. The role libraries can play in collecting, maintaining, and making the data accessible to the public is crucial and huge and it was identified that libraries still have a long way to go to support and assist other relevant entities in reaching the SDGs.

MLA representative was able to actively participate in SDG11, Sustainable Cities and Communities roundtable discussions and made suggestions on the topic Urban Digital Transformation and Data-Driven Decisions. Suggestions on having central digital repositories, addressing the digital divide by providing equal access to digital data and teaching data literacies were provided. These suggestions were forwarded to be included in the SDG11 report.

In addition to the main event, the MLA representative, Fathimath Nashfa, was also able to participate in other side events during the APFSD, including the roundtable discussions on: Building Accessible and Inclusive Cities and Communities in Asia and the Pacific; and Globalization: catalyzing local implementation of global goals in Asia and the Pacific. The importance of building cities and communities which are inclusive and accessible to all was the heart of the discussions.

The report of the Forum can be found at APFSD here