Sri Lanka conducts the Second Voluntary National Review (VNR) of SDG Implementation

The VNR is part of the formal inter-governmental follow-up and review process on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. It represents a country’s progress on the implementation of the 2030 Agenda to its peers and other stakeholders at the global level and is guided by the UN Secretary-General’s Voluntary Guidelines of 2016.
The preparation process follows a timeline that includes consultations within the country with a wider group of stakeholders as well as peer engagement at the regional and global levels. 
The Government of Sri Lanka has appointed a national-level inter-governmental Steering Committee to guide and oversee the VNR process. The Sustainable Development Council of Sri Lanka functions as the overall coordinating body of and the main secretariat to the VNR process, UN agencies, the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank function as observers of the process.  
The first national-level multi-stakeholder consultative workshop convened by the Sustainable Development Council was successfully held on 30th November 2021. 
The workshop brought together representatives of government institutions (Prime Minister’s Office, the Parliament, Ministries of Economic Policies and Plan Implementation, Foreign Affairs, Fisheries, Health, Education, Water Supply, Power, Labor, Environment, Justice, Public Security, State Ministries of Urban Development, Women and Child Development, Skills Development, Departments of National Planning, National Budget, Project Management and Monitoring, Census and Statistics, the Central Bank, Board of Investment, the Finance Commission etc), Civil Society Organizations (Sarvodaya, Centre for Poverty Analysis, Centre for Environmental Justice, Centre for Policy Alternatives, Law and Society Trust, Green Building Council, Verite Research, Janathakshan, Slycan Trust etc.), private sector (Ceylon Chambers of Commerce, Colombo Stock Exchange, Biodiversity Forum etc), academia and UN agencies to an interactive dialogue.
The discussions focused on the  means of implementation of the 2030 Agenda in Sri Lanka, particularly the legal & policy framework, institutional framework, data systems, multi-stakeholder engagement, and financing for SDGs.