Guwahati, Feb. 10: Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi today unveiled the Assam Vision 2030, a draft vision document on sustainable development goals and how they would be implemented in the state in the next 15 years.

Gogoi unveiled the vision document during the two-day partnership conference in connection with implementation of sustainable development goals that began in the city today. The conference has been organised by the state government.

Assam also happens to be the first state in the world to prepare a draft vision document on the goals.

Unveiling the vision document, Gogoi said, "This is a very important moment as we release the Assam Vision 2030 that envisages achieving sustainable development in the state in the next 15 years. We aim to achieve a state where there is no poverty, where there is gender equality, where every person enjoys good health, has access to education and employment. This is not easy and we have a long way to go. We have to put all our available resources to use and we also have to involve the public in a big way to achieve this.

Though the millennium development goals ended in December, different nations across the globe have been achieving these goals at different levels. This has resulted in extensive deliberations among the member nations of the UN regarding sustainable development goals in the next 15 years. The United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution on September 25 last year for sustainable development comprising 17 goals and 169 targets under the official agenda, Transforming our World: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

These 17 goals are ending poverty in all forms, ending hunger, achieving good health for all, quality education for all, gender equality, clean sanitation and water, affordable and clean energy, employment and economic growth, industrialisation and innovation, reducing inequalities, responsible consumption and production, climate change, protecting life under water, conserving life on land, achieving justice and peace and partnerships to achieve these goals.

Jeffrey Sachs, American economist who is the director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University and special adviser to the secretary general of UN, during a video-conferencing session at the meet today, said, "Assam happens to be the first state to adopt a draft vision document on sustainable development goals. Surely Assam has a long way to go and we at the UN will definitely help the state government to implement these goals in terms of guidance and resources. This document not only mentions the goals but also shows ways in which the government plans to achieve them and the hurdles that it has to overcome. It is very realistic."

"Our government has accorded top priority to working towards inclusive and sustainable development of all the people of Assam. All the participants here should put forward valuable inputs in this conference on how the SDGs can be successfully implemented," Gogoi said.