2018 High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development: Poland

In 2018, Poland celebrates its 100th anniversary of restoration of its independence after 123 years of partitions. It is a special occasion for us to present to the international community Poland's achievements on the road to sustainable development. We believe that our experience, performance and good practices can contribute to the global process of building and consolidating of global sustainable economy.

Poland’s Strategy and Priorities

The adoption of the 2030 Agenda by the UN in 2015 coincided with the broad public debate in Poland on defining a new approach to development policy and the need to identify and give new impulses to development.

As the result, the new national development model was presented in the Strategy for Responsible Development (SRD). The coherence of the SRD and the Agenda 2030 is visible in many aspects: at the level of objectives, areas and priority actions, and finally - indicators. The priorities of the socio-economic development of Poland have been defined in all three dimensions of sustainable development:

• Social - the prime concern is, first of all, to reduce social exclusion, poverty, all kinds of social inequalities. The ultimate goal is to improve the quality of citizens’ life. We focus on the development of human and social capital through access to knowledge and education, skills and healthcare (SDGs: 1, 3, 4).
• Economic - the priority is the construction of a strong, modern industry and support for entrepreneurship. Investments in innovation, development of modern technologies and high value added products, of information technologies and full use of the digital revolution are of key importance. We support the internationalization of Polish enterprises and promote the creation of Polish brands abroad (SDGs: 2, 8, 9).
• Environmental - we strive to improve the condition of the environment and sustainable management of resources. Our aim is to increase the available water resources and achieve high water quality, rational management of natural and geological resources as well as effective waste management. The improvement of air quality in Polish cities remains the priority, as well as the protection of soils against degradation and the reduction of the impact of noise and electromagnetic fields, what will positively affect the health of residents (SDGs: 6, 11, 12, 15).

Poland puts on a socially and territorially sensitive development, with a high level of employment, good quality jobs and a large scale of entrepreneurship. The benefits of economic growth should be available to everyone, regardless of where they live (SDG 10).

Achieving the above priorities will be supported by strengthening the efficiency and effectiveness of state and its institutions (i.e. better quality of the enacted law, efficient administration, strong system of strategic management of development processes) (SDG 16).

We focus on cooperation, partnership and joint responsibility of public entities, business and citizens for the course of development processes.

Polish approach to the implementation

In the Polish VNR Report we present a national approach to the implementation of all 17 SDGs. Each of the SDGs comes up with a short diagnosis, identification of the priorities in a given area and presentation of key actions to implement the set priorities. We have also indicated government strategic projects that contribute to the achievement of a specific goal as well as examples of initiatives implemented by NGOs, entrepreneurs or local communities.

We share our experience in building partnership, dialogue and cooperation between administration and stakeholders. We believe that our approach and the launched Partnership for the implementation of Sustainable Development Goals may serve as a good practice for other countries. We also formulate plans for the future, focusing activities around social and economic areas, public policies that are accelerators for Poland's sustainable development.