The National Event of the Sustainable PTS Tour took place on 20 March at the Porto Alfândega Conference Centre.

The event benefited from the presence and intervention of important figures of the Portuguese State, such as the President of the Assembly of the Republic, Augusto Santos Silva; Minister for Presidential Affairs, Mariana Vieira da Silva; Minister of Territorial Cohesion, Ana Abrunhosa; and the Secretary of State for the Presidency of the Council of Ministers, André Moz Caldas, as well as members of parliament, mayors and representatives from various public administration institutions, NGOs and academia.

Promoted by the Presidency of the Council of Ministers (PCM), this initiative is part of the set of activities planned for the national tour (Mainland and Autonomous Regions) to involve civil society in the preparation of the National Voluntary Report (RVN) 2023 and raise awareness of the goals and targets of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

In his speech, the Director of PlanAPP said that “the National Voluntary Report is not only a faithful picture of what the country has achieved, but also what it has achieved in terms of society’s engagement”. Paulo Areosa Feio also highlighted the comprehensive, open and inclusive nature of the process and methodology that governed preparation of the RVN, coordinated by PlanAPP.

Through close inter-ministerial cooperation and in collaboration with the Governments of the Autonomous Regions and the Commissions for Coordination and Regional Development (CCDR), Participatory Assemblies (see chart) have been organised with a view to listening to and involving the various sections of civil society in an interactive and informal way.

As an international commitment assumed by Portugal on behalf of all its citizens, the RVN presents comprehensive findings – with collection and reporting of information – of the progress made in the implementation of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and their 169 targets. Furthermore, this work constitutes an assessment of the concrete challenges faced by the country with a view to adjusting and leveraging a new cycle of governance, articulation and implementation, both at national and subnational (regional and local) levels of the 2030 Agenda and the SDGs. Portugal will present its second RVN at the United Nations High Level Political Forum in July 2023.