As the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development enters its fifth year of implementation, it is opportune to ask how governance is understood and implemented around the world. In fact, one can go further to probe the extent to which governments are cognizant of the principles undergirding effective governance.

Against the backdrop of a raging and devastating pandemic, the world economy is projected to shrink by 3.2 per cent in 2020. Under the baseline scenario, GDP growth in developed countries will plunge to –5.0 per cent in 2020, while output of developing countries will shrink by 0.7 per cent.

Social dialogue has been long employed as a tool in the governance of work, with the objective of delivering sustainable economic growth, social justice and the kind of high-trust work relations that are not only valuable in themselves, but that can also improve business performance and increase workers’ share in rising profitability.

This policy brief makes a case for protecting science, technology and innovation (STI) budgets during the COVID-19 crisis and its aftermath, based on the fact that continued investments in STI will be critical to the achievement of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

The COVID-19 crisis has caused untold disruption to lives and economies. As the current patterns of globalization are being questioned, the regional level will become vital in dealing with crossborder problems.

Four years of Effective governance is no mean achievement. Fulfilled promises and futuristic projects are the hall mark of this Government. Near-perfect taming of a global threat like Covid-19 menace is something more than an achievement.

The pandemic puts as many as 160 million jobs in tourism, manufacturing and commodity sectors in developing countries at risk, potentially threatening economic growth and decent jobs as envisaged in SDG-8. Massive job losses—especially loss of relatively well-paying jobs—will likely worsen inequality, both within and between countries.

The IPEC+ Global Flagship Programme brings together two leading ILO technical cooperation programmes – the International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour (IPEC) and the Special Action Programme to combat Forced Labour (SAP/FL) – to establish a major new force in the fight against child labour, forced labour and human trafficking.

From an economic and environmental point of view, sustainable port development is a very important issue not only for the government as port management agencies but also for port authorities and terminal operators.