In 2019, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan were seeking practical guidance to prepare their first voluntary national reviews, to be presented at the high-level political forum on sustainable development in 2020. In response, the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) initiated a voluntary national review twinning programme for North and Central Asian countries to share knowledge, experiences and practical recommendations with countries that have similar administrative systems and economic, social and environmental circumstances. In the spirit of South-South cooperation, the objective of the twinning programme is to exchange best practices and methodologies for the preparation and follow-up of a voluntary national review in order to overcome some of the systemic challenges that countries encounter in the process. 

In 2020, Armenia, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan have joined forces to exchange experiences and share lessons in preparing their respective voluntary national reviews as part of a twinning exercise. While Armenia and Georgia will be submitting their second reports at the high-level political forum on sustainable development in 2020, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan will be submitting their first reports. As a result, two sets of twinning exercises have been piloted: one in Kyrgyzstan with Armenia and another in Uzbekistan with Georgia. These twinning exercises were facilitated by ESCAP in partnership with the Governments and the United Nations Resident Coordinator Offices of the countries concerned. 

During these twinning exercises, members of the participating delegations had the opportunity to meet with their counterparts in Parliament; State institutions for statistics, the environment and national economies; non-governmental organizations; and mass media to establish a direct connection, exchange good practices and share knowledge on preparing the voluntary national reviews. The countries agreed to exchange the first draft of their reports for peer review by mid-April?2020. They continued to interact through the SDG?Helpdesk, which is an online platform for knowledge–sharing, expertise and advice hosted by ESCAP (sdghelpdesk.unescap.org). The SDG?Helpdesk provided these countries with an online community through which they could also exchange knowledge and information on voluntary national reviews and other issues related to achieving the SDGs. 

Although the focus was on countries preparing their first voluntary national reviews, the countries preparing their second reports have also learned from the twinning exercise, which has proven that exchange of knowledge and practices can take place in both directions, promoting South-South peer learning. 

The twinning exercise has raised significant interest in the development community within and beyond the Asia-Pacific region, as various United Nations agencies and donors are already planning to support efforts to replicate this exercise. This good practice can be easily replicated, as it requires only modest funding for a number of in-person and virtual cross-country exchanges. The greatest requirement is that countries have the political will to share their experiences and processes with each other and with stakeholders. This good practice also helps to build capacity through peer learning in a setting in which countries facing similar challenges can find a sympathetic ear and share practical, operational ideas and proposals. Once contact has been formally established during the twinning meetings, informal and formal channels could also be opened for future communication and South-South and triangular cooperation.