1 August 2018: Rhonda King, President of ECOSOC, has informed all UN Permanent Representatives and Observers that the list of countries to present Voluntary National Reviews (VNRs) at the 2019 meeting of the High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF) has been closed. Seven countries will present VNRs for a second time, while 35 countries will present their first VNRs at 2019 HLPF.

The following countries will conduct VNRs for the first time in 2019: Algeria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo, Côte d’Ivoire, Croatia, Eritrea, Fiji, Ghana, Iceland, Israel, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Lesotho, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mongolia, Nauru, New Zealand, Oman, Pakistan, Palau, Saint Lucia, Serbia, South Africa, Timor-Leste, Tonga, Tunisia, Turkmenistan, UK, Tanzania, and Vanuatu.

Azerbaijan, Chile, France, Guatemala, Indonesia, Philippines and Sierra Leone will conduct VNRs for the second time.

King invited interested countries not included in the 2019 group of VNR countries to express their interest in presenting VNRs in 2020 or subsequent years, and noted that priority will be given to those countries presenting for the first time. King also looked “forward to working with all of you in allowing for well-organized VNR presentations” at the 2019 meeting of the HLPF under the auspices of ECOSOC. [SDG Knowledge Hub story on HLPF 2019 VNR announcements as of 24 July 2018][SDG Knowledge Hub sources]

4 October 2018 Update: The list of countries presenting VNRs during HLPF 2019 has expanded to 51.