9 June 2016: Oh Joon, President of the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), briefed UN Member States and Major Groups and Other Stakeholders on preparations for the 2016 High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF) and the ECOSOC High-Level Segment, including the Fifth Biennial High-level Meeting of the Development Cooperation Forum (DCF).

The general segment of the HLPF will convene from 11-15 July. The ECOSOC High-Level Segment (HLS) will convene from 18-22 July, and will include the HLPF Ministerial Segment (18-20 July), a thematic discussion of the ECOSOC HLS, and the DCF (21-22 July 2016).

The 2016 sessions will have “exclusive arrangements” that set no precedent, said Oh, with regard to the ongoing negotiations on the follow-up and review of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development at the global level, which cover the 2017-2019 sessions.

Oh stressed the need for HLPF sessions to be interactive and informative. Presenting the programme, he said the HLPF general segment (11-15 July) will include a discussion on “where do we stand at year one” of implementation of the 2030 Agenda, and this discussion will be informed by the first Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) progress report. The general segment also will include sessions on the HLPF theme ‘Ensuring that No One is Left Behind,’ which will cover all of the 17 SDGs “through the lens of the theme” in an interlinked way, he said. Oh noted that all countries will be invited on 13-14 July to share national experiences on initial stages of implementation of the SDGs, during sessions on: ownership; mainstreaming SDGs into national policies; local authorities and national government working together for implementation of the SDGs; challenges in mobilizing means of implementation (MOI) at the national level; and national mechanisms for monitoring progress and reporting on achievement of the SDGs.

The general segment will also include discussions on: the science-policy interface; small island developing States (SIDS) and the SAMOA Pathway; countries in special situations such as the least developed countries (LDCs), landlocked developing countries (LLDCs), countries in situation of conflict and post-conflict, other special situations and middle-income countries (MICs); multi-stakeholder engagement for implementation of the 2030 Agenda and SDGs; and regional experiences and dialogues with chairs of regional forums and Executive Secretaries of UN Regional Commissions.

On 19-20 July, Oh said countries who volunteered to present national reviews will present their initial steps for the implementation of the 2030 Agenda, and other countries and stakeholders will be engaged as discussants. More detail on the format for the voluntary national reviews (VNRs) will be provided shortly, he added, and the format may not be the same for all countries.

Juwang Zhu, UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA), said the HLPF will include an SDGs learning, training and practice center, a Partnership Exchange, and other special parallel events, and that the UN Secretariat received more than 160 side events requests and applications.

Oh announced that the programme of the ECOSOC High-Level Segment, including the DCF, will begin at 9 am and end at 7 pm, in order to avoid parallel and late-night sessions. Oh said the ECOSOC High-Level Segment thematic discussion on ‘Infrastructure for Sustainable Development for All’ will consider the major role of infrastructure in the 2030 Agenda, and a UN Secretary-General report has been issued to support this dialogue.

On the DCF, Oh noted that six sessions will take place to enable participants to discuss the potential of development cooperation as a lever for effective implementation of the 2030 Agenda. The six sessions’ topics are: supporting national efforts to achieve the full ambition of the 2030 Agenda; aligning development cooperation and institutions; monitoring and review; South-South cooperation; private sector, development cooperation and blended finance; and technology transfer and capacity building.

Oh explained that there will be one Ministerial Declaration for both the HLPF and the ECOSOC High-Level Segment. This Declaration will be adopted first at the HLPF, and then in ECOSOC. A President’s Summary of the HLPF, and a procedural report of both the HLPF and the ECOSOC High-Level Segment will also be produced, he noted.

During an interactive discussion, Indonesia suggested that the programme include discussion of regional policy-making coherence mechanisms and sharing regional experiences and best practices. Thailand for the Group of 77 and China (G-77/China) stressed the need to: discuss sustainable development challenges facing developing countries and recognize particular challenges faced by LDCs; and have an inclusive and balanced Ministerial Declaration. Major Groups and Other Stakeholders asked to: ensure that all persons with disabilities can participate to the meeting; take into account, in the HLPF programme, coherence with different sustainable development frameworks; and ensure an inclusive and transparent process during the HLPF Ministerial Declaration negotiations.

Negotiations on the Ministerial Declaration are taking place in informal consultations co-facilitated by Gillian Bird, Permanent Representative of Australia, and Gustavo Meza-Cuadra, Permanent Representative of Peru. The co-facilitators issued a list of potential elements to be included in the Declaration on 13 June, and consultations began on 16 June. They planned to circulate a draft on 20 or 21 June. [Briefing Webcast] [HLPF 2016 Website] [HLPF Programme] [Possible Modalities for 2016 HLPF Programme] [DCF 2016 Website] [IISD RS Sources] [IISD RS Story on Ministerial Declaration Consultations]