A group of governments have proposed a follow-up process for the proposals contained in the UN Secretary-General’s ‘Our Common Agenda’ report. The text would call on the UN General Assembly (UNGA) President to initiate an intergovernmental consultation process on the report’s recommendations and ways to take them forward.

Denmark, Fiji, Georgia, Mexico, Qatar, Rwanda, Singapore, and Sweden jointly submitted the draft (A/76/L.8), ‘Follow-up to the report of the Secretary-General entitled “Our Common Agenda”,’ on 3 November 2021. By the draft text the UNGA would: 

• Welcome the report of the Secretary-General “as a basis for further engagement by Member States”;
• Request the UN Secretary-General to initiate action to accelerate implementation of frameworks that have already been agreed; and
• Call on the UNGA President to “initiate, under his overall guidance, a process of follow-up to enable all Member States to begin inclusive intergovernmental consultations on the various proposals, options and potential means of implementation and consider ways to take them forward, in collaboration with all relevant partners through broad and inclusive consultations.”

On 25 October 2021 the UNGA held an informal plenary to discuss follow-up options for the ‘Our Common Agenda’ report. Addressing Member States at the plenary, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the report’s recommendations aim to “turbocharge” work on the SDGs, noted that planning for some actions is already underway, and suggested that Member States welcome the report. Delegations then exchanged views on a potential procedural resolution to start considering the 90 recommendations outlined in the report.

A “group of friends” consisting of Denmark, Fiji, Georgia, Mexico, Qatar, Rwanda, Singapore, and Sweden was among those expressing their preference for a procedural resolution to welcome the report as a basis for discussion among Member States under the leadership of the UNGA president – rather than conducting extensive consideration of the report’s proposals before establishing a decision-making process. [Draft resolution A/76/L.8] [SDG Knowledge Hub story on informal plenary 25 October 2021]