3 May 2017: To date, twelve UN Member States have volunteered to present reports on national implementation of the SDGs at the 2018 session of the UN High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF). Meanwhile, preparations are underway for the 2017 session, including the appointment of co-facilitators for negotiating the Ministerial Declaration, and the selection of funded civil society participants from the developing countries who will present Voluntary National Reviews (VNRs) this year.

On the 2018 VNRs, the governments who will present next year are: Bahamas, Bahrain, Bhutan, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Jamaica, Latvia, Republic of Congo, Singapore and Viet Nam.

The 2017 VNRs will take place during the HLPF’s ministerial segment (17-19 July 2017). The 44 countries who will present VNRs are expected to submit their reports by 16 June.

On the Ministerial Declaration of the HLPF and the UN Economic and Social Council’s (ECOSOC) High-level Segment, which will be adopted jointly at the close of the meetings, ECOSOC President Frederick Shava has appointed Jan Kickert, Permanent Representative of Austria, and Courtenay Rattray, Permanent Representative of Jamaica, to co-facilitate the consultations. Ahead of the ministerial segment, the session will address the HLPF’s annual theme, ‘Eradicating poverty and promoting prosperity in a changing world,’ and the SDGs selected for in-depth review (Goals 1, 2, 3, 5, 9 and 17), during the first week (10-14 July).

The engagement of Major Groups and Other Stakeholders (MGos) in the HLPF is being developed in several ways. First, DESA collected official, sectoral position papers from MGoS on the theme of the 2017 HLPF session. The NGO Major Group’s official position paper asserts that each country is responsible for achieving the SDGs in consultation with its people, “to address collective challenges from a place of shared endeavor.” All parts of society “must take ownership of the Goals in their particular contexts – acknowledging that all Goals are interrelated and mutually reinforcing,” the paper says. It also offers recommendations on each SDG under review in 2017. In addition, organizations and others have been invited to report on the contributions of MGoS to the implementation of the 2030 Agenda, in accordance with paragraph 89 of the Agenda.

Registration for NGO participants in the HLPF is now open. The European Commission has provided a grant for DESA’s Division for Sustainable Development to sponsor MGoS participants from the 31 developing countries that are presenting VNRs in 2017 (Afghanistan, Argentina, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Belarus, Belize, Benin, Botswana, Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Ethiopia, Guatemala, Honduras, India, Indonesia, Iran, Jordan, Kenya, Malaysia, Maldives, Nepal, Nigeria, Panama, Peru, Tajikistan, Thailand, Togo, Uruguay and Zimbabwe).

Organizations can propose side events during the Forum, with a deadline of 10 May. [VNR Website] [SDG Knowledge Hub Story on HLPF Segments] [Letter on Appointment of Co-Facilitators]