10 June 2013
UN Member States Consider Launching Road Map to 2015
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UN Member States resumed consultations on the UN General Assembly's (UNGA) Special Event to follow up on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), taking place on 25 September 2013.

UNGA6 June 2013: UN Member States resumed consultations on the UN General Assembly’s (UNGA) Special Event to follow up on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), taking place on 25 September 2013.

In consultations on 6 June 2013, at UN Headquarters in New York, US, delegates discussed four issues set out by the co-facilitators, Kingsley Mamabolo, Permanent Representative of South Africa, and Anne Anderson, Permanent Representative of Ireland, in a letter of 20 May. The issues were: the structure and focus of the event’s outcome document; the overall message to be expressed on progress to date toward the MDGs; how to address the overall post-2015 agenda in the outcome document; and possibilities for a “road map” from September 2013 to the adoption of the new, post-2015 agenda, possibly at a special summit in 2015.

According to Anderson in her closing remarks, a concise outcome document is a widely shared preference. Delegates also agreed that the primary focus should be on the “final sprint” to fulfilling the existing MDGs by 2015. Reflection on the MDGs’ advances to date should be balanced, she suggested, reflecting both progress and uneven implementation, particularly in fragile and post-conflict countries. On the post-2015 agenda, she said delegates conveyed that the substance should focus on poverty eradication. And on process, many speakers called for including text to link the MDGs to the post-2015 agenda and provide for coherence and integration of the current ongoing processes by 2015, and for using the 25 September event to launch an intergovernmental process for the post-2015 development agenda.

She noted the emphasis on the intergovernmental process, and the potentially useful role the UN Secretary-General could play in synthesizing inputs. Several delegations suggested the Secretary-General could issue such a report in late 2014. Finally, Anderson said delegates called for national ownership of the process, which one delegation had highlighted as responsible for much of the MDGs’ success to date. Some delegates suggested that such ownership and political commitment would require intergovernmental negotiations on the text of the outcome document.

On next steps, the co-facilitators indicated they will provide the first draft or outline of an outcome document for circulation ahead of the next consultation, which could be convened on approximately 20 June. It was recognized by facilitators and delegations that several aspects of the modalities for the 25 September event are not yet determined.

The 25 September event is seen as the last chance for governments to make high-level calls for MDG achievement before 2015. [Letter from Co-facilitators] [IISD RS Story on Previous Consultations] [IISD RS Sources]