10 December 2014: The Office of the President of the UN General Assembly (UNGA) has released a concept note for the high-level thematic debate on ‘Means of Implementation for a Transformative Post-2015 Development Agenda.’ The note identifies financial resources, technology development and transfer and capacity building as critical means of implementation (MOI) to deliver a “truly transformative and ambitious post-2015 development agenda.” The event will include a focus on the role of parliaments, city and local authorities in implementing the agenda.

According to the Concept Note, the debate will focus on six areas: actions needed to scale up mobilization of financial resources from all sources, including domestic and international public and private financing, such as official development assistance (ODA), foreign direct investment (FDI) and remittances, trade and partnerships; requirements to improve efficiency and effectiveness in the use of available resources for sustainable development; how to foster coherence and a common understanding for robust MOI and the financing for development (FfD) processes and the contribution of trade in renewing global partnerships for development; measures to develop a financial architecture to incentivize public and private savings towards sustainable development investments; options for a technology facilitation mechanism; and measures and actions to further build and strengthen developing country capacity, in particular to ensure an effective domestic enabling environment and enhance their ability to implement the post-2015 agenda.

The event, convening from 9-10 February 2015, will include opening and closing plenaries and two interactive multi-stakeholder panel discussions and will result in a President’s summary. Participants will include Member States, UN agencies, Parliamentarians, representatives of city and local authorities, international financial institutions, regional development banks, the private sector, civil society, academia and other stakeholders.

This thematic debate is the first in a series of high-level debates and events that UNGA President Sam Kutesa is organizing on the post-2015 development agenda. [UNGA President’s Website on Post-2015 Development Agenda and Related Events] [Concept Note: High-level Thematic Debate on Means of Implementation for a Transformative Post-2015 Development Agenda]