7 August 2019: UN Member States have agreed on a five-paragraph text on strengthening alignment and coherence among the agendas of the UN General Assembly (UNGA), the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) and other UN bodies and fora in light of the 2030 Agenda on Sustainable Development. The elements were discussed through intergovernmental consultations and are provided as input to the Assembly’s annual resolution on the revitalization of its work.

Discussions on alignment and coherence between UN organs started in 2016 during the 70th session of the UNGA, and continued during subsequent UNGA sessions. A mapping exercise of the SDGs and targets prepared during UNGA 70 showed that the targets of SDGs 6 (clean water and sanitation) and 12 (responsible consumption and production) were “largely uncovered under the UNGA and ECOSOC agendas.”

In November 2018, UNGA President María Fernanda Espinosa Garcés appointed Maria Helena Lopes de Jesus Pires, Permanent Representative of Timor-Leste, and Marie Chatardová, Permanent Representative of the Czech Republic, to facilitate intergovernmental consultations on the alignment process during UNGA 73.

The UNGA’s Main Committees will make proposals in the context of their respective agendas.

Consultations started in March 2019, and on 1 August, the co-facilitators placed a final compromise draft under silence procedure. On 7 August, the UNGA President announced that the procedure had not been broken, and that the text will be sent to the Ad Hoc Working Group on the revitalization of the work of the General Assembly established by the UNGA.

The agreed text of elements requests the President of the 74th UNGA, who will take office in September 2019, to identify proposals, through consultations, to address gaps, overlaps and duplication “where they are found to exist” in the agenda of the UNGA as they relate to the 2030 Agenda. It also calls on the UNGA’s main committees to make proposals in the context of their respective agendas for discussion during UNGA 74.

The text further states that the updated mapping assessment of SDG coverage by the UNGA, ECOSOC and other UN bodies and fora in light of the 2030 Agenda developed during UNGA 73 should be “an evolving reference document” for consideration by UN Member States during UNGA 74. It also takes note of the initial efforts made during UNGA 73 to develop possible criteria for reducing overlaps and duplication. [Final compromise draft agreed by Member States]