UN General Assembly (UNGA) President John Ashe, speaking at the Joint Meeting of the Committees for Foreign Affairs and Trade at the European Parliament, outlined UN actions that are being taken to “set the stage” for post-2015.
The meeting took place in Strasbourg, France, on 3 February 2014.
3 February 2014: UN General Assembly (UNGA) President John Ashe, speaking at the Joint Meeting of the Committees for Foreign Affairs and Trade at the European Parliament, outlined UN actions that are being taken to “set the stage” for post-2015. The meeting took place in Strasbourg, France, on 3 February 2014.
Ashe said means of implementation will be crucial, and intergovernmental consultations toward a Third International Conference on Financing for Development (FFD) have begun. This was agreed for 2015 or 2016, to assess progress on the implementation of the Monterrey Consensus and the Doha Declaration on FFD.
UNGA President Ashe noted that the EU is the single largest financial contributor to the UN system, providing almost 40% of its regular budget, two-fifths of the peacekeeping operations budget, and about half of all contributions to UN funds and programmes. He welcomed the EU’s decision to maintain its official development assistance (ODA) commitments in its 2014-2020 budget, including allocations for development and humanitarian assistance.
Ashe pledged to support members of the UNGA’s Open Working Group (OWG) on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Intergovernmental Committee of Experts on Sustainable Development Financing (ICSDF) to reach their respective agreements outcomes by September 2014. He also recalled his recent appointment of two co-facilitators, including one from the EU, to start intergovernmental consultations on the organizational modalities for the September 2015 summit that is to adopt the post-2015 development agenda. The co-facilitators are Ib Petersen, Permanent Representative of Denmark, and Robert Aisi, Permanent Representative of Papua New Guinea (PNG).
Following a meeting with Ashe, European Commission President José Manuel Barroso highlighted the EU’s framework on climate and energy currently under discussion, which includes commitments to a domestic, unconditional cut of 40% in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2030 as compared to 1990 levels, a long-term objective of reducing emissions by 80-95% by 2050, and a target of at least 27% of renewable energy. [UNGA President Statement] [EC President Statement] [UN Secretariat Information on Follow-up to International Conference on Financing for Development] [IISD RS Story on Co-Facilitators]