31 July 2012: UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has announced the members of the High-level Panel of Eminent Persons to advise on planning the post-2015 agenda. The 26-member panel includes representatives from government, civil society and the private sector, and will hold its first meeting in September 2012, in the margins of the 67th UN General Assembly (UNGA) high-level debate, which opens on 25 September.

The Panel is tasked with evaluating the results and achievements of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and reflecting on new development challenges. It will coordinate its work with the intergovernmental working group responsible for designing the sustainable development goals (SDGs). The panel is expected to present its findings to the Secretary-General in the first half of 2013. He then will issue a report to Member States.

Speaking at a UNGA briefing on the outcome of the Group of 20 (G20) summit in Mexico, Ban encouraged G20 countries to collaborate on defining a post-2015 development agenda. He explained that the Panel aims to “prepare a bold yet practical development vision…with shared responsibilities for all countries and with the fight against poverty and sustainable development at its core.” He also stressed continued financing for poverty reduction and development efforts, noting that official development assistance (ODA) had fallen for the first time in more than a decade.

The Panel, first announced in May 2012, is co-chaired by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono of Indonesia, President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf of Liberia and Prime Minister David Cameron of the UK.

The remaining 23 Panel members are: Fulbert Gero Amoussouga of Benin, Vanessa Petrelli Corrêa of Brazil, Yingfan Wang of China, Maria Angela Holguin of Colombia, Gisela Alonso of Cuba, Jean-Michel Severino of France, Horst Kohler of Germany, Naoto Kan of Japan, Queen Rania of Jordan, Betty Maina of Kenya, Abhijit Banerjee of India, Andris Piebalgs of Latvia, Patricia Espinosa of Mexico, Paul Polman of the Netherlands, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala of Nigeria, Elvira Nabiullina of the Russian Federation, Graça Machel of South Africa, Sung-Hwan Kim of the Republic of Korea, Gunilla Carlsson of Sweden, Emilia Pires of Timor-Leste, Kadir Topbas of Turkey, John Podesta of the United States, and Tawakel Karman of Yemen. The Secretary-General’s Special Advisor on Post-2015 Development Planning, Amina Mohammed, will serve on the Panel in an ex officio capacity.

The Panel will be informed by the June 2012 report of the UN System Task Team on the Post-2015 UN Development Agenda. The Task Team, established by the Secretary-General in 2011, is co-chaired by the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA) and the UN Development Programme (UNDP), and conducted UN system-wide consultations. [Members of High-level Panel] [UN Press Release on UNGA Meeting] [UN Press Release on Panel Members] [Statement of UNSG] [IISD RS Story on Panel Co-Chairs] [IISD RS Story on Report of Task Team]