A Global Preparatory Meeting for the 2008 High-level Segment of the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) convened on 6 March 2008, in New York, US.

The meeting sought to provide participants an opportunity to identify: next steps that ECOSOC could take to make the Annual Ministerial Review (AMR) a central forum for reviewing progress on implementation of the UN Development Agenda; measures to make national voluntary presentations more effective and make them a process of continuous engagement rather than a one-off event; and major challenges in the area of sustainable development that require urgent action by ministers at the AMR July 2008 session. Sha Zukang, UN Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs, suggested that the goal of the AMR should be to establish it as the implementation “ARM” of the UN, with “A” standing for accountability, “R” for review and renewal of commitments, and “M” for mobilizing and maintaining the momentum. Antonio Pedro Monteiro Lima, Permanent Representative of Cape Verde, told participants that his country has volunteered to give an AMR national voluntary presentation and to participate in the Delivering as One initiative to get advice and help in addressing its challenges, and said an AMR voluntary presentation will only have an impact if it is embedded in a proper preparatory and follow-up process.
Link to further information
AMR Global Preparatory Meeting website