18 June 2015: The President of the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) issued a draft ministerial declaration of the 2015 sessions of ECOSOC’s High-level Segment and of the High-level Political Forum on sustainable development (HLPF) to be convened under the auspices of the Council. By the draft declaration, ECOSOC would request the President, on an exceptional basis and without setting a precedent, to issue summaries of the discussions of this year’s High-level Segment and HLPF as a contribution to the Third International Conference on Financing for Development (FfD 3) and intergovernmental negotiations on the post-2015 development agenda.

In a letter to UN Member States, ECOSOC President Martin Sajdik (Austria) notes that the draft declaration is largely procedural. Based on the views of many delegations and of the co-facilitators of the ongoing intergovernmental negotiations in the UN General Assembly (UNGA), he writes, the outcome of the High-level Segment and of the HLPF 2015 “should carefully balance the need to be faithful to the mandates of UNGA resolutions 67/290 and 68/1, but take into account the realities and dynamics of the ongoing General Assembly negotiations.”

According to UNGA resolution 67/290, the meetings of the HLPF under the auspices of ECOSOC shall result in a negotiated ministerial declaration for inclusion in the report of ECOSOC to the UNGA.

The draft declaration: recalls previous agreed texts, including resolution 67/290 on the format and organizational aspects of the HLPF, resolution 68/1 related to the strengthening of ECOSOC and resolution 69/214 on the Implementation of Agenda 21; notes that it has considered the themes of ECOSOC 2015 – ‘Managing the transition from the Millennium Development Goals to the sustainable development goals: What it will take’ – and of HLPF 3 on ‘Strengthening integration, implementation and review – the HLPF after 2015’; welcomes what has been achieved through the implementation of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), and the progress made in the ongoing processes for the upcoming FfD 3 and post-2015 development agenda; and expresses commitment to establishing a strong, universal, ambitious, inclusive and people-centered post-2015 development agenda.

The high-level segment of ECOSOC and the HLPF will take place from 26 June to 10 July 2015. [IISD RS Sources] [HLPF Webpage] [ECOSOC High-Level Segment Webpage]