9 October 2013: The UN General Assembly (UNGA) adopted the outcome of the Special Event to Follow-Up Efforts towards Achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), in a plenary meeting on 9 October 2013, at UN Headquarters in New York, US. The document (A/68/L.4) discusses means for scaling up action to achieve the MDGs by 2015, and details the UN process for negotiating a post-2015 development agenda.

UNGA President John Ashe welcomed the adoption of the outcome document, which was endorsed by Heads of State and Government at the Special Event on 25 September 2013. Calling the document a “call to action” to address uneven gains and challenges to MDG achievement, he said pledges by Member States, civil society, the private sector, and international organizations totaled over US$3 billion in commitments towards acceleration of actions. At this “exciting time for the United Nations,” Ashe said, the intergovernmental process to put in place a new development agenda has begun.

The EU called the outcome document “a good step forward,” as it balances many diverse opinions expressed over months of consultation. The EU welcomed targets to achieve the most off-track MDGs by focusing on the framework of financing for development and the need for national ownership of development agendas. On the post-2015 development agenda, the EU underscored its commitment to the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities (CBDR) when relating to matters of environmental degradation, but said the principle need not apply to all development issues.

As outlined in the Outcome Document, intergovernmental negotiations to determine the post-2015 development agenda will begin during the UNGA’s 69th session, and will conclude in a Summit meeting in September 2015 to adopt the agenda. Current UNGA processes, including the Open Working Group (OWG) on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the Intergovernmental Committee of Experts on Sustainable Development Financing, and the mechanism for facilitating clean technology transfer, will feed into the negotiations. [Publication: A/68/L.4] [Statement of UNGA President] [EU Statement] [PaperSmart Meeting Webpage] [Meeting Summary]