The co-facilitators of the negotiations on the Ministerial Declaration of the high-level segment of the 2025 session of the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) and the UN High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF) have circulated a “zero draft” Ministerial Declaration. They have also made available a revised indicative timeline for future meetings.

In a letter dated 14 April 2025, Permanent Representative of the Czech Republic Jakub Kulhánek and Permanent Representative of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Inga Rhonda King state that the zero draft is based on the interventions made during the second informal consultation on 28 March and written inputs.

The seven-page document highlights the current trends, challenges, and their impacts on accelerating the implementation of the SDGs and outlines priority actions for advancing sustainable, inclusive, science-, and evidence-based solutions for the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development for leaving no one behind. It also contains elements pertaining to voluntary national reviews (VNRs) and to the Goals undergoing in-depth review this year – SDG 3 (good health and well-being), SDG 5 (gender equality), SDG 8 (decent work and economic growth), SDG 14 (life below water), and SDG 17 (partnerships for the Goals).

In July, 37 countries will present VNRs of their implementation of the 2030 Agenda at the national level. These are Angola, the Bahamas, Bangladesh, Belarus, Bhutan, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Finland, the Gambia, Germany, Ghana, Guatemala, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Israel, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Lesotho, Malaysia, Malta, the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM), Nigeria, Papua New Guinea (PNG), the Philippines, Qatar, Saint Lucia, Seychelles, South Africa, the Sudan, Suriname, and Thailand. 

According to the co-facilitators’ revised indicative timeline, the third informal consultation will be held on 5 May to hear views from delegations on the zero draft Ministerial Declaration. The draft outcome document is expected to be made available 13 May. The fourth informal consultation on the draft outcome document (closed) is planned from 29-30 May. Closed consultations will continue in June with a view to placing the draft ministerial declaration under the silence procedure before the end of the month.

Held on the theme, ‘Advancing sustainable, inclusive, science- and evidence-based solutions for the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its Sustainable Development Goals for leaving no one behind,’ HLPF 2025 will take place from 14-23 July, convening from 14-18 July under the auspices of the ECOSOC, followed by a three-day ministerial segment of the HLPF, from 21-23 July. [HLPF 2025 Outcomes] [SDG Knowledge Hub Story on HLPF 2025 Draft Programme] [SDG Knowledge Hub Story on HLPF Declaration Elements Paper] [SDG Knowledge Hub Story on Start of Consultations on HLPF Ministerial Declaration] [SDG Knowledge Hub Story on Appointment of Co-facilitators]