2nd Session of the Post-2015 Intergovernmental Negotiations (Declaration)

On Wednesday morning, governments completed their exchange of general statements on the Declaration of the post-2015 development agenda. By the end of the session, Co-Facilitator Macharia Kamau said, 97 statements had been made, representing all UN Member States whether individually or through a group.

The afternoon session began with a briefing from Stefan Schweinfest, Director of the UN Statistics Division, on the ongoing work to develop indicators for the post-2015 development agenda. Schweinfest and the co-facilitators also addressed Member States’ questions on the statistics process, ahead of the March negotiating session.

Turning to the relationship between the post-2015 development agenda negotiations and preparations for the Third International Conference on Financing for Development (FfD 3), the co-facilitators proposed that the 20 April - 1 May post-2015 session take up financial issues in the context of the SDGs, following “seamlessly” from the April session on FfD 3.

Nikhil Seth, Division for Sustainable Development, UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA), briefed participants on non-governmental stakeholders’ engagement in the process, and urged delegates to attend the interactive dialogue between stakeholders and Member States on Thursday morning.

Finally, the co-facilitators said they would circulate, later on Wednesday evening, a “draft discussion document” to help advance the conversation on the Declaration, which will continue on Thursday afternoon and Friday.