By Nick Mann | 1 August 2012
The UK prime minister and the presidents of Indonesia and Liberia will lead a panel advising the United Nations on global development after 2015, it was confirmed yesterday.
In total, 26 people will serve on the ‘high-level’ panel, which will recommend priorities to replace the Millennium Development Goals, which expire in three years’ time. The goals set specific targets in areas such as poverty reduction and education.
Panel co-chairs are UK Prime Minister David Cameron, Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. Other members include: Graça Machel, UN adviser on the impact of armed conflict on children and former Mozambican education minister, who is married to Nelson Mandela; Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Nigerian Minister of Finance and a recent candidate for president of the World Bank; Naoto Kan, former Japanese prime minister; and Horst Köhler, former German president.
UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon said: ‘I have asked my high-level panel to prepare a bold yet practical development vision to present to member states next year. I look forward to the panel’s recommendations on a global post-2015 agenda with shared responsibilities for all countries and with the fight against poverty and sustainable development at its core.'
The first meeting of the panel is scheduled to take place in the margins of the meeting of the UN General Assembly in late September. It is then expected to submit a report to the secretary-general in the first half of 2013.
According to the UN, its work will reflect new development challenges while also drawing on experience gained in implementing the MDGs – both in terms of their achievements and areas that can be improved.
In a report on the goals last month, the UN found that progress had been made in some areas, with targets on poverty, slums and water access already achieved. Meeting the remaining goals was possible only if governments stuck to the commitments they made in 2000.
UK International Development Secretary Andrew Mitchell welcomed Cameron’s confirmed involvement on the panel, which he said was in a ‘unique position’ to set out a new vision to eradicate world poverty.
‘The prime minister will work with his two co-chairs and the panellists to lead an inclusive and transparent process which draws on the views and experiences of citizens, businesses, aid agencies and countries across the world,’ he said.
‘This will need to build on the success of the Millennium Development Goals but also respond to the new global challenges of the twenty-first century by helping economies and societies to flourish and to free the poorest countries from poverty for good.’
