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Consensus forming on ‘golden thread of development,’ says co-chair of UN panel on post-2015 agenda


WEBWIRE

A United Nations high-level panel on a post-2015 global development agenda wrapped up today with consensus emerging on how to make a more equitable world, said British Prime Minister David Cameron in his role as co-chair of the body.

Addressing journalists at the UN Headquarters in New York, Mr. Cameron said that members of the High Level Panel on the Post-2015 Development Agenda, which includes President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono of Indonesia and President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf of Liberia, “nailed our colours to the mast with one clear overarching aim – end extreme poverty in our world.”

Building a framework to succeed the eight anti-poverty targets known as the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the panel, appointed last year by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, aims to create a development agenda that will also focus on protection of the rule of law, good governance and holding Governments to account, which comprise what Mr. Cameron called “the golden thread of development.”

“It is a real breakthrough that agreement is emerging to include goals that go to the heart of this golden thread that links open economies and open societies, fair and accountable institutions, equal economic and political opportunities for women, open and fair rules to boost enterprises and growth,” Mr. Cameron told reporters.

A statement released after the conclusion of the three-day meeting, said the panel reiterated “the imperative need for a renewed global partnership that enables a transformative, people-centred and planet-sensitive development agenda, realized through the equal partnership of all stakeholders.”

The panel is due to present its report on 30 May to the Secretary-General, who participated in today’s discussions.

Also today, Mr. Ban and Mr. Cameron met privately to discuss a host of issues, including the best means of getting the warring parties in Syria to come to the proposed international conference to be held in Geneva next month “with serious delegations and a real willingness to make compromises,” especially on the issue of a transition.

The two leaders also underlined the importance of UN investigations on allegations of the use of chemical weapons, according to a readout from the office of Mr. Ban’s Spokesperson.

Also during the meeting, Mr. Ban thanked Mr. Cameron for his leadership and his support to the United Nations on several issues, including Somalia, Mali, Syrian refugees, the impressive level of UK development assistance, and the UN-backed Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. The importance of using the coming period as an opportunity to make progress on the Cyprus issue was also discussed.



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