Washington, D.C. — Today, Center for American Progress Chair and Counselor John Podesta was among the 26 civil society, private-sector, and government leaders named by U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to a high-level panel organized to advise on the global development agenda beyond 2015, the target date for the Millennium Development Goals, or MDGs. The panel will hold its first meeting at the end of September and is expected to submit a report to the secretary-general in the first half of 2013.
The panel is part of the secretary-general’s post-2015 initiative mandated by the 2010 MDG Summit. Member states have called for open, inclusive consultations involving civil society, the private sector, academia and research institutions from all regions, in addition to the U.N. system, to advance the development agenda beyond 2015.
The work of the panel will reflect new development challenges while also drawing on experience gained in implementing the Millennium Development Goals, both in terms of results achieved and areas for improvement. The panel’s work will be closely coordinated with that of the intergovernmental working group tasked to design Sustainable Development Goals, as agreed at the Rio+20 conference. The reports of both groups will be submitted to member states for their further deliberations.
The secretary-general has appointed three co-chairs: President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono of Indonesia, President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf of Liberia, and Prime Minister David Cameron of the United Kingdom. The full list of panel members is available here, and more information on the post-2015 process is available here.
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