As we approach the 2015 deadline for achieving the Millennium Development Goals, the United Nations system will be expected to make recommendations for further steps to advance the UN development agenda beyond 2015.

As a contribution to the post-2015 debate, ESCWA is leading the preparation of a report in 2013, to be entitled “Beyond 2015:The Future UN Development Agenda”, in cooperation with three other regional commissions in Africa (ECA), Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), and Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC). The report aims at providing a regional perspective to the global debate on future development priorities, and presenting an integrated regional approach to the formulation of the post-2015 UN development agenda.  Each of the commissions contributed to the preparation of the draft report, either by taking the lead on producing a specific chapter or by providing input and feedback to fine tune the different chapters’ content.
    
In this context, the Social Development Division (SDD) will be hosting on 8 and 9 November 2012 a meeting of the Advisory Board of the joint report, in cooperation with ECA, ESCAP, and ECLAC. In addition to representatives of the regional commissions, the meeting will bring together resource persons who participated in drafting chapters of the report, as well as prominent experts from the different regions, nominated to take part in the advisory board for their expertise and knowledge of the issues discussed.

The meeting is designed to review the draft chapters of the report and provide overall guidance on the way forward.  The outcome of the discussions will contribute to the final chapter, which will contain the report’s recommendations and also highlight the critical implementation mechanisms for the future UN development agenda.  For that purpose, the meeting will centre on four thematic sessions that correspond to the main chapters of the report, as follows: (i) a historical perspective on the current MDG agenda; (ii) a review of progress in the implementation of MDGs; (iii) key global and regional priority development issues beyond 2015; (iv) the way forward.