Briefing with the Committee of Development Policy, by Giovanni Andrea Cornia, Sakiko Fukuda-Par, Hans Opschoor, and Frances Stewart from 1.15pm to 2.30pm.

In September 2010 the Millennium Summit of the General Assembly requested the Secretary-General to make recommendations for further steps to advance the UN development agenda beyond 2015 (A/RES/65/1). Despite progress in many fronts, it seems unlikely that the millennium development goals (MDGs) will
be fully achieved by 2015 in many countries. The millennium development agenda was largely based on social and aid policies but did not include insights on possible national and overall macroeconomic development models that would be consistent with the achievement of the internationally agreed goals. In
this regard, the Committee for Development Policy (CDP) has taken a research initiative aiming to provide key insights as to how to strengthen the UN development agenda beyond 2015. The Committee will assess the virtues of emerging alternative development models that have been effective in accelerating progress towards improving human well-being, while considerate of the need to reduce pressures on the natural environment by increased human activity. To be compatible with the achievement of the MDGs?and the international development strategy to be followed beyond 2015?such new sustainable development paradigm(s) have to tackle the food, trade/financial, climate crises and the growing inequality which have been besetting the world economy during the last 10-20 years. Some of the questions the CDP initiative will try to address include:

Are targets helpful?

If so, which new MDG targets should be introduced in the post-2015 era? Which of them should be assigned greater priority? Which of them creates synergy with others? How strong are the linkages between achieving the MDGs and sustainable economic growth?

What are the implications of the post-2015 agenda for new frameworks for macroeconomic policies and income redistribution?

How can the environmental and demographic constraints be incorporated better in the goals of the new agenda?

Should global economic integration proceed at the same speed? Or, should we try to put limits to this process? How can we change the ongoing economic globalization into a different process with more safeguards for global economic stability and which is geared towards sustainable development? What would this imply for international regulation and mechanisms of global economic governance?