III. Recommendation of the Second Committee

10. The Second Committee recommends to the General Assembly the adoption of the following draft resolution:
Towards global partnerships: a principle-based approach to enhanced cooperation between the United Nations and all
relevant partners

The General Assembly,

12. Invites the United Nations system, when considering partnerships, to seek to engage in a more coherent manner with private sector entities, including small and medium-sized enterprises, that support the core values of the United
Nations, as reflected in the Charter of the United Nations and other relevant conventions and treaties, and that commit to the principles of the United Nations Global Compact by translating them into operational corporate policies, codes of
conduct and management, monitoring and reporting systems;

14. Requests the Secretary-General, in this regard, in collaboration with funds and programmes, specialized agencies and other relevant United Nations entities and mechanisms:

(a) To implement the Guidelines on a Principle-based Approach to the Cooperation between the United Nations and the Business Sector, including from a gender perspective;

(b) To disclose the partners, contributions and matching funds for all relevant partnerships, including at the country level;

(c) To strengthen due diligence and risk management measures that can safeguard the reputation of the Organization and ensure confidence-building;

(d) To ensure that these elements are coherently reflected in the reporting of partnership activities by the United Nations funds, programmes and, as appropriate, agencies to their respective governing bodies;

(e) To ensure that these elements are reflected in system-wide reports and the reports on initiatives of the Secretary-General to be submitted for the consideration of Member States;

11. Decides, in accordance with paragraph 101 of the Samoa Pathway and in line with the priorities of small island developing States, to establish the Small Island Developing States Partnership Framework, to monitor and ensure the full implementation of pledges and commitments through partnerships for small island developing States, in order to promote the effective and efficient follow-up to the existing partnerships, in particular new partnerships launched at the third International Conference on Small Island Developing States, and to encourage new, genuine and durable partnerships for the sustainable development of small island developing States, and in this regard:

(a) To form a Steering Committee on partnerships for small island developing States that shall be open to all States Members of the United Nations or members of the specialized agencies, chaired by one Member State that is a small island developing State and one Member State that is not a small island developing State, to be appointed by the President of the General Assembly, which shall meet on a regular basis, with interpretation services provided on an as available basis, to support the follow-up of existing, and promote and advocate the launching of new, small island developing States partnerships; entities of the United Nations system, international and regional organizations, major groups and other stakeholders will be invited to contribute, as appropriate; the Secretariat, in particular the Department of Economic and Social Affairs and the Office of the High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States, will provide a supporting role to the Steering Committee; the first meeting of the Committee should be held as soon as possible, and no later than February 2016, when it will discuss, inter alia, the working methods of the Committee;

(b) To request the Secretariat, in consultation with the Steering Committee, to organize, on an annual basis, an action-oriented, results-focused, global multi stakeholder small island developing States partnership dialogue, with interpretation services provided on an as available basis, which will provide opportunities for reviewing progress made by existing partnerships, including, where applicable, inputs from regional and national partnership dialogues, and for the sharing of good practices, lessons learned and challenges and solutions from small island developing States partnerships, and encourage the launch of new partnerships for small island developing States in line with their priorities;

(c) To request the Department of Economic and Social Affairs to finalize a standardized partnership reporting template and process, in consultation with the Steering Committee, which takes into account existing reporting mechanisms and the need to minimize the reporting burden and ensures reporting coherence;

(d) To encourage regional multi-stakeholder small island developing States partnership dialogues through existing forums and meetings, where applicable, and notably through the regional commissions, in close collaboration with small island developing States and partners, for reviewing and providing policy recommendations at the regional level;

(e) To encourage small island developing States to organize national
multi-stakeholder small island developing States partnership dialogues, which could contribute to the regional and global dialogues outlined above, on a voluntary basis, according to their needs, priorities and circumstances, and invite the United Nations system and the international community, upon request, to support the efforts of small island developing States in this regard;

(f) To encourage small island developing States partnerships to share experiences, including through the established partnership reporting template and process, and to participate on a voluntary basis in national, regional and global multi-stakeholder small island developing States partnership dialogues;

Goal 17. Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the global partnership for sustainable development

Systemic issues
Multi-stakeholder partnerships
17.16 Enhance the global partnership for sustainable development, complemented by multi-stakeholder partnerships
that mobilize and share knowledge, expertise, technology and financial resources, to support the achievement of the sustainable development goals in all countries, in particular developing countries
17.17 Encourage and promote effective public, public-private and civil society partnerships, building on the experience and resourcing strategies of partnerships

Partnerships

101. In this regard, we request the Secretary-General, in consultation with Member States, to present recommendations, including through the use of existing intergovernmental mechanisms, for a partnership framework to monitor and ensure the full implementation of pledges and commitments through partnerships for small island developing States. The framework should ensure that partnerships focus on the priorities of small island developing States, identify new opportunities to advance their sustainable development of and ensure the full implementation of the Barbados Programme of Action, the Mauritius Strategy and the Samoa Pathway. The recommendations should be presented to the General Assembly for consideration and action at its sixty-ninth session.

Monitoring and accountability

124. In this regard, we are committed to supporting the efforts of small island developing States:

(a) To request the Secretary-General to report to the General Assembly and to the Economic and Social Council on the progress achieved in implementing the priorities, commitments, partnerships and other activities of the small island developing States;

(b) To request the Department of Economic and Social Affairs to continue to maintain a partnerships platform focused on the small island developing States and to regularly convene the inter-agency consultative group to report on the full implementation of the Barbados Programme of Action, the Mauritius Strategy and the Samoa Pathway, with adequate and timely analysis based on relevant targets and indicators relevant to the small island developing States in order to ensure accountability at all levels.

283. We welcome the commitments voluntarily entered into at the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development and throughout 2012 by all stakeholders and their networks to implement concrete policies, plans, programmes, projects and actions to promote sustainable development and poverty eradication. We invite the Secretary-General to compile these commitments and facilitate access to other registries that have compiled commitments, in an Internet-based registry. The registry should make information about the commitments fully transparent and accessible to the public, and it should be periodically updated.

21. Recalls that the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation designated the Commission to serve as the focal point for discussion on partnerships that promote sustainable development, and reiterates that partnerships, as voluntary multistakeholder initiatives, contribute to the implementation of intergovernmental
commitments in Agenda 21, the Programme for the Further Implementation of Agenda 21 and the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation. They are a complement to, but not intended to substitute for, those commitments;

22. Stresses that partnerships in the context of the World Summit on Sustainable Development process and its follow-up should be developed and implemented in accordance with the following criteria and guidelines, taking note in that regard of the preliminary work undertaken on partnerships during the preparatory process for the Summit, including the Bali guiding principles, and General Assembly resolution 56/76 of 11 December 2001:

(a) Partnerships are voluntary initiatives undertaken by Governments and relevant stakeholders, such as major groups and institutional stakeholders;

(b) Partnerships should contribute to the implementation of Agenda 21, the Programme for the Further Implementation of Agenda 21 and the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation, and should not divert resources from the commitments contained in those agreements;

(c) Partnerships are not intended to substitute commitments made by Governments but to supplement the implementation of Agenda 21, the Programme for the Further Implementation of Agenda 21 and the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation;

(d) Partnerships should add concrete value to the implementation process and should be new, that is, they should not merely reflect existing arrangements;

(e) Partnerships should bear in mind the economic, social and environmental dimensions of sustainable development in their design and implementation;

(f) Partnerships should be based on predictable and sustained resources for their implementation, should include the mobilization of new resources and, where relevant, should result in the transfer of technology to, and capacity-building in developing countries;

(g) It is desirable that partnerships have a sectoral and geographical balance;

(h) Partnerships should be designed and implemented in a transparent and accountable manner. In that regard, they should exchange relevant information with Governments and other relevant stakeholders;

(i) Partnerships should be publicly announced with the intention of sharing the specific contribution that they make to the implementation of Agenda 21, the Programme for the Further Implementation of Agenda 21 and the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation;

(j) Partnerships should be consistent with national laws and national strategies for the implementation of Agenda 21, the Programme for the Further Implementation of Agenda 21 and the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation, as well as the priorities of countries where their implementation takes place;

(k) The leading partner of a partnership initiative should inform the national focal point for sustainable development of the involved country/countries about the initiation and progress of the partnership, and all partners should bear in mind the guidance provided by Governments;

(l) The involvement of international institutions and United Nations funds, programmes and agencies in partnerships should conform to intergovernmentally agreed mandates and should not lead to the diversion to partnerships of resources otherwise allocated for their mandated programmes;

23. Decides that providing information and reporting by partnerships registered with the Commission should be transparent, participatory and credible, taking into account the following elements:

(a) The registration of partnerships should be voluntary and should be based on written reporting to the Commission, taking into account the provisions specified above. Reporting by partnerships should focus on their contribution to the implementation of the goals, objectives and targets of Agenda 21, the Programme
for the Further Implementation of Agenda 21 and the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation;

(b) Partnerships should submit a regular report, preferably at least on a biennial basis;

(c) The Secretariat is requested to make information available on partnerships, including their reports, through a database accessible to all interested parties, including through the Commission web site and other means;

(d) The Secretariat is requested to produce a summary report containing synthesized information on partnerships for consideration by the Commission, in accordance with its programme and organization of work, noting the particular relevance of such reports in review years;

(e) The Commission, during review years, should discuss the contribution of partnerships towards supporting the implementation of Agenda 21, the Programme for the Further Implementation of Agenda 21 and the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation with a view to sharing lessons learned and best practices, identifying and addressing problems, gaps and constraints, and providing further guidance, including on reporting, during policy years, as necessary;

24. Calls for activities aimed at strengthening partnerships in the context of the Summit process and its follow-up and facilitating new ones, including through such initiatives as partnerships fairs and learning centres, mindful of the importance of sharing information on existing activities, particularly across the United Nations
system.