The world is at a crossroads. The emerging global dialogue is focused on the convergence of sustainable development and the post-2015 development agenda into one single path towards a sustainable and inclusive future. At the core of the deliberations, including on means of implementation, is the need to put people at the centre of the transformative agenda for sustainable development with poverty eradication as a priority.

The UN Secretary-General’s Report to the 68th session of the General Assembly entitled “A life with dignity for all” recommends a transformative post-2015 development agenda. It calls for a universal and sustainable development-based agenda that provides economic opportunities to lift people out of poverty, backed by a new global partnership.

Formulating and implementing an ambitious and transformative development agenda will depend on strong leadership and effective stakeholder engagement, and will only be successful if it focuses on human development at the highest political level. The United Nations General Assembly has thus established the High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF). The HLPF met in its inaugural session in September 2013 to provide political leadership and to enhance integration of the three dimensions of sustainable development.

The UN system is now called on to work closely together so that the HLPF can fulfill its wide-ranging mandate as established by UN General Assembly Resolution 69/270. ESCAP is called upon to convene annual regional forums in the context of the HLPF, in an inclusive manner and in line with its mandate to promote the balanced integration of the three dimensions of sustainable development, as called for in the Rio+20 outcome document, UN General Assembly Resolution 66/288 “The future we want.”