As the eleventh session of the Open Working Group on Sustainable Development Goals concluded on 9 May, the Group’s co-chairs welcomed its outcome, with many concrete suggestions on targets made by delegations. The Open Working Group will now continue its work, gathering in New York for the twelfth session on 16-20 June, focusing on the Proposed Goals and Targets on Sustainable Development for the Post-2015 Development Agenda.

In their closing remarks at the eleventh session of the Open Working Group on Sustainable Development Goals, the Group’s co-chairs, Ambassador Csaba Kőrösi, Permanent Representative of Hungary, and Ambassador Macharia Kamau, Permanent Representative of Kenya, welcomed the outcome of the week’s deliberations, referring to the very many concrete suggestions on targets made by delegations.

Ambassador Kamau highlighted four areas in which the co-chairs see a particular need for more work, namely equality, climate change, means of implementation, and ‘peaceful and inclusive societies, rule of law and capable institutions.’

He said that, responding to calls from many delegations, the new iteration of the working document would contain an additional goal on promoting equality, bringing the number of focus areas to 17. This new iteration has now been issued by the co-chairs and is available on the Sustainable Development Knowledge Platform. The Ambassador also said that the co-chairs are “very emphatic that it would not be a good idea to end up with too many focus areas,” and encouraged members of the Group to keep thinking of how to cluster some of them better.

Informal-informals were held from 9 to 11 June with the aim of having a free exchange of first views on the Co-chairs proposal. A draft chapeau has been produced and is available on the Sustainable Development Knowledge Platform.

The Group’s twelfth session will take place from 16 to 20th June in New York, focusing on the Proposed Goals and Targets on Sustainable Development for the Post-2015 Development Agenda.

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