The UN General Assembly (GA) convened on 6 April and adopted the resolution deciding to convene a High Level Meeting in New York in 2005 as a follow-up to the outcome of the Millennium Summit in 2000.

The major event in 2005 will be responsible for the following:

a) review of the progress made in the fulfilment of all commitments contained in the Millennium Declaration
b) review of progress made in fulfilment of the internationally agreed development goals and the global partnership required for their achievement
c) review of progress made in the integrated and coordinated implementation of the outcomes and commitments of the major UN conferences and summits in the economic, social and related fields

The General Assembly has requested the Secretary General to submit to the next session of the GA (September 2004) a report on suggested modalities, format and organization of this major event. The President of the General Assembly is expected to carry out open-ended consultations in this regard.

A number of Member States took the floor before adopting this resolution, which has been the subject of intense negotiations for several months.

New Zealand, on behalf of Australia, Canada and New Zealand expressed concern that the event is not given the responsibility to reaffirm previously agreed outcomes. New Zealand said it was essential that the 2005 meeting focus squarely on the question of implementation and said the event should also take into account the findings of the Secretary General's High Level Panel on Threats, Challenges and Change.

Ireland, on behalf of the European Union, said the EU was ready to make a substantive contribution to the event that will conduct a stocktaking of progress made in implementing the Millennium Declaration and achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The EU said on 27 April EU Development Ministers invited the European Commission to take forward work on the preparation and coordination of a consolidated EU contribution to the international stocktaking of the MDGs. It is expected that a synthesis report prepared by the European Commission would be submitted to the EU Development Ministers no later than April 2005.

Japan said the event is the opportune moment to discuss UN reform matters, particularly reform of the Security Council. It is an important component of the Millennium Declaration, Japan said, and should be a legitimate focus of the discussion next year.

Switzerland, Croatia and Norway raised concerns over the inadequate level of transparency involved in these months long negotiations and urged that the process going forward should be truly open-ended to include all interested delegations.

Qatar, on behalf of the G-77 and China supported the resolution.

While no schedule has been set, it is expected that the President of the General Assembly will begin related consultations in the near future.

For background information on the Millennium Declaration and MDGs, please use the following link: http://www.un-ngls.org/millennium_development_goals.htm

Sincerely yours,
UN-NGLS