Setting out our vision for a new global partnership - Main contents

Once in a lifetime opportunity to make a difference

A couple of weeks ago I posted a text here while I was in New York, at the start of the negotiations on the post-2015 agenda, which will run for several months and culminate in a UN summit in September. Putting a post-2015 framework to work will be a huge task. This is not just about following-up to the Millennium Development Goals - it is much more than that. We are crafting a comprehensive framework that will ensure we are better placed to respond to the full range of challenges facing the world today, including poverty eradication and sustainable development.

International negotiations follow two tracks that are closely interlinked: One preparing for the Third Financing for Development Conference in Addis Ababa in July 2015; and one preparing the Post-2015 UN Summit in New York in September 2015. In parallel, negotiations are also ongoing under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.

I am proud to say that the EU has been a leading voice in the post-2015 process right from the start. We continue to push for an ambitious agreement and play a constructive role. Today, the Commission presented a new Communication in which we are setting out the EU's vision for the new global partnership that is needed to deliver the Sustainable Development Goals. This text will inform EU positions in Addis and New York.

We are putting forward the key components that should form part of the global partnership and are needed in our view to successfully put the post-2015 agenda to work - let me just highlight a few.

First of all, in order for us to succeed, we need the right mix of polices in the individual countries, but also internationally. Good governance at all levels is essential. All partners need to develop capable and effective institutions and the right capacity in terms of skills and human resources, for example.

Obviously, funding remains a key issue: All countries need to mobilise and use public resources efficiently, such as taxes or natural resources, and put good economic policies in place. But Official Development Assistance (ODA) will also continue to be important in the overall financing for some of the least developed countries. The European Commission believes that developed countries - including the EU - should meet the UN target of 0.7% Gross National Income (GNI) target for ODA. In addition, upper middle-income countries and emerging economies should also be prepared to make larger contributions to the financing of development.

Other areas which will be essential for delivering on the Sustainable Development Goals are trade, science, technology and innovation, the private sector and the positive effects of migration. We also need a solid framework for monitoring, accountability and review; all countries should contribute their fair share towards reaching the global goals, and should be held to account by their citizens and the international community.

We are now looking at an once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to make a difference in the lives of millions of people, in some of the world’s poorest countries and to the future well-being of our planet. The EU will aim for an agreement that is ambitious, far-reaching and universal and which will help secure a decent life for everyone, no matter where they live.