The United Nations consultations on the theme for the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) for the 2019-2020 cycle and the high-level political forum on sustainable development (HLPF) for 2020 were concluded. The theme will be “Accelerated action and transformative pathways: realizing the decade of action and delivery for sustainable development.”

The theme was proposed by Mr. Craig John Hawke, Permanent Representative of New Zealand to the United Nations and facilitator of the process related to the identification of the theme for the ECOSOC and HLPF. The rationale included the aim to examine measures related to the ten cross-cutting areas identified in the Political Declaration of the SDG Summit, including “bolstering local action to accelerate implementation”; to build on the Global Sustainable Development Report and the interlinkages between goals and targets; and to be consistent with the theme of the 2020 high-level event on the 75th Anniversary of the UN “The Future We Want, the UN We Need: Reaffirming our Collective Commitment to Multilateralism.” During the informal consultation on November 5, Member States called for the theme to reflect the need for accelerated action and for it to be easily communicable. The proposed theme was under silence procedure and was not broken by November 14. The plenary meeting of the General Assembly to consider the draft decision will be held soon.

The 2020 HLPF under the auspices of ECOSOC will be held from 7 to 16 July 2020, including the three-day ministerial meeting of the forum from 14 to 16 July 2020.

Regional preparatory meetings will be organized by the regional commissions and expert group meetings and workshops will be organized by DESA in collaboration with relevant UN-system entities and other partners:

In 2020, 50 countries (27 first time presenters, and 23 second time presenters) will present their national voluntary reviews (VNR) to the HLPF.

For more information on the 2020 HLPF click here.