Economic and Social Council

A post-2015 agenda focused on sustainable development and poverty eradication required the United Nations to refine the ways it supported countries’ priority development needs, delegates said today as the Economic and Social Council wrapped up the main part of its “operational activities for development” segment of its 2014 session.

An initiative to coordinate United Nations “deliverables” still faced many challenges despite early successes, senior officials of the Organization’s specialized agencies and country teams told the Economic and Social Council as it held three panel discussions today.

Following are UN Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson’s remarks to the opening of the operational activities for development segment of the substantive session of the 2014 Economic and Social Council, in New York, 24 February:

A vastly altered development landscape had evolved since adoption of the Millennium Development Goals nearly 15 years ago, mandating the United Nations to adapt by building on its core strengths: its universal presence, legitimacy and quality of expertise, Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson told the Economic and Social Council today.

The Economic and Social Council this afternoon unanimously adopted its programme of work for 2014, as orally revised. It elected a member of its Bureau and appointed a member of the Ad Hoc Advisory Group on Haiti.

Describing the Sustainable Development Goals and post-2015 agenda “at the very heart” of the work of the United Nations, Martin Sajdik (Austria), speaking at a Headquarters press conference in his new role as President of the Economic and Social Council, said it was a time of great transition, including with regard to the Council’s own structural reforms.

Pledging support for the new organizational and institutional structure of the Economic and Social Council, the United Nations top economic and social affairs official today said it would bolster that body’s capacity to fortify the ambitious global post-2015 development agenda.

Resuming its substantive session today, the Economic and Social Council adopted a draft ministerial declaration of its 2013 high-level segment and two draft decisions, and filled a vacancy on its Peacebuilding Commission.

Resuming its 2013 substantive session, the Economic and Social Council met this morning to fill vacant seats in its subsidiary bodies and to take action on draft proposals.

The Commission on Sustainable Development had helped to shape the global agenda for the twenty-first century, its Chairperson said today as the body held its final session, 20 years after its inception.