Ambassador Macharia Kamau, Co-facilitator, opening the seventh session, stressed that the intergovernmental negotiations were now down to the last 10 days of a long two-step process, based on the work done over the past two or more years since the Rio conference. He extended congratulations to the Co-facilitators from Guyana and Norway on the FfD, also recognizing the work of the President of the General Assembly and their hosts in Addis Ababa. He also recognized the support and enthusiasm of the Major Groups, civil society etc that ensured the outcome being as close to the ambition as possible. It had been important to complete FfD process for this post-2015 process and he thanked the Second Committee experts who had worked so hard.
The Co-facilitators intend to conclude the process in a timely fashion by 31 July deadline, which also needs to be understood particularly by those in capital who are supporting their delegations. They want very precise language and for everyone to respect the language and principle agreements already reached, as they cannot be renegotiated. Over the next five days they will take a wide range of comments.
The preamble has changed but not the structure and they hope they can move forward swiftly on this. The declaration has been tweaked significantly and they do not expect entire long paragraphs to be introduced. They have taken some liberties as facilitators with chapter 2 for which they apologized to the G77 and China, as they have included tweaks in the targets in the context of the conversations made in the previous session. They wait to hear from the G77 on this. The FfD has now been agreed and cannot be reopened, but the IGN should decide how to handle its outcome in the context of the post-2015 development agenda. There are a number of options: to annex it; to refer to it; to take the introduction etc. Some issues are not fully catered for, but the vast majority of the MOI have been taken care of in the FfD. Chapter 4 is on the right track. The FfD doc is a supportive document for the agenda as their follow-up and review is integrated. Some issues should have been retained in the attenuated document. On chapter 5 they are waiting to hear from HLPF – one of the Vice-Presidents will give a quick synopsis as to how it suggests that the follow-up and review process should move forward. The Co-facilitators expect to give an assessment by the end of the week as to what the conversation will be for the following week. At this point they cannot anticipate what the process will be.
Ambassador David Donoghue, Co-facilitator, stressed that the deadline for reaching agreement will be 31 July. He was encouraged by the reactions to zero and final drafts and looked forward to comments on the final draft. They all agree on the parameters of the process and that the declaration should be concise. Some issues will need discussion to reach agreement. The Co-facilitators intend to proceed on the basis of general comments and on the declaration. They hope have a critical sense as to what the document needs and how to complete the work. And, he reminded everyone that the goal is very close.