Introduction
So far in this series of columns I have covered the international discussion taking place on steps to secure the recovery of stolen public assets leading up to the recently concluded Third Conference on Financing for Development (FFD), held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia last month. I went on to evaluate that Conference at this particular global conjuncture; stressing the very differing assessments of it provided by the United Nations, civil society, as well as developed and developing countries. It is important to note however, that the Conference should be situated in the context of present United Nations efforts to frame a post-2015 Development Agenda at its forthcoming summit scheduled for September 24-27, this year.
The recently concluded Third FFD Conference served as a prelude to the forthcoming United Nations September summit. And, furthermore the proposed December Conference of Parties to be held in Paris (CoP21) as a follow-up to the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, UNCSD 2012 dealing with the environment, is seen as the final act in the framing of the Global Development Agenda for 2015-2030. The coming September United Nations Conference is expected to adopt the Sustainable Development Goals (2015-2030, SDGs), which will supersede the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs, 2000-2015) arising out of the Millennium Develop-ment Summit held in 2000. In this sense therefore there are two processes at work: one is the follow-up to the MDGs, which come to an end this year; and, the other is the UNCSD 2012, follow-up.
Formally the post-2015 Development Agenda is expected to include four components. These are 1) a Declaration, which is a political statement of the vision and purpose of the agenda that all United Nations members will subscribe to; 2) the Sustainable Development Goals that are