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Mr. President, The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) have played a crucial role in changing development cooperation policies and practices. But since they were first agreed upon, the development landscape has changed deeply: new challenges have emerged and other issues and processes have come to the fore.

The “post-2015 Development Agenda” will thus have to take these trends into account. It will have to include important dimensions of development such as: reducing inequality, fostering credible democracy, promoting human rights, good governance, equitable growth, migration, employment, and decent jobs, and tackling climate change. We are very pleased with your decision to constitute a High-level Panel to discuss this fundamental issue, and to appoint three important leaders to conduct the international debate. We are confident that the process of defining the pillars of the future development agenda will be as inclusive as possible, avoiding the “top down” assumptions that emerged in 1995.

In our view, the post-2015 MDGs will have to be harmonized with the inputs that came out of Rio+20: the three dimensions of sustainable development – social, economic and environmental – will be part of the scenarios we face in the future. We will also have to work within the framework of the new Busan Global Partnership for Effective Development Cooperation.

In the area of climate change, sound and balanced management of land and marine resources, involving strengthened trans-boundary cooperation, deserves closer political attention and common application.

Some challenges are particularly pressing. Tackling climate change through coordinated emission-reduction policies is a prerequisite to substantially reducing - and possibly stopping - the serious degradation of planet Earth’s fragile ecosystems, on which our lives depend.

In line with our joint strategic objectives to overcome the financial crisis, we attach great importance to innovative sources of financing for development. Italy has helped promote a number of significant initiatives, particularly in the health field. Migrant remittances play a key role in the development of many countries: this process will be facilitated by achieving the G8 and G20 commitments to reduce the average global cost of transferring remittances.