Queen Rania Attends High-level Panel on the Post-2015 Global Development Agenda

(Office of Her Majesty, Press Department- London) – Her Majesty Queen Rania Al Abdullah, alongside other members of the United Nations High Level Panel (HLP) on the post-2015 development agenda, attended in London on Wednesday the start of the second leg of HLP meetings to discuss the international development agenda beyond 2015.

Her Majesty will be one of three lead speakers during a session on human development on the main day, Thursday, where panelists will discuss the importance of human development goals, what is missing from the current development agenda, and how best to reach the poorest and most marginalized around the world.

The 26-member high-level panel was appointed by UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon in July to develop “a bold vision” to advise on global development after the expiry of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in 2015. The 3-day London meetings, which end Friday, are a follow-up to the inaugural gathering which Her Majesty joined in New York in September and was held in the margins of the U.N. General Assembly.

During Wednesday’s meetings, being held at London’s Marlborough House, Her Majesty participated in interactive panel sessions, during which panel members discussed issues such as accountability and transparency, personal security and freedom from violence and access to justice and how these topics may be part of the post-2015 MDGs framework.

According to a statement by Britain’s Department for International Development, the London meetings are the first of three substantive discussions on poverty eradication to be hosted in the countries of the HLP’s three co-chairs – British Prime Minister David Cameron, Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. The panel is due to submit a report to the U.N. Secretary-General in the second quarter of 2013.

Following the September meeting in New York, the three co-chairs had said they agreed that the goal of the post-2015 framework should be to eradicate global poverty, paying special attention the poorest countries and those farthest from achieving the MDGs.

This week in London, the HLP panelists will have the opportunity to engage with leading international experts on development to consider how key development issues including justice, transparency and accountability that could be addressed in a new international framework, the statement said.

“The High Level Panel's work will be vitally important to shape the future of development,” said Justine Greening, Britain’s International Development Secretary, who opened the meetings on Wednesday.

"The focus of those meeting in London will be the individual and household poverty,” Greening noted. “It is only right that we put this at the heart of any new development agenda so we can shape a better future for everyone, wherever they are born".

The meetings at Marlborough House include a plenary session headed by British PM Cameron, as well as a session on jobs and livelihood, chaired by Liberian President Sirleaf. Her Majesty will participate in both sessions.

In other meetings at The Royal Society, Her Majesty attends a civil society roundtable discussion with two other HLP members, Colombian Foreign Minister Maria Angela Holguin and Mayor of Istanbul Kadir Topbas, as well as Amina Mohammed, Ex-Officio HLP member, and five civil society representatives. The roundtable discusses how to ensure that all people, especially the poorest and most marginalized, have the food, water, energy, healthcare and education they need.

Queen Rania, together with other panel members, will also attend roundtable discussions addressing the challenges that youth are facing globally. The session will be attended by young people to give their perspective on issues such as health, education and employment – identifying issues that could be included in the post-2015 agenda.

HLP also groups former German President, Horst Kohler; former Japanese Prime Minister, Naoto Kan; Sweden’s Minister for International Development Cooperation, Gunilla Carlsson; co-recipient of the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize, Tawakel Karman of Yemen; Commissioner for Development for the European Commission, Andris Piebalgs and former Director General of the French Development Agency, Jean-Michel Severino.