After 2015: Promoting Pro-Poor Policy after the MDGS – The Plenary Presentations and Discussion

The main conclusions from the plenary sessions of the Policy Forum can be summarised as follows: 1) Focus must still remain on achieving the MDGs; 2) Developing country ownership of the new framework is essential and the approach must therefore be Southern-led; 3) The obligations of the developed countries towards the achievement of the MDGs need clarification; 4) International income and wealth redistribution should be a ‘right’ (‘automatic’ rather than discretionary) including international redistributive taxes; 5) International inequality and its reduction should be given more emphasis; 6) Ethical and moral perspectives need emphasising within a global social justice, rather than a purely indicator-driven, approach; 7) ‘Fragile’ states and global uncertainty need special treatment; 8) The ‘quality’ of MDG achievements, rather than ‘quantities’, needs emphasising; 9) The science and technology capacity of developing countries is critically important; 10) Processes which deliver the quantitative indicators (MDGs) require more emphasis – such as Global Governance. 11) Serious research is needed to ensure the debate is well informed.