“With the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) expiring in just two years’ time, we now have a golden opportunity to create a new global development framework that both addresses our challenges and fulfills our aspirations,” Gro Harlem Brundtland, former prime minister of Norway, director general of the WHO from 1998-2003, and current deputy chair of The Elders, writes in a Forbes opinion piece published in partnership with the Skoll World Forum and The Elders. “Published last month and submitted to the U.N. Secretary-General, the [High-Level Panel (HLP) of Eminent Persons on the Post-2015 Development Agenda’s] report will form an important basis for discussions leading to the new framework,” she states.

“Overall, we should all welcome the panel’s comprehensive analysis and recommendations,” Brundtland continues, and writes, “The panel’s 12 illustrative goals and associated targets, to be met by 2030, go well beyond the scope of the MDGs. They reflect the reality that a more equal, prosperous, peaceful and just world will require a sea change on a wide range of issues.” She discusses a number of goals and recommendations from the report, including “the panel’s reaffirmation that there is a moral imperative to eradicate extreme poverty by 2030,” its “call for equitable growth,” and its focus on “the importance of girls and women in development.” She concludes, “As the process moves forward, we must not lose sight of the ambitions we have for the world we want. … The panel has made an important contribution to the post-2015 process; let’s not lose the momentum now” (6/26).