NEDA looking past 2015 with sustainable dev't plan for PHL

With the Philippines still working to meet the 2015 deadline of its Millennium Development Goals, the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) is already crafting a sustainable development action plan for the country beyond the time frame set for the United Nations project. However, said Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Arsenio Balisacan, the post-2015 activities are crucial within the context of the government’s efforts to achieve the MDGs. “We have to look beyond 2015 through an assessment of what we have achieved and what we have to do,” said Balisacan at the first national consultation of the post-2015 development agenda on Monday. He added that it is important to forge public-private partnerships in financing, technical assistance and advocacy and to localize the MDGs. "This long-term action plan will ensure that sustainable development is mainstreamed into the national, regional and local plans," the NEDA chief said. “We need to ensure the coherence between the post-Rio+20 and post-2015 development framework as a crucial complementation in crafting the sustainable development goals,” Balisacan added. At Rio+20, or the UN Conference on Sustainable Development that took place in Rio de Janeiro in June, countries discussed international cooperation and coordination in creating sustainable development to lift peole out of poverty. "The country's perspective on 'The Future We Want,' the outcome document of the Rio+20 Conference, calls for concerted action and effective governance mechanisms that will facilitate the desired outcomes in the long-term," he asid. — BM, GMA News