The current development agenda is centered on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which have an overall target date of 2015. The MDGs encapsulate eight globally agreed concrete goals, with time-bound targets and indicators for measuring progress in the areas of: poverty alleviation, education, gender equality and empowerment of women, child and maternal health, reducing HIV/AIDS and communicable diseases, environmental sustainability, and building a Global Partnership for Development.

At the 2010 High-level Plenary Meeting of the UN General Assembly to review progress towards the MDGs, governments called not only for accelerating progress towards achieving the MDGs, but also for thinking on ways to advance the UN Development Agenda beyond 2015.