The Millennium Declaration and Millennium Development Goals reflect a consensus reached between developing and industrialised countries at the end of the 1990s. While the MDG agenda was strongly influenced by OECD countries, emerging economies like China, India, Brazil or South Africa now play a major role in shaping the prospects for and the character of international cooperation.

This transformation of international cooperation raises a number of questions: Does the international community need a new agreement on global goals and if so, which objectives should it include? Should it focus on poverty reduction or should it be more comprehensive and contain sustainable and inclusive development goals as well? What could and should be the relevance of these goals for emerging economies and industrialised countries? Does the international community need joint standards and principles for cooperation for achieving these goals? Where and how should and could they be agreed upon? 

The objective of the conference was to discuss these issues in an informal setting with representatives from think thanks and policy makers from Germany, China, other emerging economies and international organisations. The conference thereby aimed at feeding into ongoing international consultations on a post-2015 framework, notably the High Level Panel that UN Secretary General Ban-Ki-moon has initiated to support the negotiations on a post-2015 agreement; the working group on Sustainable Development Goals of the UN General Assembly, and the work of the Steering Committee of the Global Partnership.