On May 7, 2007, in New York we met for a strategic dialogue on how to make the most of the International Year of Sanitation and during our session we endorsed the "Objectives for the IYS." We represented governments, major groups, UN agencies, international organizations, financial institutions, professionals, academia, cross-cutting groups, coalitions, and other stakeholders.

We discussed what we must achieve in the International Year of Sanitation and beyond. We agreed that there should be consensus on unified objectives so that the civil society, the UN, governments, professionals, academia, and all the stakeholders can take concerted actions to help solve the global sanitation crisis. The Objectives for the IYS articulate our agreed set of priority outcomes during 2008 and will be made available for comment on the UNSCAB website. The objectives will be distributed globally as the basis for next actions including road-mapping exercises.

UNSGAB, UNICEF, and UNDESA all thank everyone for devoting their energy, ideas, and commitment to accelerating progress on delivering sanitation services, which is an indispensable step to achieving all the MDGs.