It was high drama, UN style.

Negotiations went late into the night…sometimes very late, with sessions breaking at 5:30 am. And, unusually for the United Nations, deep into the weekend. At issue was a the line-by-line negotiation of the final draft of the Sustainable Development Goals. By the time the official text was adopted on Sunday afternoon — two days past deadline — the exhausted delegates were elated. “The mood was so optimistic,” said one civil society delegate in the room. “People were taking selfies!”

At times, common political clashes at the UN threatened to undermine consensus around the final document.

The SDGs, as they are known, are the set of international development targets that will drive the international development agenda for the next 15 years. They replace the Millennium Development Goals, which expire at the end of this year.

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Photo: UN General Assembly Hall. UN Photo/Susan Markisz.