UN Secretary-General Ban Ki- moon and UN General Assembly President Abdulaziz Al-Nasser on Thursday highlighted the achievements made at a recent development summit held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, stressing that they represent a global movement of change in promoting sustainable development.

"Let me be clear. Rio+20 was a success," the secretary-general said at a General Assembly meeting on the outcome of the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20). "In Rio, we saw the further evolution of an undeniable global movement for change. "

More than 40,000 people, including parliamentarians, mayors, UN officials, chief executive officers and civil society leaders, attended Rio+20 on June 20-22. The event followed on from the Earth Summit in 1992, also held in Rio de Janeiro, during which countries adopted Agenda 21 -- a blueprint to rethink economic growth, advance social equity and ensure environmental protection.

In his remarks, the secretary-general highlighted several parts of the Rio+20 outcome document, entitled "The Future We Want," which he hailed as "an important victory for multilateralism after months of difficult negotiations."

Through the document, countries renewed their political commitment to sustainable development, agreed to establish a set of sustainable development goals (SDGs), and established a high- level political forum on sustainable development, Ban said.

The outcome document also calls for a wide range of actions, such as detailing how the green economy can be used as a tool to achieve sustainable development; strengthening the UN Environment Program (UNEP); promoting corporate sustainability reporting measures; taking steps to go beyond gross domestic product to assess the well-being of a country; developing a strategy for sustainable development financing; and, adopting a framework for tackling sustainable consumption and production.

It also focuses on improving gender equity, recognizing the importance of voluntary commitments on sustainable development and stressing the need to engage civil society and incorporate science into policy.

Meanwhile, Ban emphasized the importance of the more than 700 commitments registered during the Conference.

"This is a remarkable testament to bottom-up, grassroots commitment," Ban said. "The world is watching and will hold us all accountable to the commitments made in Rio."

For his part, the president of the UN General Assembly, Abdulaziz Al-Nasser, called on member states to respect their commitments made in relation to Rio+20 "so that they can guide our future actions."

"Implementation is imperative if we are to attain the future we want," he said. "Now that the summit is over, the real work begins, and we all have our parts to play for ultimate success."

Al-Nasser reiterated the General Assembly's commitment to play a central role in helping define and establish the SDGs. He also announced a series of meetings in the area of sustainable development and global prosperity, to help tackle issues related to the global financial crises, which are also linked to countries' capabilities to work towards sustainable development.

"No country has been completely immune from the global economic and financial crisis that hit the world in 2008. To tackle this issue successfully, the world needs to come together like never before and act collectively with a sense of urgency," he said.