Third International Conference on Financing for Development, July 2015

Third International Conference on Financing for Development, July 2015 The third International Conference on Financing for Development will be held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, from 13-16 July 2015. It will gather high-level political representatives, including Heads of State and Government, and Ministers of Finance, Foreign Affairs and Development Cooperation, as well as all relevant institutional stakeholders, non-governmental organizations and business sector entities. The Conference will result in an inter-governmentally negotiated and agreed outcome, which should constitute an important contribution to – and support the implementation of – the post-2015 development agenda.

The scope of the Conference is set out in General Assembly resolutions 68/204 and 68/279, and will focus on:

(1) Assessing the progress made in the implementation of the Monterrey Consensus and the Doha Declaration (see details below) and identifying obstacles and constraints encountered in the achievement of the goals and objectives agreed therein, as well as actions and initiatives to overcome these constraints.

(2) Addressing new and emerging issues, including in the context of the recent multilateral efforts to promote international development cooperation, taking into account:

• the current evolving development cooperation landscape;

• the interrelationship of all sources of development finance;

• the synergies between financing objectives across the three dimensions of sustainable development; and

• the need to support the United Nations development agenda beyond 2015.

(3) Reinvigorating and strengthening the financing for development follow-up process.

General Assembly resolution 68/279 emphasizes “the need for effective coordination” between the preparatory process for the third FfD Conference and the preparations for the summit to be held in September 2015 for the adoption of the post-2015 development agenda, “in order to promote coherence and to minimize duplication of effort.”

The preparatory process for the FfD Conference, under the auspices of the President of the 69th session of the General Assembly, will include substantive informal sessions on all relevant thematic areas and informal interactive hearings with civil society and the business sector, as well as drafting sessions of the outcome document in January, April and June 2015 (see proposed roadmap below).

The President of the sixty-ninth session of the General Assembly appointed Ambassador George Talbot of Guyana and Ambassador Geir Pedersen of Norway as co-facilitators to lead open, inclusive and transparent consultations on all issues related to the third International Conference on Financing for Development and its preparatory process.

The United Nations Secretary-General designated Mr. Wu Hongbo, Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs, as the Secretary-General for the Conference. The Financing for Development Office (FfDO) provides substantive support to the preparation and organization of the Conference.

Proposed roadmap toward Addis Ababa

The co-facilitators proposed the following roadmap toward the Conference as follows:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Participation of civil society in the FfD Conference and its preparatory process

Registration to the third FfD Conference and its preparatory process will be open to all non-governmental organizations that are in consultative status with the UN Economic and Social Council and to all non-governmental organizations and business sector entities that have been accredited to the Monterrey and Doha FfD Conferences or their follow-up processes.

In addition, interested non-governmental organizations and business sector entities that are not in consultative status with the Economic and Social Council or were not accredited to the Monterrey and Doha Conferences on Financing for Development or their follow-up processes can soon apply to the General Assembly for accreditation, following the established accreditation procedure. More information on registration and accreditation will be available soon on the FfDO and UN-NGLS websites.

Brief history of the FfD process since 2002

The Monterrey Consensus which was adopted by Member States of the United Nations at the International Conference on Financing for Development in 2002 addresses development financing issues under six themes: domestic resource mobilization, mobilization of foreign resources, international trade, development assistance, external debt and systemic issues of global governance with the aim of achieving the internationally agreed development goals adopted during the previous decade, including the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

The International Follow-up Conference on Financing for Development in Doha took place in Doha, Qatar, on 29 November to 2 December 2008, in the midst of the onset of the global financial and economic crisis. The 2008 Conference adopted the Doha Declaration on Financing for Development. The Declaration reaffirms the Monterrey Consensus and calls for a United Nations Conference at the highest level to examine the impact of the world financial and economic crisis on development.

Subsequently, the United Nations convened a three-day summit of world leaders from 24-30 June 2009 at its New York Headquarters to assess the worst global economic downturn since the Great Depression. The aim was to identify emergency and long-term responses to mitigate the impact of the crisis, especially on vulnerable populations, and initiate a dialogue on the transformation of the international financial architecture, taking into account the needs and concerns of all Member States. By its resolution 63/303 of 9 July 2009, the General Assembly endorsed the Outcome of the Conference on the World Financial and Economic Crisis and Its Impact on Development. The 59-paragraph document sets forth a global consensus on the causes, impacts and responses to the current crisis; prioritizes the prompt, decisive and coordinated actions that are required; and defines a clear role for the United Nations.

FfD Website: http://www.un.org/esa/ffd/third-conference-ffd/index.htm

Source: UN NGLS.