Financing for Development Dialogue

UN Secretary-General António Guterres speaks with Amina J. Mohammed, UN Deputy Secretary-General, as the Financing for Development (FfD) Dialogue begins.

Addressing the opening session of the High-level Dialogue, the first such dialogue since the adoption of the Addis Ababa Action Agenda (AAAA), Bill Gates, businessperson and philanthropist, called for realism about the gaps that private financing can, and cannot, fill. While calling for more equitable tax collection systems and more effective spending, he called on governments to “protect aid.”

The Prince of Wales called for a more radical approach. In his video address to the first interactive dialogue, he said the current market system is no longer fit for purpose, and a new approach rooted in sustainable markets is needed to move from billions to trillions, to finance sustainable development.

The Dialogue, held at UN Headquarters in New York, sought ways to accelerate progress in the implementation of the AAAA and financing the 2030 Agenda. The opening session was followed by four interactive dialogues:

• Putting public resources to work for more equal, sustainable societies, including by combatting illicit financial flows (IFFs): This session discussed, among other things: international action on tax avoidance and evasion; tax collection; addressing fair contracts and concessions on natural resources; recuperating IFFs; regulating cross-border financial flows; and adequate regulation of the private sector.
• Financing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and climate action against rising debt burdens: This session discussed, among other things: zero-interest loans, or loans that are linked to sustainable development criteria; “debt for sustainable development and climate action” swaps; legal frameworks to encourage the private sector to invest in a more socially and environmentally sound manner; capacity for public debt management; and using vulnerability indices as graduation criteria for countries.
• Moving the money to fill the climate action and SDG financing gap: This session considered, among other things: mobilizing private finance; getting more value out of investments; greening global finance; public-private partnerships; prioritization; blending; inclusion, including through digital technologies; carbon taxes; the need for scalability; techniques and tools to moving trillions of dollars into the right places; and the importance of better regulatory structures and investor education.
• Announcements and new initiatives: Governments described national and global initiatives, including, for instance: Saint Lucia’s Country Financing Roadmap, to diagnose challenges and produce an action plan to overcome them; an initiative by the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies and the Islamic Development Bank, aimed at combating cholera in 29 member countries of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation; plans by Denmark to double climate-relevant official development assistance (ODA); and a public campaign, to be launched in 2020, to empower people to ensure their pensions are no longer invested in fossil fuels, tobacco, and supply chains that employ child labor.

During the closing, UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina J. Mohammed called for the drive and commitment demonstrated during the day to be built upon and go further, and said the next FfD Forum will aim to rally policymakers to tackle systemic challenges in all areas of the AAAA.

For more details on the negotiations and to hear what delegates said in the corridors, see our report Earth Negotiations Bulletin (ENB).

Opening Segment

Delegates gather in the Trusteeship Council Chamber for the start of the FfD Dialogue.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres

Tijjani Muhammad-Bande, President, General Assembly (UNGA)

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, Ghana

Sola David-Borha, CEO Africa Regions, Standard Bank Group

Bill Gates, Co-Chair, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation

Interactive Dialogue 1 – Putting Public Resources to Work for More Equal, Sustainable Societies

Expert panelists during the session: Irene Ovonji-Odida, Commissioner, Independent Commission for the Reform and International Corporate Taxation; Manuel Montes, South Centre; Kevin Gallagher, Boston University; and Sneha Shah, Refinitiv - Thomson Reuters.

Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh, Palestine

Prime Minister Kokhir Rasulzoda, Tajikistan

Darren Allan Henfield, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Bahamas

Alexander De Croo, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance and Development Cooperation, Belgium

Moderator Sarah Cliffe, Director, New York University Center on International Cooperation

Ma Zhaoxu, Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs, China

President Idriss Déby Itno, Chad

Jose Valencia Amores, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Human Mobility, Ecuador

Svetlana Lukash, Office of the President, Russian Federation

Interactive Dialogue 2 - Financing the SDGs and Climate Action Against Rising Debt Burdens

Expert panelists: Gita Gopinath, International Monetary Fund (IMF); Baba Musa, Director-General, West African Institute for Financial and Economic Management; Moderator Matthew Bishop, Rockefeller Foundation (on podium); Rebeca Grynspan, Secretary-General, Ibero-American General Secretariat; and Eric LeCompte, Jubilee USA Network.

Emanuela Claudia Del Re, Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Italy

Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves, St. Vincent and the Grenadines

Francine Baron, Minister of Foreign and Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Affairs, Dominica

Ciarán Cannon, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Ireland

Dionisio da Costa Babo Soares, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, Timor-Leste

Prime Minister Gaston Browne, Antigua and Barbuda

Prime Minister José Ulisses Correia e Silva, Cabo Verde

Prime Minister Josaia Voreqe Bainimarama, Fiji

Interactive Dialogue 3 – Moving the Money to Fill the Climate Action and SDGs Financing Gap

Panel speakers: Mark Wiseman, Chairman, BlackRock Alternative Investors; Frank Elderson, the Netherlands Bank; Monica Juma, Kenya; President Julius Maada Bio, Sierra Leone; Matthew Rycroft, Department for International Development (DFID), UK; Anne Finucane, Vice-Chair and CEO, Bank of America; and Akinwumi Adesina, President, African Development Bank (AfDB).

President Julius Maada Bio, Sierra Leone

Tharman Shanmugaratnam, Senior Minister, Singapore

Matthew Rycroft, DFID, UK

Anne Finucane, Vice-Chair and CEO, Bank of America

Gillian Tett, Chair of Editorial Board and Editor-at-Large, the Financial Times

Panel speakers: Maurice Tulloch, CEO, Aviva; Carin Jämtin, Director-General, Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency; Jusuf Kalla, Vice-President, Indonesia; Prime Minister Andrew Holness, Jamaica; Michael Sabia, President and CEO, Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ); Eric Xiandong Jing, Executive Chairman and CEO, Ant Financial Services Group; and Julie Hanna, Executive Chairwoman, Kiva.

David Lipton, Acting Managing Director, International Monetary Fund (IMF)

Eric Xiandong Jing, Executive Chairman and CEO, Ant Financial Services Group

Maurice Tulloch, CEO, Aviva

Julie Hanna, Executive Chairwoman, Kiva

Interactive Dialogue 4 – Announcements and New Initiatives

Prime Minister Allen Chastanet, Saint Lucia

Marcelo Ebrard, Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Mexico

Keith Krach, Under Secretary for Economic Growth, Energy and the Environment, US

Ohood Al Roumi, Minister of State of Happiness and Wellbeing, United Arab Emirates (UAE)

Richard Curtis, SDG Advocate and movie director

Dominique Souris, Youth Climate Lab, and Genevieve Jiva, Pacific Islands Climate Action Network (CAN) Coordinator

Closing

View of the dais during the closing session.

Mona Juul, President, Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC)

Marc-André Blanchard, Permanent Representative of Canada, and Co-Chair of the Group of Friends of Financing for Development

Around the Venue

Inge Herman Rydland, Norway

Amina J. Mohammed, UN Deputy Secretary-General

Chantal Line Carpentier, and Mukhisa Kituyi, Secretary-General, UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD)

Delegates from Malawi

Delegates read documents.