Distinguished colleagues,
I am pleased to welcome you to this principal-level meeting of the Inter-agency Task Force on Financing for Development. I greatly appreciate that you took the time, in an extremely busy week, to join us. Our discussions will be important for the substantive and strategic next steps for the Inter-agency Task Force.
Allow me first to personally thank all of you for your tremendous contributions to the work of the Task Force.
It is your commitment that makes this Task Force so successful. And that has made the “Financing for Sustainable Development Report” the major global assessment of the state of development finance, helping set the global agenda on financing for development.
For example, the thematic chapter of the 2019 report, on integrated national financing frameworks, has triggered significant interest. More than a dozen countries are announcing, later today, their plans to design and implement such frameworks.
This is a great show of trust in our work by the membership. I urge you to continue contributing your expertise, so that we can live up to growing expectations on our work.
Today, I am seeking your input and advice on two issues:
1. our upcoming 2020 Financing for Sustainable Development Report, and its thematic chapter on the potential of new and emerging technologies to advance financing for sustainable development; and
2. further Task Force work on integrated national financing frameworks.
Let me start with next year’s report.
As we noted in the 2019 FSDR and reiterated in the just published “Global Sustainable Development Report,” we are not on track to meet the Sustainable Development Goals. We expect that the global context for sustainable development financing will remain extremely challenging in 2020.
This puts responsibility on us to not only identify financing gaps, but also to present a set of policy proposals that can help close the gaps and move the Financing for Development agenda forward.
In our analytical work, we also want to further strengthen regional perspectives to provide more targeted recommendations. We look to the Regional Commissions to continue their strong contributions to the FSDR.
I also seek your reflections on the thematic chapter of the 2020 FSDR – ‘financing for sustainable development in an era of transformative technologies’.
New digital technologies are already contributing to SDG implementation, and fundamentally changing financing for sustainable development. This is impacting all action areas of the Addis Ababa Action Agenda. Indeed, digital technologies hold great promise, but there are challenges and risks. We see tremendous progress in financial inclusion, but discrimination exists that prevents access to finance.
How the new technology play out will depend on our policy response. This is where our Task Force can come in. We have an opportunity to build on your tremendous work and put forward policy options that will allow all countries and all people to benefit.
Next, I would like to alert you about our plans to take forward the Task Force’s work on integrated national financing frameworks.
As you will know, the thematic chapter of our last report has triggered significant interest by Member States. They have requested us to produce concrete guidance materials to support them in the design and implementation of financing frameworks. More than a dozen countries will announce, later today, that they will pioneer this concept. They are also looking to this Task Force to provide substantive guidance.
My staff will reach out to you in the coming days to initiate this work. Our plan is to provide guidance and toolkits for each of the four building blocks of integrated financing frameworks – those that we identified in the 2019 report – and to tailor these toolkits for countries in different situations.
Distinguished colleagues,
The INFF initiative is but one example of the impact that this Task Force is having. We can and do play a unique role – bringing together our combined expertise on financing issues in support of advancing the Financing for Development Agenda.
I am looking to you for your thoughts and guidance. Please use this opportunity to share your perspectives and suggestions, on any or all of the issues I have raised.
In the interest of time, I will ask you to be brief, and speak for no more than three minutes, so that all partners get a chance to participate.
The floor is now open.
I am pleased to welcome you to this principal-level meeting of the Inter-agency Task Force on Financing for Development. I greatly appreciate that you took the time, in an extremely busy week, to join us. Our discussions will be important for the substantive and strategic next steps for the Inter-agency Task Force.
Allow me first to personally thank all of you for your tremendous contributions to the work of the Task Force.
It is your commitment that makes this Task Force so successful. And that has made the “Financing for Sustainable Development Report” the major global assessment of the state of development finance, helping set the global agenda on financing for development.
For example, the thematic chapter of the 2019 report, on integrated national financing frameworks, has triggered significant interest. More than a dozen countries are announcing, later today, their plans to design and implement such frameworks.
This is a great show of trust in our work by the membership. I urge you to continue contributing your expertise, so that we can live up to growing expectations on our work.
Today, I am seeking your input and advice on two issues:
1. our upcoming 2020 Financing for Sustainable Development Report, and its thematic chapter on the potential of new and emerging technologies to advance financing for sustainable development; and
2. further Task Force work on integrated national financing frameworks.
Let me start with next year’s report.
As we noted in the 2019 FSDR and reiterated in the just published “Global Sustainable Development Report,” we are not on track to meet the Sustainable Development Goals. We expect that the global context for sustainable development financing will remain extremely challenging in 2020.
This puts responsibility on us to not only identify financing gaps, but also to present a set of policy proposals that can help close the gaps and move the Financing for Development agenda forward.
In our analytical work, we also want to further strengthen regional perspectives to provide more targeted recommendations. We look to the Regional Commissions to continue their strong contributions to the FSDR.
I also seek your reflections on the thematic chapter of the 2020 FSDR – ‘financing for sustainable development in an era of transformative technologies’.
New digital technologies are already contributing to SDG implementation, and fundamentally changing financing for sustainable development. This is impacting all action areas of the Addis Ababa Action Agenda. Indeed, digital technologies hold great promise, but there are challenges and risks. We see tremendous progress in financial inclusion, but discrimination exists that prevents access to finance.
How the new technology play out will depend on our policy response. This is where our Task Force can come in. We have an opportunity to build on your tremendous work and put forward policy options that will allow all countries and all people to benefit.
Next, I would like to alert you about our plans to take forward the Task Force’s work on integrated national financing frameworks.
As you will know, the thematic chapter of our last report has triggered significant interest by Member States. They have requested us to produce concrete guidance materials to support them in the design and implementation of financing frameworks. More than a dozen countries will announce, later today, that they will pioneer this concept. They are also looking to this Task Force to provide substantive guidance.
My staff will reach out to you in the coming days to initiate this work. Our plan is to provide guidance and toolkits for each of the four building blocks of integrated financing frameworks – those that we identified in the 2019 report – and to tailor these toolkits for countries in different situations.
Distinguished colleagues,
The INFF initiative is but one example of the impact that this Task Force is having. We can and do play a unique role – bringing together our combined expertise on financing issues in support of advancing the Financing for Development Agenda.
I am looking to you for your thoughts and guidance. Please use this opportunity to share your perspectives and suggestions, on any or all of the issues I have raised.
In the interest of time, I will ask you to be brief, and speak for no more than three minutes, so that all partners get a chance to participate.
The floor is now open.
File date:
Thursday, September 26, 2019