General Assembly
The Monterrey Consensus defined the general parameters and specific modalities for the follow-up to the . The United Nations was assigned the leading role in the follow-up process, with the participation of, and in collaboration with, all relevant stakeholders. In contrast to other United Nations conferences and summits in the economic, social and related fields, the Monterrey Conference did not establish a new intergovernmental mechanism; rather it was decided to strengthen and make fuller use of the General Assembly and the Economic and Social Council, as well as the relevant intergovernmental/governing bodies of other institutional stakeholders, for the purposes of conference follow-up and coordination.
In that context, the General Assembly holds a biennial High-level Dialogue on Financing for Development, which serves as the intergovernmental focal point for the general follow-up to the Monterrey Conference and related outcomes. Participants at those meetings include ministers, vice-ministers and other high-level Government officials, as well as senior representatives from the major institutional stakeholders – the World Bank, IMF, WTO, UNCTAD and UNDP, as well as other international organizations and observers from non-institutional stakeholders (civil society and the business sector).
The adopted the Doha Declaration on Financing for Development which was subsequently endorsed by the General Assembly in its resolution . The Declaration recognized the need for a strengthened and more effective intergovernmental inclusive process to carry out the financing for development follow-up. Furthermore, it was decided to hold a United Nations conference at the highest level on the global financial and economic crisis and its impact on development.
The was held in New York from 24 to 30 June 2009. The outcome document, adopted at the Conference and endorsed by the General Assembly in its resolution , defined a clear role for the United Nations in the follow-up to the Conference. In particular, the General Assembly was invited to establish an ad hoc open-ended working group to follow up on the issues contained in the outcome document. The working group held a series of six substantive meetings from April to June 2010 and reported the results of its work in a final report ().
The Second Committee of the General Assembly has considered,since the Monterrey Conference, a separate agenda item on financing for development, entitled (since 2009), “Follow-up to and implementation of the outcome of the 2002 International Conference on Financing for Development and the 2008 Review Conference”. As a result, it has adopted the annual consensus-based General Assembly resolution on financing for development, which contained a strong substantive component, as well as provisions aimed at strengthening the institutional dimension of the financing for development process.
Furthermore, in recent years, as part of its deliberations on the financing for development agenda item, the Second Committee has held panel discussions on financing for development-related topics, such as the impact of the financial crisis on employment, migration, trade and debt (2009), revitalizing the international financial system (2009) and donor accountability in increasing international financial and technical cooperation for development (2011).
In addition, selected topics from the financing for development agenda, such as international trade and development, international financial system and development and external debt sustainability and development, were included under the agenda item entitled “Macroeconomic policy questions”. Separate resolutions are adopted under each of these sub-items annually.
In its resolution of 30 June 2014, the General Assembly decided to convene the from 13 to 16 July 2015, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The outcome of the Conference constitutes an important contribution to and supports the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.