2016 ECOSOC FfD forum

The inaugural ECOSOC forum on Financing for Development follow-up on the overall theme: “Financing for sustainable development: follow-up to the Addis Ababa Action Agenda (AAAA)”, was held from 18 to 20 April 2016 at the United Nations Headquarters in New York. The forum included the Special high-level meeting with the Bretton Woods institutions, WTO and UNCTAD.

The three-day event brought together a large number of high-level participants, including 17 Ministers and Vice-Ministers, as well as numerous high-level government officials in the areas of finance, foreign affairs and development cooperation. An unprecedented number of World Bank Group and IMF Executive Directors, as well as senior officials from the UN system and other international organizations attended the forum. There was also strong representation of civil society organizations and the private sector.

The inaugural segment, on Monday, 18 April, featured presentations by the heads of the major institutional stakeholders and of intergovernmental bodies of these institutions, followed by statements by Ministers and other high-level officials. As part of the inaugural segment, Wu Hongbo, Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs, launched the first report of the Inter-agency Task Force (IATF) on Financing for Development, which provided major substantive input to the forum.

A salient feature of the FfD forum was the interactive dialogue with the representatives of intergovernmental bodies and senior management of the World Bank, IMF and UNCTAD on two themes: (i) Policy coherence in implementing the AAAA; and (ii) Humanitarian and development nexus. A truly innovative format was adopted to allow for a maximum level of interaction among the participants.

The forum provided a solid platform for substantive deliberations on the three chapters of the AAAA, namely (1) a global framework for financing development post-2015, (2) seven action areas, and (3) data, monitoring and follow-up. To this end, it included six multi-stakeholder round tables, chaired by Ministers and moderated by heads of relevant institutions. In addition, a dedicated panel discussion was organized on the outcome of the Global Infrastructure Forum.

The forum resulted in intergovernmentally agreed conclusions and recommendations that will be fed into the overall follow-up and review of the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in the High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development.