On October 28, Committee for Development Policy (CDP) Chair Sakiko Fukuda-Parr and CDP Member José Antonio Ocampo, who chairs the International Commission of Experts on Financing for Development, participated in the multistakeholder hearing for the Fourth International Financing for Development Conference.
Professor Ocampo outlined five key priorities: development financing (noting stagnation in official assistance), financing global public goods (especially for climate and biodiversity), strengthening international monetary cooperation (highlighting $900 billion in underutilized SDRs), sovereign debt restructuring (with one-third of developing countries overindebted), and enhancing international tax cooperation. He emphasized both immediate solutions like debt relief mechanisms and long-term structural changes, including greater developing country participation in international financial institutions and strengthening regional cooperation networks.
Professor Fukuda-Parr noted the Committee’s work on science, technology and innovation, and highlighted the current underutilization of existing policy space for innovation and development in many developing countries. She advocated for connecting financing for development to broader social priorities, calling for progressive approaches to domestic resource mobilization like wealth taxes, corporate taxation, and taxes on windfall profits, digital services, and cryptocurrency, while highlighting that austerity policies are being questioned based on their economic ineffectiveness and negative social impact. She stressed the importance of breaking down silos between macro-financial and social discussions and highlighted the crucial role of civil society engagement in these processes.
The recording is available on UN WebTV.
The CDP’s inputs to the FfD4 elements paper are available here.