Dear colleagues,
Welcome to this meeting of the Inter-agency Task Force on Financing for Development. This meeting is an opportunity to discuss outreach and communication efforts related to our joint work, and to get an early start on preparations for the 2018-2019 cycle.
At the outset, I’d like to thank you all for your contributions to the successful production of the 2018 report of the Inter-agency Task Force on Financing for Development. I commend the leadership of the five major institutional stakeholders – the IMF, World Bank, WTO, UNCTAD and UNDP, as well as UN Women for leading our joint work on gender. Your contributions and engagement have allowed us to present strong and balanced recommendations that will advance development policies.
I recently attended the Third Retreat of the Group of Friends of Monterrey in Oaxaca, Mexico. At the retreat, Member States highly appreciated the Task Force for the high quality of the report, noting its strong analytical foundations, comprehensiveness, and concrete recommendations. They further noted that the report has provided them with a solid base for the zero draft and discussions on the outcome document for the ECOSOC Financing for Development Forum, which will take place in New York from 23-26 April 2018. This shows how greatly Member States value the work of this Task Force.
Dear Colleagues,
Our work for the 2018 cycle is not finished yet. We need your support to disseminate the findings of the 2018 IATF report widely. The report will be launched a few days before the Financing for Development Forum. I urge all of you to nominate communications focal points to help coordinate the launch of the report. We will work on a communication strategy and welcome proposals for hosting launch events and press briefings outside of New York. I also trust in your collaboration to help publicize the report through both the traditional and social media. In today’s world, communication is critical to maximize the impact of our joint work.
Dear Colleagues,We are also at the beginning of the next work cycle. 2019 is going to be an important year – both the Addis Agenda and the 2030 Agenda will be discussed at the Heads of State and Government-levels. It will mark a first major stocktaking of what we have achieved since 2015, and where we need to go as we move closer toward 2030. We need to think about what messages are going to be delivered in the next report.
Indeed, mobilizing sufficient financing to implement the 2030 Agenda has become one of the most critical issues for the international community, and for the United Nations. One overarching lesson that has emerged from our first three years of work is the need for all actors to be guided by a long-term outlook, which in turn must inform today’s investment decisions and plans. Integrated national sustainable development strategies and financing frameworks should inform plans and project pipelines. These would reach beyond short-term political cycles and can help overcome siloed thinking. We are considering highlighting such integrated approaches in next year’s report.
In the next report, we will also need to consider the SDGs under in-depth review at the 2019 High-level Political Forum, which are: SDG 4 (quality education); SDG 8 (decent work and economic growth); SDG 10 (reduced inequalities); SDG 13 (climate action); and SDG 16 (peace, justice and strong institutions). These themes are wide-ranging – each could easily make for an entire report on its own. We will thus need to be creative and selective in the way we cover them.
In this context, the Second Committee of the General Assembly and the Economic and Social Council will hold a joint meeting later this year to discuss issues to be addressed in the thematic chapters of the 2019 and 2020 reports of the Inter-Agency Task Force. We will summarize these discussions in a report of the Secretary-General that will guide our thematic work for the next two years. I also encourage you to share your ideas and suggestions with my staff.
Last year, the Secretary-General called on my department to be “the ‘docking station’ for financing for development at the global level, working closely with international financial institutions”, in his report to the Economic and Social Council on repositioning the UN development system. The Inter-agency Task Force contributes to this objective. It has established itself as an efficient and effective means of coordination that supports countries in designing policy responses to implement the Addis Agenda and the SDGs. The different perspectives brought together in this Task Force could help Member States deepen their understanding of development financing issues and present them with a range of possible actions.
I have decided to reinforce the Financing for Development Office and some action has already been taken. This should allow us to further strengthen the process. We will continue to work to improve our cooperation and I count on your feedback to make our joint work even more inclusive and impactful. The Task Force has become a lively platform for inter-agency collaboration on financing for development issues and I invite you to take advantage of it.
I realize that the IATF collaboration has sometimes required you to work under short timelines and I am grateful for your patience, your active engagement and for your commitment to this process
We will start planning for technical meetings to inform the 2019 report shortly. My team will reach out to you in due course and I encourage you to approach us with any ideas you may have. The intergovernmentally agreed outcome of the FfD Forum will provide us with important guidance for this work programme.
I hope you have a very fruitful discussion this morning.
Thank you.
Welcome to this meeting of the Inter-agency Task Force on Financing for Development. This meeting is an opportunity to discuss outreach and communication efforts related to our joint work, and to get an early start on preparations for the 2018-2019 cycle.
At the outset, I’d like to thank you all for your contributions to the successful production of the 2018 report of the Inter-agency Task Force on Financing for Development. I commend the leadership of the five major institutional stakeholders – the IMF, World Bank, WTO, UNCTAD and UNDP, as well as UN Women for leading our joint work on gender. Your contributions and engagement have allowed us to present strong and balanced recommendations that will advance development policies.
I recently attended the Third Retreat of the Group of Friends of Monterrey in Oaxaca, Mexico. At the retreat, Member States highly appreciated the Task Force for the high quality of the report, noting its strong analytical foundations, comprehensiveness, and concrete recommendations. They further noted that the report has provided them with a solid base for the zero draft and discussions on the outcome document for the ECOSOC Financing for Development Forum, which will take place in New York from 23-26 April 2018. This shows how greatly Member States value the work of this Task Force.
Dear Colleagues,
Our work for the 2018 cycle is not finished yet. We need your support to disseminate the findings of the 2018 IATF report widely. The report will be launched a few days before the Financing for Development Forum. I urge all of you to nominate communications focal points to help coordinate the launch of the report. We will work on a communication strategy and welcome proposals for hosting launch events and press briefings outside of New York. I also trust in your collaboration to help publicize the report through both the traditional and social media. In today’s world, communication is critical to maximize the impact of our joint work.
Dear Colleagues,We are also at the beginning of the next work cycle. 2019 is going to be an important year – both the Addis Agenda and the 2030 Agenda will be discussed at the Heads of State and Government-levels. It will mark a first major stocktaking of what we have achieved since 2015, and where we need to go as we move closer toward 2030. We need to think about what messages are going to be delivered in the next report.
Indeed, mobilizing sufficient financing to implement the 2030 Agenda has become one of the most critical issues for the international community, and for the United Nations. One overarching lesson that has emerged from our first three years of work is the need for all actors to be guided by a long-term outlook, which in turn must inform today’s investment decisions and plans. Integrated national sustainable development strategies and financing frameworks should inform plans and project pipelines. These would reach beyond short-term political cycles and can help overcome siloed thinking. We are considering highlighting such integrated approaches in next year’s report.
In the next report, we will also need to consider the SDGs under in-depth review at the 2019 High-level Political Forum, which are: SDG 4 (quality education); SDG 8 (decent work and economic growth); SDG 10 (reduced inequalities); SDG 13 (climate action); and SDG 16 (peace, justice and strong institutions). These themes are wide-ranging – each could easily make for an entire report on its own. We will thus need to be creative and selective in the way we cover them.
In this context, the Second Committee of the General Assembly and the Economic and Social Council will hold a joint meeting later this year to discuss issues to be addressed in the thematic chapters of the 2019 and 2020 reports of the Inter-Agency Task Force. We will summarize these discussions in a report of the Secretary-General that will guide our thematic work for the next two years. I also encourage you to share your ideas and suggestions with my staff.
Last year, the Secretary-General called on my department to be “the ‘docking station’ for financing for development at the global level, working closely with international financial institutions”, in his report to the Economic and Social Council on repositioning the UN development system. The Inter-agency Task Force contributes to this objective. It has established itself as an efficient and effective means of coordination that supports countries in designing policy responses to implement the Addis Agenda and the SDGs. The different perspectives brought together in this Task Force could help Member States deepen their understanding of development financing issues and present them with a range of possible actions.
I have decided to reinforce the Financing for Development Office and some action has already been taken. This should allow us to further strengthen the process. We will continue to work to improve our cooperation and I count on your feedback to make our joint work even more inclusive and impactful. The Task Force has become a lively platform for inter-agency collaboration on financing for development issues and I invite you to take advantage of it.
I realize that the IATF collaboration has sometimes required you to work under short timelines and I am grateful for your patience, your active engagement and for your commitment to this process
We will start planning for technical meetings to inform the 2019 report shortly. My team will reach out to you in due course and I encourage you to approach us with any ideas you may have. The intergovernmentally agreed outcome of the FfD Forum will provide us with important guidance for this work programme.
I hope you have a very fruitful discussion this morning.
Thank you.
File date:
Monday, April 2, 2018