Madam President of ECOSOC,
Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
This year¡¯s FfD Forum under the theme, ¡°Embarking on the Path Toward the Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development, FfD4¡±, has generated a sense of accomplishment and anticipation.
The FfD Forum, as a major deliverable of the Addis Ababa Action Agenda, has played a pivotal role in ensuring a strong follow-up process. The active participation of senior government officials and stakeholders demonstrated, once again, the crucial importance of this UN platform for advancing financing for development through a holistic approach.
We convened here with a shared purpose¡ªto take substantive steps towards an ambitious outcome at next year¡¯s Conference.
We began our discussions on the 2024 Financing for Sustainable Development Report, which sent a sobering message. We find ourselves in a sustainable development crisis, driven by inadequate financing.
The report sounds the alarm, emphasizing the need for decisive and innovative action in closing the financing gap and revamping the international financial architecture to make it fit for purpose in today¡¯s crisis-filled world. If we succeed, we will also rebuild trust in global partnership and multilateralism.
Against this backdrop this Forum explored lessons learned from previous FFD Conferences to help inform the ongoing preparatory process. The Special Meeting with the Bretton Woods institutions explored concrete deliverables for FfD4, focusing on the critical issues of debt and the international financial architecture. And the sessions on the action areas of the Addis Agenda brought much clarity on the expectations of Member States and other stakeholders, including on international financial architecture reform, and the Integrated National Financing Framework.
These engagements brought all constituencies together, a crucial step towards success in Spain next year.
Excellencies,
The intergovernmental negotiations on the outcome of this Forum highlight how important financing for development issues are for all countries. While there were difficult discussions on specific topics, there is broad agreement that we must take bold action.
I am pleased that the document makes progress on key financing issues, including multilateral development bank reform, measures of sustainable development that go beyond GDP and solutions to the challenges of high borrowing costs and debt service burdens.
While the Forum concludes today, the journey toward FfD 4 has only just begun. Our next major milestone is the first preparatory committee meeting in Addis Ababa in just three months¡¯ time. This meeting will be crucial to take stock of progress we have achieved in the last decade, and to further refine ideas and proposal we can take forward to address our challenges.
And, when leaders convene at the Summit of the Future this September to chart a Pact for the Future, financing for development and the international financial architecture will be centre stage.
The path ahead is challenging, but it is also filled with opportunities for significant impact. With your continued collaboration and expertise, I am confident that we can achieve the ambitious goals that we have set for FfD4.
Let me conclude by assuring you that my department is fully committed to supporting you in this journey to secure the future of our people and planet.
Thank you.