Organised by:
51³Ô¹Ï Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Government of the Republic of Korea
Summary:
The international community adopted in 2015 three historic, universal and transformative agreements – the Addis Ababa Action Agenda on Financing for Development in July, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in September and the Paris Agreement on Climate Change in December. The adoption of the Addis Ababa Action Agenda, a comprehensive and integrated framework for financing sustainable development, is expected to reinvigorate and strengthen the Financing for Development process, which is to reaffirm and build on the 2002 Monterrey Consensus and the 2008 Doha Declaration. Furthermore, this important means of implementation framework aims to lay out the action-oriented mechanism in the spirit of global partnership and solidarity for supporting implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
The outcome document of the Third International Conference on Financing for Development: Addis Ababa Action Agenda encouraged regional commissions, in cooperation with regional banks and organizations, to mobilize their expertise and existing mechanisms, which could focus on thematic aspects of the present Action Agenda. Therefore, this follow-up process on implementation of the Addis Agenda would equally require credible and forward-looking strategies for taking concrete actions for mobilization of financial resources for sustainable development at the regional level, while taking into action the sub-regional and national context.
In this context, the First High-Level Follow-up Dialogue on Financing for Development in Asia and the Pacific, organized by ESCAP and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Korea in Incheon on 30 and 31 March 2016, provided an important opportunity to gather regional momentum, scale up consolidated efforts and recalibrate the regional financial architecture to lay down a solid foundation for supporting implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Furthermore, the dialogue process was instrumental in setting up an annual regional review process to better understand the implementation of the financing for development outcomes and the means of implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals. The region’s implementation of the Addis Agenda is critically linked to the regional economic and financial environment. To effectively harness domestic public resources, private finance and global partnerships, the region needs an enabling environment that supports economic prospects and financial stability.
With this first follow-up dialogue, ESCAP has initiated to advance the work on the implementation of the financing for development agenda in the Asia-Pacific region. To support further the follow-up process at the regional level, the side event will discuss the Chair’s Summary from the First High-Level Follow-up Dialogue, which could guide the policymakers to further review several commitments under the Addis Ababa Action Agenda, and approach their implementation process in the Asia and Pacific region.
At the 2016 Incheon meeting, the policymakers underscored the importance of the following regional priorities for countries, with a special reference to the least developed countries, landlocked developing countries and small island developing States, that would contribute to efforts aimed at: (i) recognizing the need for an Asia Pacific Tax Forum; (ii) encouraging harmonization and standardization of legal and regulatory frameworks of securities markets and work with securities regulators to encourage cross border flows and market integration with due consideration for financial stability; (iii) highlighting importance of a regional Infrastructure Financing Forum which would enhance the support for cross-border capital flows for infrastructure projects; (iv) suggesting that ESCAP work with regional networks, in particular the Alliance for Financial Inclusion, to harness financial inclusion policies to support sustainable development; (v) suggesting the possibility of a Regional Center in the Pacific for capacity building on climate change adaptation and mitigation; and (vi) suggesting that countries with special needs establish a focal point within one of their ministries to deal with South-South Cooperation and Triangular Development Cooperation and to develop a regional platform for technology transfer and capacity building and advisory services.
This side event is being jointly organized by the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Government of the Republic of Korea. The event will be a high-level panel session moderated by Dr. Shamshad Akhtar, Under-Secretary General of the 51³Ô¹Ï and Executive Secretary of ESCAP and chaired by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Korea. The panel will include finance and senior Ministers from the Asia-Pacific region, private sector and CSO representatives and officials from other UN agencies.
Related information:
Contact:
Sudip Ranjan Basu, basu@un.org