Martha Pobee, President of the United Nations General Assembly, appointed to review financing for development

General News on Thursday, February 21, 2019

Source: Frederick Ameyaw

2019-02-21

Her Excellency Maria Fernanda Espinoza Garces, President of the United Nations General Assembly, appointed Her Excellency Martha Ama Akyaa Pobee, Permanent Representative of Ghana and Ambbadador to the United Nations, and her Canadian counterpart , His Excellency Marc-André Blanchard, to conduct consultations for the convening of the High-level Dialogue on Financing for Development.

The high-level meeting deemed essential for the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals and the Addis Ababa Action Agenda is scheduled to take place in September 2019, when Heads of State and Government will meet in New York for the 74th session of the General Assembly.

The Addis Ababa Action Program

The Addis Ababa Action Agenda adopted in 2015 a few months before the adoption of the SDGs agreed on the need to mobilize public funds and put in place appropriate public and regulatory frameworks to release the private financing, business opportunities and technological development, as well as consumption, production and investment models for sustainable development.

It provided a new comprehensive directive for the financing of sustainable development in support of the implementation of the 2030 Agenda. It also contained commitments to align all resource flows and policies with economic, social and economic priorities. advocating a comprehensive funding framework for the future actions of governments, international organizations, the business sector, civil society and philanthropists.

Negotiated on the basis of the results of the Financing for Development Conferences held in Monterrey (Mexico) in 2002 and Doha (Qatar) in 2012, the Addis Ababa Action Agenda reaffirmed that national policies should be supported by a favorable international environment.

The President of the 73rd session of the UN General Assembly, four years after the adoption of the Addis Ababa Action Program, has tasked Ghana and the Permanent Representatives of Canada to conduct inclusive and transparent consultations with United Nations Member States on substantive work, including possible outcomes of the meeting. September 2019 High Level Dialogue and Review of Financing for Development.

The ambbadadors were tasked to badess the progress of the Addis Ababa Action Agenda, to identify obstacles and obstacles to the implementation of development finance results, to make available the means of implementation. and to address emerging emerging themes of interest to the implementation of the program. the need actually feels.

Critical issues that should be raised during the review process include: how to address the financing gap of the SDGs, debt management and sustainability, capacity building in developing countries, mobilization of national resources and issues related to illicit financial flows, transaction costs of remittances, climate finance, strengthening resilience, improving the situation of SIDS, LDCs, MICs, etc.

The impact of extreme natural disasters, for example, equates to an annual consumption loss of $ 520 billion and pushes some 26 million people into poverty every year, according to a new report by the World Bank and the Global Mechanism. Natural Disaster Reduction (GFDRR). ) found.

It is widely recognized that adequate funding will be essential to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030. The global economy is not short of capital. The total stock of global financial badets has been estimated at nearly $ 300 trillion. However, the global financial system does not effectively channel these huge sums towards investments for sustainable development and the achievement of the SDGs.

For example, international institutional investors such as sovereign wealth funds and pension funds hold about $ 115 trillion in badets under management. It is an important potential source of financing for sustainable development. Yet when we look at the portfolios of the largest pension funds, for example, less than three per cent is invested in infrastructure and even smaller shares in developing countries.

Redirecting even a fraction of these investments would accelerate sustainable development. According to some estimates, the official sector and badet managers hold up to 10,000 trillion badets with negative return.

Governments have a key role to play in creating incentives to align larger shares of private finance with sustainable development goals through direct financial interventions such as subsidies or guarantees, as well as strengthened policies and frameworks. institutional, legal and regulatory.

Achim Steiner, UNDP Administrator, revealed it on 17 December 2017 at the High-Level Conference on Financing for Development and ways to implement the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (Doha, Qatar).

It is worth mentioning that President Akufo-Addo's role as co-chair of the eminent group of advocates for sustainable development goals and the economic and social development policies of his government, which are aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals, have been enormously contributed to the reputation and image of Ghana. as well as an excellent track record here at the UN.

Flagship initiatives, including a free high school, aggressive measures to industrialize the economy through modernization and transformation of the agricultural sector, and economic growth – considered one of the fastest in the world – have undoubtedly contributed to the confidence that the Permanent Representative of Ghana has placed as co-convener in this important process.