UN urges coherent financing strategy to fuel sustainable development

Top UN officials on Monday called for a coherent financing strategy to sustain global growth, while urging member states to fulfill pledges on official development assistance. Addressing participants at the opening of the High-level Dialogue on Financing for Development, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki- moon encouraged all countries to fulfill their pledges and meet their development assistance targets. For many developing countries, he said, in particular the most vulnerable, predictable levels of official development assistance (ODA) remain critical. "A strong financial commitment to human solidarity today will improve prosperity and security tomorrow," he noted, calling for efforts which are firmly rooted in "a sound financing strategy based on mutual accountability and shared responsibilities." The overall theme of the dialogue is "The Monterrey Consensus, Doha Declaration on Financing for Development and related outcomes of major UN conferences and summits: status of implementation and tasks ahead." The Monterrey Consensus, adopted in that Mexican city in 2002, is a landmark partnership agreement for global development. It was followed in 2008 by the Doha Declaration, which emphasized the need to urgently meet the agreed ODA target of 0.7 percent of donor countries' gross national income (GNI), and underscored the importance of strengthening the World Trade Organization (WTO) with special and differential treatment for developing countries. The current ODA is around 0.31 percent of national income of developed countries, according to UN figures. In his remarks, Ban also emphasized the private sector's vital role in financing and investing for a more sustainable and prosperous world. "International public finance will not be sufficient to build a more sustainable and prosperous world," he said. "Financing and investment from the private sector will play an increasingly vital role." Also addressing participants, President of the General Assembly, John Ashe urged the international community to accelerate efforts to mobilize financial resources. "Financing for development is the elixir the lifeblood, if you like that we need," Ashe said, voicing concerns over the decline in ODA. The post-2015 Development Agenda will require a coherent financing strategy for its implementation. It therefore follows that such a strategy will need to build on existing international agreements and its successful implementation will need global cooperation in the form of multi-stakeholder partnerships among governments, the private sector, and civil society, he said. "New and innovative sources of financing will be needed to supplement traditional ODA, and South-South cooperation will need to be further enhanced as a complement to North-South and Triangular Cooperation, in order to provide greater opportunities for sustained economic growth," he added. The two-day event consists of a series of plenary meetings where ministers and high-level officials are making formal statements on behalf of their countries. It focuses on the link between financing for development and achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and advancing the post-2015 agenda.