At a critical moment in what the United Nations has dubbed “a year for global action,” the Third International Conference on Financing for Development kicked off today in the Ethiopian capital with calls to ensure the necessary resources to improve people’s lives while protecting the planet.
“You have recognized that in a world in which both the global population and resource constraints are growing, development finance needs a reboot,” Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told the opening in Addis Ababa of the Conference, also known as FFD3.
The gathering, which brings together high-level government officials, financial institutions, the private sector, non-governmental organizations, and civil society representatives, comes at an important juncture, as Member States prepare to adopt a new set of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in September and reach a universal climate change agreement in December.
“But without resources, commitments will amount to little more than promises on paper,” Mr. Ban noted, adding that the outcome of the conference – to be known as the Addis Ababa Action Agenda – will be the starting point of a new path for financing sustainable development.
The draft outcome document, which is still under negotiation, presents an “ambitious financing framework” that includes concrete policy commitments in at least six crucial areas, beginning with a new social compact for quality investment.
– See more at: http://www.un.org/africarenewal/news/addis-un-conference-opens-call-reboot-development-finance#sthash.O4f3ATs9.dpuf