16 June 2014
Asia-Pacific Meeting Considers Tapping Regional Savings to Finance Sustainable Development
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A two-day Asia-Pacific Outreach Meeting on Sustainable Development Financing, co-hosted by the Government of Indonesia and the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), considered mobilizing regional savings to finance sustainable development.

UNESCAP10 June 2014: Participants at an Asia-Pacific Outreach Meeting on Sustainable Development Financing, co-hosted by the Government of Indonesia and the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), considered mobilizing regional savings to finance sustainable development.

UN Under-Secretary-General and ESCAP Executive Secretary Shamshad Akhtar told participants that US$2.5 trillion could provide universal access to health, education and social protection in the region and build needed regional infrastructure. Noting the region’s high savings rate, she said this amount is a fraction of the estimated US$33 trillion held by wealthy individuals in the region. She urged governments to consider how to create an enabling environment and incentives to encourage private sector investment in regional sustainable development.

Pertti Majanen, Co-Chair, the Intergovernmental Committee of Experts on Sustainable Development Financing (ICESDF), said the test of the Committee’s work will be whether its recommendations and sustainable development financing are mainstreamed in national budgets.

Outcomes of the Asia-Pacific meeting, which took place from 10-11 June 2014, in Jakarta, Indonesia, will feed into the work of the ICESDF, which will report to the UN General Assembly (UNGA) on options and proposals for sustainable development financing. Other outreach meetings of the Committee took place in Helsinki, Finland; Addis Ababa, Ethiopia; and Jeddah, Saudi Arabia between April to June 2014. [ESCAP Press Release] [Intergovernmental Committee of Experts on Sustainable Development Financing Website]

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