18 May 2016: The President of the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), Oh Joon, issued a summary of the inaugural session of ECOSOC’s Forum on Financing for Development follow-up (FfD Forum). The Council also issued the official report that was adopted during the Forum, and which includes conclusions and recommendations that were agreed intergovernmentally.

The FfD Forum took place from 18-20 April 2016, in New York, US, on the theme ‘Financing for sustainable development: follow-up to the Addis Ababa Action Agenda of the Third International Conference on Financing for Development.’ It also included the special high-level meeting with the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). According to the official report, the Forum brought together officials of 95 UN Member States and States members of specialized agencies and the EU, as well as representatives of the UN system, intergovernmental organizations and other entities, civil society organizations and the business sector.

The ECOSOC President’s summary (A/71/88-E/2016/68) contains sections on: statements delivered by senior officials during the opening session of the Forum and by institutional stakeholders; discussions during the general debate and the interactive dialogue with the representatives of intergovernmental bodies and senior management of the World Bank, IMF, UNCTAD and the UN Development Programme (UNDP); views expressed during the panel discussion on the Global Infrastructure Forum; and views expressed during roundtables on: global framework for financing sustainable development; domestic and international public resources; domestic and international private business and finance; debt and systemic issues; trade, science, technology, innovation and capacity-building; and data, monitoring and follow-up. It also includes a section on the closing of the Forum.

The FfD report (E/FFDF/2016/3) contains the proceedings of the Forum as well as its intergovernmentally agreed conclusions and recommendations, which affirm strong commitment to the full and timely implementation of the Addis Ababa Action Agenda (AAAA). The conclusions and recommendations also recognize that the AAAA provides a global framework for financing sustainable development and is an integral part of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, “supports and complements it, and helps to contextualize its means of implementation targets with concrete policies and actions.”

The conclusions and recommendations welcome the proposed “three-pronged approach” of the 2016 report of the Inter-Agency Task Force on FfD: discussion of the global context and its implications for implementation; overview of each chapter of the AAAA and identification of synergies; and analyses of thematic issues. On future sessions of the FfD Forum, they underline the importance of deciding “well in advance” on its dates, themes and other organizational matters.

Conclusions and recommendations from the FfD Forum should be transmitted to the High-Level Political Forum (HLPF) on sustainable development, convening from 11-20 July 2016. [ECOSOC President’s Summary] [Report of Inaugural Session of FfD Forum] [IISD RS Story on Conclusion of FfD Forum Inaugural Session]