15 June 2015: Governments gathered for the third drafting session in the preparatory process for the Third International Conference on Financing for Development (FfD 3). In opening statements to delegations, the two co-facilitators, the UN General Assembly (UNGA) president and UN Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs stressed that negotiations must conclude this week.

UNGA President Sam Kutesa opened the meeting, saying negotiations have reached a “critical and decisive stage.” He called on governments to reach consensus on an ambitious outcome with concrete, action-oriented deliverables, supporting implementation of a transformative post-2015 development agenda.

Wu Hongbo, UN Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs, said this week’s drafting session represents the “final stretch of a long road.” The task, he noted, is to formulate a holistic financing framework for sustainable development that is commensurate in ambition and scope with the post-2015 development agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Only then, he added, will the Addis Ababa conference “put us on the path to success” for the post-2015 development agenda summit in New York and the Paris Climate Change Conference.

The co-facilitators of the FfD 3 preparatory process – George Talbot, Permanent Representative of Guyana, and Geir Pedersen, Permanent Representative of Norway – echoed the need to conclude negotiations this week. Pedersen noted that all governments had agreed on 19 June as the deadline for negotiating the outcome document. This was necessary, he said, in order to mobilize political support and additional commitments to be launched during the Conference.

The Group of 77 and China (G-77/China), the EU, the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), the Landlocked Developing Countries (LLDCs), the Least Developed Countries (LDCs), the US and Ethiopia made opening statements, listing their priorities for FfD3.

Negotiators then began discussing the 12 June version of the draft outcome document, taking up paragraphs that were considered “bridging proposals” and in need of less discussion. These included: text in the introduction to the outcome document on a global framework for financing (sustainable) development; the first section of the Action Agenda, on domestic public resources; and parts of the second section of the Action Agenda, on domestic and international private business and finance.

The co-facilitators also announced informal-informal consultations to be convened in parallel to the plenary meeting, on follow-up, international public finance, technology and tax. [IISD RS Sources] [IISD RS Meeting Coverage] [Letter from Co-Facilitators]