5 August 2014: The Intergovernmental Committee of Experts on Sustainable Development Financing (ICESDF) held an interactive multi-stakeholder dialogue during its fifth and final session, which convened from 4-8 August 2014. The interactive dialogue took place on 5 August 2014 in New York, US.

Members of the ICESDF, Member States, civil society and international organizations engaged in discussion on: sovereign debt crisis prevention and resolution mechanisms; trade and investment regimes conducive to sustainable development; a stable international financial system; reforms of international financial institutions to strengthen their accountability for sustainable development; and strengthening international tax cooperation, including at the UN. The multi-stakeholder dialogue also focused on actionable recommendations on public and private domestic and international finance.

The organizations who expressed their views on these issues included: European Network on Dept and Development (Eurodad); Third World Network; Global Policy Forum; Global Clearing House for Development Finance; International Chamber of Commerce; Finance and Development – South Centre; and the NGO Committee on Financing for Development. They drew the Committee’s attention to, inter alia, the needs for: an international bankruptcy process; debt sustainability, in particular the need for a sovereign debt restructuring mechanism; open data about financial flows across borders; the problem of underutilized funds both in the private and public sectors; transaction costs when working with the private sector; and the lack of a typology on sustainable development finance, necessary for assessing progress and accountability. Barbara Adams, Global Policy Forum, underlined that special attention should be given to national budgeting, which is “where the rubber meets the road” in sustainable development.

The work of the ICESDF concluded on 8 August 2014, when the Committee finalized its report to the UN General Assembly (UNGA) on “Options on an effective sustainable development financing strategy to facilitate the mobilization of resources and their effective use in achieving sustainable development objectives,” as mandated by the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD, or Rio+20). [ICESDF Website] [UN-NGLS Story] [IISD RS Sources] [Sustainable Development Policy & Practice coverage of ICESDF]