The UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) Forum on Financing for Development Follow-up (FfD Forum) adopted a set of conclusions and recommendations aimed at reforming the international financial architecture, adapting to global economic changes, and accelerating progress towards achieving the SDGs. Delegates welcomed the outcome document as “a constructive foundation for further action.”

The FfD Forum convened from 17-20 April 2023 in New York, US, against the backdrop of unprecedented challenges that have “upended” the global economy, deepened the finance divide between developing and developed countries, and derailed progress on the SDGs. It brought together world leaders, representatives from government and businesses, civil society, and other sectors to discuss concrete measures to scale up financing to “rescue” the SDGs by addressing issues ranging from “crippling” debt to “under-development” and food insecurity. 

Discussions centered around the findings of the 2023 Financing for Sustainable Development Report, which calls for stronger tax systems, more private and public investment for sustainable development, reforms of the international financial system, and massive investments to accelerate transformations in energy, industry, farming, transportation, and buildings, among other sectors.

Addressing the Forum, UN Secretary-General António Guterres drew attention to the UN’s SDG Stimulus Plan, which, he said, aims to boost investments for the SDGs, relieve developing countries’ debt burden, and improve access to funding. He called for an overhaul of the global financial architecture towards a system that is “coherent and coordinated, and reflects today’s global economic reality.”

Warning that the past year’s events “have reversed three decades of progress in poverty reduction,” ECOSOC President Lachezara Stoeva stressed the need for immediate measures on debt relief, investment, climate finance, and international tax cooperation.

UN General Assembly (UNGA) President Csaba Kőrösi called for coordinated efforts by the public and private sectors, “to find solutions to the long-standing structural problems of debt.”

Participants acknowledged that amidst deepening inequalities, reform of the global financial architecture is key to overcoming the multidimensional crises, compounded by the war in Ukraine, the climate emergency, uneven recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, and tightening financial conditions. They discussed strategies to help developing countries overcome poverty, climate risks, and the increasing debt burden.

At the conclusion of the Forum, delegates adopted by consensus an outcome document titled, ‘Follow-up and review of the financing for development outcomes and the means of implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development’ (E/FFDF/2023/L.1). The document contains intergovernmentally agreed conclusions and recommendations compiled by the ECOSOC President on the basis of informal consultations.

In the outcome document, Heads of State and Government, ministers, and high-level representatives reaffirm their resolve to continue to scale up efforts towards the full and timely implementation of the Addis Ababa Action Agenda (AAAA), the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and the Paris Agreement on climate change.

They also, inter alia:

• Recommit to strengthening revenue administration capacities through modernized, transparent, and progressive tax systems and policies;
• Reiterate the need for strengthened international cooperation to explore the full range of policy tools to overcome impediments to private investment for sustainable development;
• Urge development partners to scale up and fulfil their official development assistance (ODA) commitments while enabling concessional finance for the least developed countries (LDCs);
• Support efforts to reform multilateral development banks (MDBs); and
• Call for improved international debt mechanisms to support debt review, debt payment suspensions, and debt restructuring.

In closing remarks, UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed “underscored the importance of pursuing long-term reforms of the international financial architecture alongside short-term actions to relieve debt burdens and mobilize liquidity.”

Stoeva said the outcomes of the Forum will inform discussions at the UN High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF) in July, “which will set out priorities and generate political momentum” for the SDG Summit in September.

During the SDG Investment Fair, held on the sidelines of the FfD Forum from 18-20 April, Ethiopia, Colombia, Honduras, Mauritania, Suriname, and El Salvador presented concrete investment opportunities to advance the SDGs in key sectors, including sustainable food systems, clean energy, and transportation. A Special High-Level Meeting with the Bretton Woods Institutions, the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), and the World Trade Organization (WTO) also convened. [FfD Forum Website] [UN News Curtainraiser] [FfD Press Release on Forum’s Opening] [UN News Story on Forum’s Opening]