14 March 2015: The Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) Regional Consultation on Financing for Development (FfD) brought together authorities, ministers and senior UN representatives, many of whom agreed that rethinking the international financial architecture and ensuring that inclusion is at the center of the new post-2015 development agenda are critical. Participants also discussed progress on the outcome of the Third International Conference on FfD in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in July 2015.

The consultation was the first in a series of regional consultations ahead of FfD 3. It convened from 12-13 March 2015, in Santiago, Chile, organized by the UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) and the Government of Chile.

Opening the consultation, ECLAC Executive Secretary Alicia Bárcena said FfD 3 represents a unique opportunity to: address the challenges of middle-income countries (MICs); deploy effective financing at all income levels; and redefine the global financial and trade architecture for development. Bárcena also called for mobilizing domestic resources by improving tax collection and reducing external debt, for greater symmetry and fairness in global tax systems, and for closing trade gaps.

UN Development Programme (UNDP) Director for Latin America and the Caribbean Jessica Faieta stressed the importance of private investment, saying the post-2015 development agenda will not be financially viable with official development assistance or national public finances alone.

ECLAC presented findings from a study emphasizing the role of traditional sources of financing for development in the region and the importance of tackling tax evasion and illicit funds. ‘Financing for development in Latin America and the Caribbean: A strategic analysis from a middle-income country perspective’ also finds that achieving the post-2015 development goals will require public and private resources, incorporating innovative mechanisms, and reforming the current financial architecture.

In his address, Chile’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Heraldo Muñoz said the consultation enables the region to take inclusive, equitable proposals for sustainable development to the FfD conference, and said the post-2015 development agenda must have at its heart inclusion, and integrating the three dimensions of sustainable development.

UN Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs Wu Hongbo said financing and other means of implementation are critical elements of the post-2015 development agenda, and in that context, FfD 3 is an opportunity to “spell out this comprehensive framework for implementation of the sustainable development agenda and the SDGs,” that can also lay the groundwork for an ambitious agreement on climate change in Paris in December 2015, at UNFCCC COP 21.

Wu identified four steps to success in Addis: formulate a comprehensive financing framework for sustainable development, which addresses the three dimensions of sustainable development in a balanced manner, with poverty eradication at its core, and is relevant to the implementation of the SDGs in all regions and income groups; reflect on the concrete deliverables to bring to the Conference; establish effective monitoring and mutual accountability at national, regional and global levels, to keep the Addis agreement “alive beyond 2015;” and mobilizing high-level participation in the conference.

Participants stressed the importance of: improving the domestic use of resources for development through advancing greater fiscal and tax cooperation to control evasion, circumvention and illicit flows by improving taxation agreements and international coordination; incentives and public policies to guide private resources towards productive financing; including the gender perspective; and strengthening banks for national and sub-regional development. [DESA Press Release] [ECLAC Press Release] [USG Wu Statement] [ECLAC Press Release, 14 March] [Publication: Financing for Development in Latin America and the Caribbean: A strategic analysis from a middle-income country perspective]