Meeting against the backdrop of the Summit of the Future (SoF), UN Secretary-General António Guterres and top UN officials gathered heads of Multilateral Development Bank (MDB) Group to discuss ways to better support countries in accelerating progress towards achieving the SDGs by 2030. MDBs shared their “progress working as a system for greater impact and scale” and agreed to collaborate towards the 2025 Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development (FfD4).
MDB leaders outlined their reforms “to become a better, bigger and more effective system with a renewed sense of urgency and determination,” according to a joint press release. The Secretary-General welcomed these efforts “as part of his call to unlock greater volumes of affordable long-term resources to close the SDG financing gap.”
Following the high-level dialogue, Canada, Jamaica, and Spain co-hosted an open dialogue with MDB leaders, UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed, and Member States.
In her remarks, the Deputy Secretary-General said MDBs are “an essential source of affordable, long-term finance to developing countries” that are “uniquely capable of mobilizing other sources of finance with the SDGs, including private investments.” She noted that in the Pact for the Future, “Member States welcome the reforms taking place across the MDB system, while declaring that further reforms are urgently needed.”
Highlighting the key role of concessional finance to support the poorest and their work on financial innovation, MDBs briefed the meeting on their joint work towards the deliverables outlined in the ‘Viewpoint Note’ – a joint workplan MDBs released in April 2024. The initiatives include scaling up MDB financing capacity, boosting joint action on climate, and enhancing development effectiveness and impact.
“MDBs also discussed how they can channel Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) to significantly increase financing for the SDGs, including supporting initiatives such as the [Group of 20 (G20)] Global Alliance against Hunger and Poverty,” the press release notes.
Convening in New York, US, on 22 September 2024, the meetings sought to contribute to efforts to increase development finance and accelerate reform of the international financial architecture – intergovernmentally agreed actions outlined in the Pact for the Future. [SDG Knowledge Hub Story on the Summit of the Future] [SDG Knowledge Hub Story on Expert Debrief on the Summit of the Future]
