Please check against delivery

Statement

By

Mr. Maged A. Abdelaziz Under-Secretary-General and Special Adviser on

At:

The Substantive Informal Session on “The Global Context”

The Preparatory Process for the Third International Conference on Financing for Development

10 November 2014, 3:00pm – 6:00 pm

The Trusteeship Council Chamber, UN Headquarters Distinguished co-facilitators, Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen

I have the pleasure to address today’s substantive informal session of the General Assembly on “the global context”, within the framework of the preparatory process for the Third International Conference on Financing for development.

At the outset, I wish to thank the distinguished co-facilitators; Ambassadors Talbot and Pedersen, for inviting me to speak at this important session, and to pledge my continued support to all their efforts to make the Addis Ababa conference a great success. As I’m sure you know, I had personal experience with this issue in my former capacity as the Permanent Representative of Egypt, when I served as the co-facilitator, along with Ambassador Johan Løvald of Norway, of the negotiations process leading to the 2008 Doha Declaration. That is in itself makes me absolutely aware of the tremendous responsibility and pressure surrounding the negotiations process this time, particularly with the interlinkages with so many ambitious processes underway in the UN.

I wish also to seize this opportunity to recognize the efforts of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs, including the Financing for Development Office, led by Mr. Alexander Trepelkov, in supporting this preparatory Process. In fact, Mr. Trepelkov played a significant role in ensuring the success of the Doha Conference in 2008, but now, as he became the FfD Office Chief, I think that the success expected will be bigger.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

When I speak today about the African perspective on financing for development, and awaiting for the formulation of a formal common African position by the and the African group in New York on that topic, my remarks will basically reflect on some African positions taken on the six chapters of the Monterrey Consensus and the Doha Declaration, and on the emerging issues related to financing for development, as reflected in the African positions in various UN processes, including in accelerating the implementation of the MDGs and formulation and financing of the post-2015 development agenda.

1

Evidently, Africa’s position on accelerating the implementation of the unfinished business of the MDGs underscores the need for maintaining poverty eradication, reduction of inequalities within and among nations, and structural transformation at the center of the new global development framework as the over- arching goals of the post-2015 development agenda. By the same token, the continent underlines the importance to continue to address the unfinished business of the MDGs and to rethink the global partnership for development so as to avoid the shortcomings of MDG 8 in the new global development framework. We need to take the African expectations and the shortcomings in implementation and follow up into consideration, in order to draw lessons that would help us shape an enhanced and predictable financing framework, and gear it towards full implementation of commitments.

Herein lies indeed the importance of the third International Conference on Financing for Development as it provides a unique opportunity to assess the progress in the implementation of the Monterrey Consensus and the Doha Declaration, including with regard to assessing the fulfilment of the commitment reaffirmed by the international community in the Doha declaration in paragraph 6 to, and I quote “provide and strengthen support to the special needs of Africa and stress that eradicating poverty, particularly in Africa, is the greatest global challenge facing the world today, We underline the importance of accelerating sustainable broad-based economic growth, which is pivotal to bringing Africa into the mainstream of the global economy” unquote.

Furthermore, the conference will be crucial for reinvigorating the financing for development process, by considering concrete actions to maximize and boost the contribution of each and every one of the six areas of the financing for development process, including domestic financial resources, foreign direct investment, international trade, international financial and technical cooperation for development, and debt sustainability, beside addressing systemic and emerging issues.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

More than 12 years after Monterrey, the global economic situation has witnessed significant changes, including the growing weight and importance of emerging markets and developing economies, the diversity of the development landscape, the impact of the world financial and economic crisis that hit worldwide after the adoption of the Doha Declaration, which in its turn, led to the adoption of

2 the 2009 declaration by the Conference on the World Financial and Economic Crisis and its Impact on Development, and the mounting costs of mitigation and adaptation. All these factors and others have had a profound impact on Africa’s partnerships and economic performance, particularly in trade and investment as well as on the progress towards the MDGs implementation.

Africa’s MDGs implementation experience shows that despite challenges, the continent has made great strides towards many of the goals and targets. Significant advances were made by African countries, particularly in improving primary school enrolment, advancing gender equality and halting the spread of HIV/ AIDS.

These advances were mainly the result of sound macroeconomic policies and a remarkable economic growth that Africa has achieved since 2000. African economies grew at 5% annually on average and of the top ten fastest growing economies in the world, six are in Africa. However, the economic growth and the international support were not sufficient to bring about significant progress towards other MDGs.

The recent Ebola outbreak in West Africa, which revealed the weaknesses of health systems in many African countries and highlighted the interrelationship between health and development, should serve as a stark reminder for all of us of the need to continue to address the unfinished business of the MDGs and to pay more attention to the gaps and flaws in the global partnership for development. Development challenges on the continent, particularly in relation to ensuring universal access to the basic health services, education, energy, water and sanitation should all be met with decisive and concerted global action. Indeed, the long term impact of the current Ebola crisis in Africa will be a reversal of all the gains that had been made, especially on the worst hit countries of Liberia, Serra Leone and Guinea.

The question now is how Africa can sustain these hard-won gains, while continuing to work towards achieving the unfinished business of the MDGs as well as other goals and targets of the post-2015 development agenda.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

As the world is shaping the post-2015 development agenda, Africa has not shied away from playing a leading role in the ongoing processes. Similar to the

3

African Consensus on the Rio+20 Conference on , and I was also the African representative in the Conference’s bureau, along with Ambassador Charles Ntwaagae of Botswana, Africa was the first region to develop a common position that articulated the needs and priorities of its peoples in the post-2015 negotiations.

Guided by the Common African Position on the post-2015 Development Agenda (CAP), African delegations advocated for placing a special emphasis in the outcome document of the Open Working Group on the Sustainable Development Goals on specific goals and targets that are crucial to achieving inclusive economic growth and sustainable development, including poverty eradication, reduction of inequalities, and structural transformation, covering critical areas such as infrastructure development, employment, agriculture development and industrialization, as well as addressing climate change impacts, while recognizing Rio principles, including the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities.

In doing that, pillar 6 of the CAP underscores the centrality of financial resources and partnerships for attaining sustainable development objectives. It certainly adopts a comprehensive approach to development financing by underlining the need for a significant mobilization of resources from a variety of sources, including innovative resources, and their effective use. It highlights the importance of improving domestic resource mobilization by strengthening tax structures and curtailing illicit financial flows. It also reiterates the importance that developed countries should fulfil their commitments, including ODA commitments, as ODA remains an important source of development financing, particularly for the LDCs, the majority of which are in Africa.

Hence, the CAP was not an isolated effort, it was part of a broader effort by African countries to seize the momentum and build on previous achievements to promote inclusive economic growth and put the continent onto a real path to sustainable development. For Africa, the renewed commitment to the global partnership is more urgent now than any time before, but not the partnership that is based on exploiting Africa’s natural resources but rather a partnership that is built around industrialization, investment and value addition, particularly as the continent is soon adopting the AU Agenda 2063, which represents the continent’s ambitious 50-year vision for socio-economic transformation of Africa.

This people-centered Agenda is underpinned by seven core aspirations, including inclusive growth and sustainable development; regional integration;

4 good governance, democracy and respect for human rights; peace and security, strong cultural identity; people-driven development, unleashing the potential of women and youth; and a strong united and influential continent. Definitely, the achievement of these aspirations hinges primarily on our overall commitment to enhanced partnership and development cooperation and most of all enhanced financing. The Agenda is expected to feature a strong review and follow up mechanisms at all levels to follow the implementation of the Agenda’s ten-year action plans.

Last month, the Office of the Special Adviser on Africa organized the Africa Week 2014 with wide participation from member states, the African Union and the United Nations system, particularly ECA, UNDP and DPI. A key message from the discussions was that it is imperative to ensure coherence and promote synergies between the AU Agenda 2063 and the post-2015 development agenda so as to make the Continent’s strategic development vision and the global development framework mutually reinforcing.

Our deliberations throughout that week also revealed that as Africa embarks on the implementation of the ambitious AU Agenda 2063, financing needs will be large, and availing the necessary resources will be challenging. The infrastructure funding gap alone is estimated at $ 31 billion per year, while the costs of climate change adaptation is estimated to be in the range of $ 20 billion to $ 30 billion annually according to the African Development Bank. A strong political will has already been demonstrated by African countries through laying a strong foundation over the past decade for growth and transformation, including through sectoral development frameworks such as The Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) and the Programme for Infrastructure Development (PIDA) just to mention a few. The Continent is also continuing its work towards enhancing the mobilization of resources from a variety of sources, including public and private, domestic and international.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

The share of domestic resources in development financing has been growing in most countries, including in Africa. This positive trend need to be further supported by assisting developing countries in their efforts to create a more enabling environment for investment and growth and achieve the aspired structural transformation of their economies as well as enhancing the management of natural

5 resources, improving domestic tax bases and promoting public-private partnerships.

In this context, Innovative financing mechanisms has been receiving a growing attention by policy makers in Africa. The Ninth African Development Forum, organized by the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) in Marrakech, from 12 to 16 October 2014, on the theme “Innovative financing for Africa’s transformation”, produced “The Marrakesh Consensus”, which contains concrete recommendations on improving domestic resource mobilization in Africa, building global coalitions to combat illicit financial flows; maximizing the role of private equity in development financing; leveraging climate finance for adaptation and mitigation needs and harnessing new forms of partnerships for Africa’s transformation.

I believe the deliberations of both the Ninth African Development Forum, and the Regional Outreach Meeting of the Intergovernmental Committee of Experts on Sustainable Development Financing, held on 2-3 May 2014 in Addis Ababa, when taken together, offer important inputs, that build on the Common African Position on the Post-2015 Development Agenda, to an evolving African common perspective on the Continent’s priorities and objectives in the new global financing framework and global partnership for development. The report of the Intergovernmental Committee of Experts on Sustainable Development Financing should play an essential role in guiding the Financing for Development deliberation after its consideration by member states.

Having said that, it is evident that fulfilling the commitment by donor countries to allocate 0.7% of their GNI for official development Assistance (ODA) is crucial, as ODA will continue to be an important source of development financing. The fact that official development assistance to Africa dropped by 6% in real terms in 2013 at a time when the continent is faced with unprecedented challenges does not send the right message about the commitment to supporting Africa and advancing the global partnership for development.

While recognizing budget constraints and the impact of the financial and economic crisis on the advanced economies, the FfD review Conference needs to explore ways and means of ensuring a scaled up resources base for development cooperation, commensurate with the transformational impact envisaged by both the AU Agenda 2063 and the post-2015 development agenda.

6

Foreign direct investment also needs to be a real driver for enhancing the productive capacity of African economies, creating jobs and significantly contributing to poverty eradication. Ensuring debt sustainability is equally important for promoting inclusive economic growth. As the HIPC initiative is coming to a close, and in light of recent debt problems, more action oriented discussion is needed on a comprehensive treatment of debt problems.

In the same vein, and in order for African countries to harness the full potential of trade as an engine for inclusive economic growth and sustainable development, more efforts need to be exerted to end the marginalization of Africa in the global economy, including by supporting the Continent’s integration agenda and intra-African trade and the efforts, including by the Regional Economic Communities (RECs), to establish the Continental Free Trade Area. Harnessing the full potential of trade will also require concrete measures by the international community, including through increased resources for “aid for trade” and improved market access for Africa’s exports which currently did not exceed 3.3 % of global exports in 2013, marking a slow increase compared to its share in 2000 estimated at 2.3%.

Furthermore, reforming the global economic governance and enhancing the voice and participation of developing countries, including from Africa, in the international financing institutions is imperative to reflect the new global economic realities and the changing economic landscape.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

As the United Nations launch the substantive consultations and negotiations on the outcome of the third Financing for Development Review Conference, the report of the Intergovernmental Committee of Experts on Sustainable Development Financing; the proposal of the Open Working Group on Sustainable Development Goals and the synthesis report of the Secretary-General, will provide important inputs to our deliberations.

It is important to keep in mind the significant financing needs estimated by the Committee of Experts for achieving sustainable development, including those estimated for poverty eradication. The annual investments estimated at $ 5- 7 trillion globally for infrastructure development, including water and sanitation, energy, transportation, communications and agriculture, speak to the daunting but achievable task before us.

7

The envisaged new financing framework and means of implementation must be underpinned by a scaled up support and enhanced, ambitious and quantifiable targets, including in the areas of financial resources, technology transfer and capacity building. The outcome of the conference should address the financing needs of the three dimensions of sustainable development in a coherent and balanced manner.

In addition, Data and accountability are important cornerstones for a successful global partnership for development. Reliable and timely data are critical for strengthening development cooperation at the global, regional and national level. The recent report of the Secretary-General on “Data Revolution for Sustainable Development” provides an important input to the process on the post- 2015 development agenda and to the FfD Conference, particularly concerning African data structures that require a lot of support.

By the same token, we need to further strengthen monitoring, evaluation and accountability in development cooperation. One of the key achievements of the Financing for Development Process, particularly the Doha Declaration, was reaffirming the commitment of all states to establish a monitoring mechanism to follow up on the implementation of all commitments related to Africa’s development. I’m glad that on 17 October 2014, the General Assembly considered the first review report of these commitments, in operationalization of the United Nations Monitoring Mechanism to review the implementation of the commitments made towards Africa’s development, established by GA Resolution 66/293.

The Monitoring Mechanism, to which my office has been tasked by the General Assembly to act as its secretariat, can provide a valuable input to global monitoring and accountability framework for the post-2015 development agenda, including through enhanced cooperation with the High-Level Political Forum (HLPF) and thus could assist in advancing implementation.

Thank you once again, distinguished Co-facilitators, for this opportunity to share these reflections on the African perspectives related to financing for development. And please let me reiterate here, once again, that the official African positions will naturally be expressed by the African group throughout the negotiation process.

I thank you.

8