Welcome to the United Nations 
FFD4 Programme
Side Events
Venue: FIBES 2
Alongside the official programme of FFD4 and International Business Forum (IBF), more than 400 side events took place between 30 June to 3 July 2025 in Sevilla.
Programme:
Important Links
- FFD4 Proposed Organization of Work
- FFD4 at a Glance: Overall Programme Overview
- FFD4 on Journal of the United Nations
- Overflow Rooms Info for the FFD4 Opening
IMPORTANT NOTICE ON THE OPENING OF THE CONFERENCE:
All States delegations and participants with secondary pass participating in the opening of FFD4 in Sevilla, Spain on Monday, 30 June 2025, are requested to be seated in the Plenary Hall by 9:30 a.m. at the latest to hear an address by His Majesty Don Felipe VI, King of Spain prior to the Opening of the Conference.
For security reasons, doors to the Plenary Hall will be closed during the address and participants will not be able to enter the Plenary until after the King's address.
Overflow Rooms in FIBES 1 and FIBES 2 will screen the King’s address starting at 9:45 a.m. View information on Overflow Rooms here » . You can also watch the Opening live on UN Web TV »
Please note that all times in the schedule are in Sevilla time (CEST).
Programme for 30th June, 2025
FFD4 Second Plenary Meeting
- General debate: Statements by Heads of State or Government, ministers and heads of delegation
FFD4 Opening Segment and First Plenary Meeting
- Opening of the Conference
- Election of the President
- Opening statements by:
- Pedro Sánchez, President of the Conference and the Government of Spain
- António Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations
- Philemon Yang, President of the United Nations General Assembly
- Bob Rae, President of the United Nations Economic and Social Council
- Ajay Banga, President of the World Bank Group
- Nigel Clarke, Deputy Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund
- Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Director-General of the World Trade Organization
- Li Junhua, Secretary-General of the Conference
- Adoption of the rules of procedure
- Adoption of the agenda
- Election of officers other than the President
- Organization of work and other organizational matters
- Credentials of representatives to the Conference: appointment of the members of the Credentials Committee
- Adoption of the Outcome Document (TBC)
- General debate. Click here for the live list of speakers >>
- Statements by Heads of State or Government, ministers and heads of delegation
FFD4 Multi-stakeholder round table 1: “Mobilizing and aligning domestic public resources”
Co-Chairs:
• H.E. Mr. Alar Karis, President of the Republic of Estonia
• H.E. Mr. Julius Maada Bio, President of the Republic of Sierra Leone
Special address by Head of State and Government:
• H.E. Daniel Noboa Azin, President of Republic of Ecuador
Keynote:
• H.E. Mr. Denys Shmyhal, Prime Minister of Ukraine
Moderator:
• Mr. Gilbert F. Houngbo, Director-General, ILO
Panelists:
• H.E. Mr. José Manuel Albares Bueno, Minister for Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation, Spain
• H.E. Ms. Reem Alabali Radovan, Federal Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development, Germany
• H.E. Mr. Cheikh Diba, Minister of Finance and Budget, Senegal
• Mr. Nigel Clarke, Deputy Managing Director, IMF
Discussants:
• Ms. Nadia Calvino, President, European Investment Bank
• Mr. Yingming Yang, Vice President, Asian Development Bank
Background
Domestic public resources are a cornerstone of sustainable development, providing fiscal space for government spending and investment, and generating incentives that shape economic and societal outcomes. Many developing countries still face significant obstacles in mobilizing domestic revenues and effectively utilizing their fiscal systems. These challenges stem from both domestic and international factors. Domestically, insufficient transparency and accountability in fiscal systems, weak alignment of fiscal policies with sustainable development, limited institutional capacity and the underutilization of public institutions (such as development finance institutions) can hamper resource mobilization and effective use. In a globalized and digitalized economy, international tax cooperation is critical to combat tax evasion and avoidance. Yet, international tax cooperation is neither fully inclusive nor effective. And persistent challenges hinder effective combatting of illicit financial flows.
The Sevilla outcome document addresses these challenges with concrete actions in four areas: i) ensuring that countries have the necessary resources, and that resources are collected efficiently and spent transparently in alignment with sustainable development; ii) strengthening international tax cooperation to ensure that international tax rules respond to the diverse needs, priorities, and capacities of all countries, especially developing countries; iii) effectively combating illicit financial flows; and iv) fully leveraging the potential of national public development banks.
Guiding Questions
1. Which actions and commitments related to domestic public resources in the Sevilla outcome do you consider most urgent, and how do you plan to support their implementation?
2. What changes are needed to strengthen fiscal transparency, align tax and spending policies with sustainable development, enhance institutional capacity and fully leveraging national public development banks in developing countries?
3. What changes are needed to strengthen international tax cooperation and effectively combat illicit financial flows?
Programme for 1st July, 2025
FFD4 Third Plenary Meeting
- General debate: Statements by Heads of State or Government, ministers and heads of delegation
FFD4 Fourth Plenary Meeting
- General debate: Statements by Heads of State or Government, ministers and heads of delegation
FFD4 Multi-stakeholder round table 2: “Leveraging private business and finance”
Co-Chairs:
- H.E. Mr. Muhammad Aurangzeb, Federal Minister for Finance & Revenue, Pakistan
- H.E. Mr. Christopher MacLennan, Deputy Minister of International Development, Canada
Keynote:
- Mr. Mahmoud Ali Youssouf, African Union Commission Chairperson (tbc)
Moderator: Mr Antonio H. Pinheiro Silveira, Vice President for the Private Sector, CAF
Panelists:
- H.E. Mr. Neal Rijkenberg Minister of Finance, Kingdom of Eswatini
- H.E. Ms. Retselisitsoe Matlanyane, Minister of Finance and Development Planning, Lesotho
- H.E. Mr. Situmbeko Musokotwane, Minister of Finance and National Planning, Zambia
- Mr. Boris Titov, Special Representative of the President of the Russian Federation for Relations with International Organizations for Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, Russian Federation
Discussants:
- Ms. Mary Beth Goodman, Deputy Secretary-General, OECD
- Mr. Eric Pelofsky, Vice President, Rockefeller Foundation
Background
Private business activity, investment, and innovation are significant drivers of sustainable development in the past decades. However, private sector dynamism slowed after the 2008 world financial and economic crisis, in parallel with the broader macroeconomic slowdown, which also led to a widening Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) investment gap. Annual investment growth in developing countries halved from 8% to 4% between 2007 and 2020. Many countries and sectors that need it the most continue to receive insufficient investment, particularly Least Developed and other vulnerable countries. Despite increased attention to innovative finance instruments such as blended finance and the growing adoption of sustainable business and finance legislation, investment in sustainable development have fallen short of expectations.
The Sevilla outcome document outlines actions aimed at addressing key barriers to unlocking private business and finance at scale in support of sustainable development, including: i) strengthening domestic financial and capital markets in developing countries, building enabling environments for sustainable development, building capacities for diversification and industrialization, and enabling greater access to finance for women, marginalized groups, and micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises; ii) promoting foreign direct investment in sustainable development, and enhancing countries’ capacities to attract such investments, and scaling up and a new approach to blended finance, aimed at enhancing effectiveness and impact and scaling its use; and iii) setting financial incentives and regulation so that private investment and business activity are aligned with sustainable development, while supporting interoperability across jurisdictions.
Guiding Questions
- Which actions in the Sevilla Commitment are of highest priority so that private business and finance – at national and global level – can be unlocked at scale to support sustainable development, particularly in developing countries?
- What policy actions can strengthen enabling environments to unlock greater private investment in the SDGs and provide incentives to the private sector on sustainable development objectives?
- Which mechanisms can effectively crowd-in private resources for investment in sustainable development, reduce risks of investment in sectors and countries that need it the most and leverage limited public resources?
Programme for 2nd July, 2025
FFD4 Fifth Plenary Meeting
- General debate: Statements by Heads of State or Government, ministers and heads of delegation
FFD4 Sixth Plenary Meeting
- General debate: Statements by Heads of State or Government, ministers and heads of delegation
Programme for 3rd July, 2025
FFD4 Seventh Plenary Meeting
- General debate: Statements by Heads of State or Government, ministers and heads of delegation
FFD4 Eighth Plenary Meeting and Closing of the Conference
- General debate
- Credentials of representatives to the Conference: report of the Credentials Committee
- Multi-stakeholder round tables: reports by the Co-Chairs Adoption of the outcome document of the Conference
- Adoption of the report of the Conference
- Closure of the Conference