Programme de la FFD4

• 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

Overflow Rooms INFO for the FFD4 Opening

• General debate: Statements by Heads of State or Government, ministers and heads of delegation

List of Speakers

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?

• General debate: Statements by Heads of State or Government, ministers and heads of delegation

List of Speakers

• General debate: Statements by Heads of State or Government, ministers and heads of delegation

List of Speakers

Co-Chairs:

• H.E. Mr. Carlos Cuerpo Caballero, Minister of Economy, Commerce and Business, Spain
• H.E. Mr. Seedy Keita, Minister of Finance and Economic Affairs, the Gambia

Keynote:

• H.E. Mr. Hussain Mohamed Latheef, Vice President, Republic of Maldives

Moderator:

• Ms. Rebeca Grynspan, Secretary-General, UNCTAD

Panelists:

• H.E. Mr. Mthuli Ncube- Minister of Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion, Zimbabwe
• H.E. Mr. Facinet Sylla, Minister of Budget, Republic of Guinea
• H.E. Mr. Hervé Ndoba, Minster of Finance and Budget, Central African Republic Central African Republic
• Mr. Carlo Monticelli, Governor of the Council of Europe Development Bank

Discussants:

• CSO representative
• Mr. José Viñals, GISD Alliance Co-Chair and Senior Advisor to the Board, Standard Chartered  

Background 

Despite efforts in recent years, the gap between development goals and available financing has widened significantly. The global economic outlook remains fragile, marked by high levels of uncertainty, heightened geopolitical and trade tensions, persisting inflationary pressures. 

To strengthen governments’ ability to respond to shocks and sustain essential development investments, FFD4 has an explicit mandate “to support reform of the international financial architecture” (IFA). As emphasized in the Compromiso de Sevilla, three interrelated areas of action stand out. First, the outcome document calls for strengthening global economic governance - by enhancing the voice and representation of developing countries in international financial institutions, ensuring they can participate more meaningfully in decision-making processes and crisis response mechanisms. Second, FFD4 supports strengthening the global financial safety net (GFSN) to address persistent gaps and uneven coverage. The document supports the role of the IMF at the center of the GFSN through calls for governance reforms, easier access to precautionary instruments, lower lending costs, and better use of Special Drawing Rights. It also aims to enhance the complementarity of the layers of the GFSN and emphasizes the need to strengthen existing and new regional financial arrangements and mechanisms - particularly in Africa. Third, the document also addresses IFA features that can, even unintendedly, impede the flow of crucial capital flows to developing countries, such as credit ratings and engagement with credit rating agencies, potential regulatory barriers in international financial standards, and frictions in cross border payments. 

Guiding Questions 

1) How do you intend to take forward key actions of the Sevilla outcome? 

2) How can the international financial architecture be reformed to strengthen representation and voice for developing countries - beyond voting rights realignments alone? 

3) How can the IMF play a more effective role in the global financial safety net? More specifically on SDRs, what should be the main components of the new ‘playbook’, which would facilitate more timely decisions on issuance and rechannelling of SDRs? 

4) How should the international financial architecture evolve to better support long term investment and sustainable development, including through prudential regulation and engagement with credit rating agencies that countries have committed to in the Sevilla outcome?