Multilateral development banks, IMF back new United Nations Development Agenda
Tuesday, 22 April 2014 00:21
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Seven Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) have expressed their readiness to support the United Nations as it maps out a new development agenda to succeed the Millennium Development Goal targets of 2015.
Their pledge follows talks with Secretary-General of the United Nations Ban Ki-Moon in which they agreed to participate in a planned international conference on financing for development. Leaders also voiced their support for a more encompassing agenda which takes into account the social, environmental, and economic aspects of development.
Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon updated participants on the UN’s progress toward agreeing on a post-2015 development agenda. He was optimistic that a set of sustainable development goals would be agreed upon over the next few months.
The new agenda is expected to go far beyond the current MDGs in terms of scale and this will help to ensure that no one will be left behind. Ban Ki-Moon expects the new goals to consolidate development gains so far and balance economic prosperity with social equity and environmental responsibility.
The Secretary-General encouraged the MDBs to actively contribute to the process, each leveraging their comparative advantage, individual knowledge, and experience. He called on the MDBs to actively contribute to financing the new agenda and help countries build their development strategies and expand their financing options. In addition, the IMF could further intensify its efforts to support developing countries in enhancing domestic resource mobilization, including from natural resource sectors. Case studies of countries that have sustained strong growth over an extended period would help inform discussions on how particular forms of financing can successfully contribute to development.
“The Secretary-General’s remarks reflect the strong financial means and instruments of the MDBs and the IMF in helping countries to establish targets and to achieve them. Our engagement will reassure member states that there will be opportunities for financial support as they negotiate an ambitious agenda,” said Werner Hoyer, President of the European Investment Bank, after the meeting.
Participating in the meeting were the heads of the African Development Bank, Asian Development Bank, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, Inter-American Development Bank, Islamic Development Bank, and World Bank Group, as well as a senior official from the IMF. The President of the European Investment Bank organised and chaired the meeting.
