The first session of the Intergovernmental Committee of Experts on Sustainable Development Financing began at the UN headquarters in New York on Thursday to consider how to mobilise resources from a variety of sources.
They are also holding discussions on how to utilise effective financing to give strong support to developing countries in their efforts to promote sustainable development.
The PANA Correspondent in New York reported that the Committee, which was mandated as an outcome of the Rio+20 UN Conference on Sustainable Development, is expected to prepare a report proposing options on an effective sustainable development financing strategy and to conclude its work by 2014.
It is also tasked with assessing financing needs, considering the effectiveness, consistency and synergies of existing instruments and frameworks and evaluating additional initiatives.
The Committee is also expected to hold open and broad consultations with relevant international and regional financial institutions and other stakeholders.
Mr. Enrique Roman-Morey, Acting President of the UN General Assembly, who
spoke on behalf of Vuk Jeremic, President of the UN General Assembly, said: “A key responsibility of this intergovernmental committee of experts is to develop an understanding of and then suggest improvements to the currently fragmented development financing landscape.
“We must seek a solution to the current state of affairs in which different funding processes have led to a disjointed and piecemeal funding environment.”
Also, UN Under Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs Wu Hongbo outlined the broader context in which the work of the Committee will take place, including the ongoing discussions on a set of sustainable development goals and the financing for the development process as a follow-up to the Monterrey and Doha Conferences.
PANA reported that two co-chairs were elected for the committee at the opening session: Mr. Mansur Muhtar, an Executive Director of the Board of the World Bank Group and former Nigeria’s Minister of Finance, and Mr. Pertti Majanen, former Ambassador of Finland to Ireland and former Secretary of state for Development of Finland.
The Committee was established by the UN General Assembly on 21 July 2013 through its decision 67/559 and it comprises 30 members representing the UN’s five regional groups.
