Assisting Commonwealth UN-representatives to make informed and effective interventions at the official UN negotiations for the third International Conference on Financing for Development.
In collaboration with the Permanent Mission of the Sri Lankan Office to the United Nations (UN), the Commonwealth is holding three briefing sessions on 26 January, 10 April and 12 June, 2015, respectively, to support Commonwealth UN-representatives in making informed and effective interventions at the official UN negotiations for the third International Conference on Financing for Development (FFD) in July 2015.
The first briefing will focus on the “Future of Official Development Assistance (ODA) and the OECD-DAC Statistical Reform,” while the following two briefings will provide further updates on the ongoing reform; small states financing issues; and other key FFD issues.
A central theme throughout the briefing sessions will be the OECD and OECD-DAC Ministers’ plans to introduce a modernised statistical framework, intended to align the current system with a more complex financing landscape and to achieve synergies with the emerging post-2015 development agenda. It is expected that the reform of ODA, and the increased need for it to help support post-2015 goals, will be strongly debated at the official UN FFD negotiations.
The Commonwealth briefings will therefore be fundamental in helping representatives to agree pre-session collective positions on ODA reform as well as other pertinent financing for development issues, and facilitating pan-Commonwealth submissions in order to strengthen the Commonwealth voice in the FFD process.
The first session will be held at the Permanent Mission of the Sri Lankan Office to the United Nations. Participants will benefit from a discussion on Commonwealth country perspectives on OECD-DAC reform, as relayed to the Secretariat at the Commonwealth Senior Finance Officials Meetings, which were held in Washington this October.
Immediately after the OECD-DAC discussion, the Commonwealth will be showcasing its work on resilience building in small states and debt management. Representatives are invited to attend this session, which will be followed by a reception hosted by the Commonwealth’s Deputy Secretary General and the Permanent Representative of the Sri Lankan Office to the UN.