A development agenda for our future – OECD
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In the coming months, the international community will gather three times and on three different continents, to build a sustainable development agenda for generations to come.
In July we will meet in Addis Ababa to agree on a comprehensive financing framework for the future development agenda. In September leaders will converge in New York for the United Nations special summit for the adoption of a universal and transformative post-2015 development agenda. And in December, governments will gather in Paris for COP 21 on climate change, where they have pledged to forge a new path forward and adopt a meaningful, universal climate change agreement.
These efforts will rely on the full engagement and leadership of the member countries of the OECD. We must translate the post-2015 agenda into action around the world. The OECD is a vital forum for helping to build such momentum. You can inspire and inform the policy changes we need.
I put forward six essential elements in my synthesis report last December to help frame and bring clarity to the post-2015 development agenda: dignity, people, prosperity, planet, justice and partnership.
To secure a future of dignity for all, we must radically reform our economies, tackle inequalities and protect our planet. We need to ensure the full participation of women and eliminate gender inequalities. We must engage our youth and change mindsets and behaviours that will address destructive patterns of production and consumption. We must ensure no one is left behind and build resilient and cohesive societies, in pursuit of a more peaceful and just world.
Poverty eradication will remain at the heart of our efforts. We must tackle the unfinished business of the Millennium Development Goals, consolidate achievements and fill the remaining gaps.
But we cannot stop there. We are faced with global challenges that affect all countries, developing and developed.
This is why the post-2015 agenda will be universal, addressing the needs and seeking contributions from all people across the planet. It will aim for economic progress, social inclusion and environmental sustainability.
Sustainable development will be at the core of this agenda. To successfully deliver this agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), we will need a global partnership to help mobilise financing and other means of implementation. This partnership and the comprehensive financing framework must match the ambition of the SDGs.
The financing needs for sustainable development are indeed enormous. Global savings are plentiful, but current investment patterns do not deliver sustainable development. The Addis conference on Financing for Development is a unique opportunity to change this trajectory.
Working together, we should ensure three key outcomes of the conference: a cohesive and holistic financing framework for sustainable development; concrete deliverables, particularly in crucial areas such as infrastructure, agriculture, social needs, and small and medium-sized enterprises; a strong follow-up process to ensure that no country is left behind.
I would like to highlight six key components of the draft Addis Ababa Accord now being negotiated. First, the draft addresses the full remit of financing resources, including public, private, domestic and international financing sources, and the domestic and international enabling environments and systemic issues. But it goes further, by addressing all the financial and technical means to achieve sustainable development.
Second, the draft emphasises the importance of domestic resource mobilisation and fighting illicit flows. This includes both strengthening domestic capacity and international tax co-operation. The draft welcomes the important work of the OECD and the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes, but it calls for more inclusive deliberations to ensure that these efforts benefit all countries.
Third, official development assistance (ODA) will remain critical, particularly for least developed countries and small island developing states. But it calls on all of us to do more. Ensuring more ODA is our collective responsibility.
Fourth, the draft also emphasises the important role of development banks in implementing the new agenda. Fifth, the draft stresses the important role of private investment, in sustainable infrastructure, for example. Sixth, the draft includes chapters on the importance of international trade, debt sustainability, systemic issues, and technology and capacity building.
The OECD has a leadership role in many of these areas. If we leave Addis with a strong outcome in hand, I am convinced we can also succeed in New York and Paris.
Let us continue our co-operation for development, for climate, for the sustainable prosperity of all people and our planet, our common home.
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UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urges OECD countries to
engage on development goals
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