Financing for Development

Recent Activities in the FFD Process:
Proceedings from the High-Level Dialogue on FFD - Ministerial Round Tables, 29-30 October 2003 New York, 29-30 October

Background on the FFD Process

The International Conference on Financing for Development was held from 18-22 March 2002 in Monterrey, N.L., Mexico. This United Nations-hosted conference on key financial and development issues attracted 50 Heads of State or Government, over 200 ministers, and leaders from the private sector, civil society and all the major intergovernmental financial, trade, economic, and monetary organizations.

The Monterrey Conference also marked the first quadripartite exchange of views between governments, civil society, the business community, and the institutional stakeholders on global economic issues. These global discussions involved over 800 participants in twelve separate roundtables. The Co-Chairs of the roundtables – heads of governments, the heads of the World Bank, International Monetary Fund, the World Trade Organization and the regional development banks, as well as ministers of finance, trade, and foreign affairs – prepared summaries of the major ideas raised in the discussions.

The culmination of a four-year preparatory process, the Conference adopted the Monterrey Consensus, in which developed, developing and transition economy countries pledged to undertake important actions in domestic, international and systemic policy matters. In December of 2002, the General Assembly (GA) set in motion a detailed follow-up intergovernmental process, as called for in the Consensus, to monitor implementation and carry forward the international discussion of policies for financing development. The GA also called on the Secretary-General to establish a standing secretariat to support the process. The Financing for Development Office was then created in the Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA).

The first General Assembly follow-up to the Conference was the High-Level Dialogue on Financing for Development, which took place from 29-30 October 2003 at UN Headquarters in New York. The HLD included a day of quadripartite round tables, and a day with an innovative open dialogue for all major stakeholders in the General Assembly. The HLD was preceded by a half-day consultation with civil society and half-day consultation with the private sector.

For a complete chronology of the Financing for Development process since 1997, click HERE.