PREPARATIONS FOR INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON FINANCING FOR DEVELOPMENT: NEGOTIATIONS CONTINUE ON FINAL ‘MONTERREY CONSENSUS’

Preparatory Committee for the

International Conference

 on Financing for Development

5^th Meeting (PM)

PREPARATIONS FOR INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON FINANCING FOR DEVELOPMENT:

NEGOTIATIONS CONTINUE ON FINAL ‘MONTERREY CONSENSUS’

Following intensive consultations that lasted through the weekend, the fourth session of the Preparatory Committee for the International Conference on Financing for Development suspended what was to be its final meeting on Saturday night at 10 p.m. in a procedure referred to by the Co-Chairman as "stopping the clock".  

Co-Chairman Shamshad Ahmad (Pakistan) informed members, who had been meeting in separate consultation rooms, that the Committee was not yet in a position to adopt the final Conference text, known as the "Monterrey Consensus".  Negotiations on that text, drawn up by the Conference’s Facilitator, Mauricio Escanero (Mexico), began on 14 January.  Although much of it had been agreed, other paragraphs, including on international trade, official development assistance (ODA) and emergency financing, required further negotiations.  He reminded the Preparatory Committee that it was the "master of its own decisions", and urged an early conclusion to the session. 

The final series of preparatory meetings seeks to hand over to the first-ever global Conference on development financing a text aimed at mobilizing the resources needed to boost the economic growth of developing countries and fulfil internationally agreed social and humanitarian goals.  The Conference, which will be held from 18 to 22 March in Monterrey, Mexico, will address the obstacles faced by developing countries in such areas as trade, aid, debt, investment, strengthening national capacities and coordination.

In other business, on Friday afternoon the Committee accredited two more intergovernmental organizations to the Conference, as well as six business-sector entities.  Thirty-four additional non-governmental organizations (NGOs) were also accredited to the Conference.  The Committee also approved the provisional agenda for the Mexico meeting (document A/AC.257/L.12).  Likewise, the organization of work as contained in an informal paper was approved, as orally revised.  They were both recommended for adoption by the Conference. 

Also on Friday, the Committee decided to:  authorize the Committee's Bureau to finalize any outstanding organizational or procedural matters in consultation with the Secretariat and the host Government for approval by the Conference; request the regional groups to designate their co-chairs and country participants for the round tables at the Ministerial and Summit segments and their nominations

5^th Meeting (PM)

for the Bureau of the Conference by 20 February; and invite Governments to inform the Secretariat of their head of delegations for the Conference by 1 March.  

A statement was made late Saturday by a representative of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU).

The meeting of the Preparatory Committee will resume at a date and time to be announced in the Journal.

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