‘This Is Our Once-in-a-Decade Opportunity to Transform Financing’ for Sustainable Development, Deputy Secretary-General Tells High-Level Open Dialogue

Following are UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed’s remarks, as prepared for delivery, at the Open Dialogue on “Strengthening Financing for the SDGs:  High-Level Dialogue Between MDB Heads and UN Member States”, in New York today:

I am thrilled to be with you all at this high-level dialogue. We meet at a pivotal time.  The SDGs are off-track. Hunger is rising. Fossil fuel use and global temperatures have reached unprecedented new highs.  Conflicts are spreading.  And the fight for gender equality has stalled.

Meanwhile, financing gaps are large and growing. Multilateral development banks (MDBs) are a critical part of the solution to salvage the SDGs and spur progress towards the future we want and need.

MDBs are an essential source of affordable, long-term finance to developing countries.  They provide vital countercyclical support in times of crisis.  And they are uniquely capable of mobilizing other sources of finance with the SDGs, including private investments.

But to fulfil this role effectively, MDBs must become bigger, better and bolder.  This message is being clearly articulated by Member States at the Summit of the Future.

In the Summit’s Pact, Member States welcome the reforms taking place across the MDB system, while declaring that further reforms are urgently needed.  What we will hear today is that MDBs are rising to this challenge.

This meeting provides a unique opportunity for MDB principals to share their vision for reform, explain how it can accelerate SDG action, and take stock of progress.  They will also explain where they need your support to push their reforms – and impact – further.

I’m delighted that the MDB principals are delivering these messages here – in New York, the home of the SDGs – and now, against the backdrop of the Summit of the Future.

This sends a powerful message of the bridges we are building between the UN and MDBs, between New York and Washington, D.C., and between Ministries of Finance and Ministries of Foreign Affairs.

Over the coming months, the UN will be working with our MDB partners to agree on further steps to increase development finance and to reform the international financial architecture, as we prepare for the Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development in Spain in 2025.

This is our once-in-a-decade opportunity to transform financing to serve sustainable development everywhere.  The United Nations is proud to be travelling this path with you.  Thank you.