Mr. Wu Hongbo Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs, Secretary-General for the International Conference on Small Island Developing States
Opening Remarks
Meeting of the Friends of the DCF
How should the DCF contribute to the Post-2015 Development Agenda and its implementation
Meeting of the Friends of the DCF
How should the DCF contribute to the Post-2015 Development Agenda and its implementation
9 July 2014, New York
Ladies and Gentlemen,
It is a pleasure to welcome you here today. As Friends of the DCF, you have all played a critical role in its work and I would like to thank you for your continued support. ?As we are about to embark on the next DCF cycle, we look to you for guidance on the focus of the DCF in the coming two years.
Before we start to brainstorm on the next DCF cycle, allow me, first, to briefly recap the work of the DCF throughout the present cycle and second, to recall the broader political context within which the next DCF cycle will unfold.
Through the 2012-2014 cycle, the DCF has advanced an inclusive, global approach to development cooperation post-2015 – one that fits the scale and scope of action required.
At its Vienna Policy Dialogue on Gender Equality, the DCF examined how to anchor gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls – and the protection of their rights – in the emerging post-2015 缅北禁地development agenda.
At the High-level Symposium in Ethiopia, the DCF explored how a renewed global partnership for development could work in practice, to support implementation of a post-2015 development agenda.
In Switzerland, the second DCF High-level Symposium examined the implications of a unified and universal post-2015 development agenda for the future of development cooperation.
In Germany, the third and final DCF Symposium explored accountable and effective development cooperation post-2015.
The Core Group of Southern Partners met under DCF auspices alongside these meetings and in Turkey and Mexico to advance policy dialogue on common issues and challenges.
The preparations and follow-up to all these meetings have been closely linked to the DCF analytical work in its three focus areas for the cycle: future of development cooperation; South-South and triangular cooperation; and global accountability for development cooperation.
Let me now turn to the broader political context within which the next cycle will unfold.
Between now and 2015, the international community will need to put four key building blocks in place for the new agenda to take root: first, a far-reaching vision, with a compelling narrative; second, a set of concise goals and targets; third, a renewed global partnership for development to help mobilize financing and other means of implementation; and fourth, a participatory monitoring, review and accountability framework.
Much progress has been made on the compelling narrative and a set of concise goals – the “what” of the development agenda.
But more work is needed on the “how” of the development agenda – a renewed global partnership for development and an effective monitoring and accountability framework.
More than a decade after the Monterrey Conference, almost 15 years since the Millennium Summit, progress has tapered off with the onset of the economic and financial crisis.
The Third International Conference on Financing for Development must now reach consensus on a new sustainable financing framework and a renewed global partnership for development that matches the level of ambition of a truly transformative agenda.
Building on its DCF High-level Symposium in Ethiopia, the DCF can help identify key features of a successful renewed global partnership.
Monitoring and accountability is another fundamental building block for a successful post-2015 development agenda.
In the run up to 2015, the DCF can help identify, key features of an inclusive global architecture for monitoring and accountability of development cooperation, including the successor arrangements for MDG-8.
Here it can draw upon the findings of the DCF High-level Symposium in Germany and its analytical work in the area of accountability.
In the second half of the DCF cycle, as we move into the implementation of the post-2015 development agenda, the DCF can provide guidance on how development cooperation will need to best support the implementation.
Here it can build on the findings of the DCF High-level Symposium in Switzerland.
The DCF will also continue its efforts to ensure complementarities with related processes, such as the Global Partnership for Effective Development Cooperation.
The DCF will do this as an integral part of the Economic and Social Council and its broader role in the post-2015 development agenda and in promoting an integrated approach to sustainable development.
Thank you.