Mr. Wu Hongbo Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs, Secretary-General for the Third International Conference on Financing for Development
Round table 6: Ensuring policy coherence and an enabling environment at all levels for sustainable development
16 July 2015, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Your Excellency Honorable Konrad Pawlik, Deputy Minister of
Foreign Affairs, Republic of Poland,
Your Excellency Mr. Claver Gatete, Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, Rwanda,
Distinguished panellists and participants,
Dear colleagues,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
This is the final of our six roundtables. Throughout the week, we have heard important discussions on policy coherence for sustainable development and on the renewed global partnership for sustainable development. In today’s roundtable, we will continue this discussion.
Our deliberations should seek to inform the implementation of the Action Agenda in support of achieving sustainable development.
Today’s roundtable discussion focuses on “Ensuring policy coherence and an enabling environment at all levels for sustainable development.”
Policy coherence for eradication of poverty and support of sustainable development is important on many different levels.
The earlier roundtables focused on the importance of policy coherence across economic, social, and environmental policies at the national and international levels. All policies, including monetary, financial, trade, debt, social, technological and environmental policies, need to be coherent and supportive of our sustainable development priorities.
But ‘horizontal’ coherence alone is not sufficient. Policy coherence is also critical ‘vertically’, across local, national and global levels. I expect that some of our discussion will focus on the crucial role that subnational entities play in the implementation of our development agenda and in linking local, national and global policies and priorities.
If we are to achieve our goals, we must work to ensure that all our institutions – local, national and global – are fit for purpose and fully responsive to the sustainable development agenda. All institutions must improve their effectiveness and coherence.
The strengthened follow-up process to this Conference, contained in the draft Addis Ababa Action Agenda, is fundamental to ensuring policy coherence. By involving all stakeholders in an annual intergovernmental Financing for Development Forum, it would ensure that no country is left behind, and that all actors can play their part in financing sustainable development.
I would therefore encourage speakers in the discussion to give some thoughts to how this strengthened follow-up process can most effectively work for the benefit of all people and on all levels.
The background note for the round table includes a number of key questions that will guide the discussion during our round table this morning.