Private sector crucial for attaining financing for development goals ICC tells UN

In her remarks to the UN General Assembly High Level Dialogue on Financing for Development, which took place at UN headquarters last week in New York, Ms Kantrow also urged the UN to deliver on financing for development commitments in order to achieve the goals. “Mobilizing the private sector is a critical component of strengthening the financing for development process, increasing aid effectiveness and achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs),” Ms Kantrow told member states during the interactive event on 8 December. The two-day session, whose overall theme was “The Monterrey Consensus and Doha Declaration on Financing for Development: status of implementation and tasks ahead”, was considered to be an important step in the lead up to the UN Conference on Sustainable Development, Rio+20, scheduled for June 2012. Governments and the UN increasingly recognize that the business community is an important partner in achieving the Financing for Development goals and the MDGs and that more extensive and deeper collaboration with the private sector is required. As Chair of the Business Sector Steering Committee, ICC assembled the business delegation to participate at three roundtables on the following topics: the reform of the international monetary and financial system and its implications for development; the impact of the world financial and economic crisis on foreign direct investment and other private flows, external debt and international trade; and the role of financial and technical development cooperation, including innovative sources of development finance, in leveraging the mobilization of domestic and international financial resources for development.