The Atlantic Dialogues 2016 - Rethinking Development Finance | AD Talk: 2030 Agenda for Humanity

Rethinking Development Finance In the past 50 years technological innovation has led to a fantastic rise in global trade and information globalization. With the global economy transforming in unprecedented ways, rethinking and re-evaluating our methods of development finance has become a critical element. While most of the global poor live in low and middle-income countries, many live in high-income countries. The eurozone crisis and instability in the Middle East show that developed and developing countries alike are confronted with the challenge of generating sustainable, inclusive growth. These crises not only inflict significant costs, there is also a reduction in the volume of available official development assistance for those in greater need. With the mounting number of links among emerging market and developing economies, there is a shift for new, mutually beneficial partnerships between developed and developing countries. Development finance in today’s age will have to reinvigorate itself based on attracting aid from diverse sources, emphasizing domestic resource mobilization, and capitalizing on the potential of the private sector. Moreover many countries in Africa and Latin America are now seeking foreign direct investment (FDIs) that generate jobs and benefit the country rather than aid tied to conditions that do not reflect the country’s reality. But given the global macroeconomic shifts we are experiencing, donors face challenges in reaching the most fragile economies and helping their most vulnerable members in a way that is synergized with today’s economic changes; and investors are worried about the creditworthiness of these potential markets. AD Talk – 2030 Agenda for Humanity- SDGs and the Roadmap for Implementation There are 125 million people around the world in need of immediate humanitarian assistance today, having their life devastated by extreme poverty and hunger, conflicts and wars, or natural disasters. Over 60 million people have fled their homes and are seeking refuge, protection, and political stability in neighboring countries, marking the beginning of humanitarian crises as witnessed in the Middle East and in some sub-Saharan countries. In light of this rising global scale of needs, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development created a collaborative framework for the international community to tackle humanitarian crises in a proactive manner. The 17 Sustainable Development Goals and 169 associated targets adopted last year form the blueprint for shared responsibility requiring political, institutional, and financial commitment, partnership, and cooperation. Policymakers around the Atlantic have a significant role to play in this debate, since the Atlantic community includes all types of players needed to successfully implement the development agenda. This includes members from the Development Assistance Committee (DAC), including Canada, France, Portugal, Spain, the United States, and the United Kingdom; non-DAC countries such as Mexico and Iceland; countries from the BRICS grouping, Brazil and South Africa; and members of the African, Caribbean, and Pacific Group of States (ACP), including Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, the Dominican Republic, and Jamaica. Other members also include low-income African countries such as the Democratic Republic of Congo and Niger, as well as middle-income African countries such as Morocco and Botswana.