Major Group: Business & Industry
Post2015
Interactive Dialogue on Financing for Development and the U.N. Post2015
Sustainable Development Goals With Major Group Stakeholders – April 23, 2015
Comments by Dr. Ariel Meyerstein (The United States Council for International Business) on
behalf of the Global Business Alliance for Post2015
Cofacilitators,
Excellencies:
The private sector stands willing to help move us from “billions to trillions” in development and
be the partner in sustainable development the global community needs in the post2015
development era.
During our Business Hearings on FfD we offered practical advice on how to support
infrastructure finance, SME finance and responsible investment. We proposed inserting
references to the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights previously absent from
the FfD Zero Draft. We have placed special emphasis on Goal 16 on governance and the rule of
law, Goal 8 on inclusive economic growth and empowerment, and Goal 9, particularly with
respect to infrastructure and innovation.
The proposed Means of Implementation in Goal 17 and the other 16 Goals fall short of the
actionable and pragmatic proposals needed. While we recognize the need to address systemic
issues and for enhanced communication between multilateral institutions, Goal 17’s targets on
trade, institutional and policy coherence set an agenda that may remain only aspirational well
beyond 2015.
So what should be included from the FfD outcome document? We propose that of the Zero
Draft’s sections, A, B, C (particularly ¶¶ 37 – 54, 58, 63, 66, 68 – 72, and 73) and of course,
section H on data, form the c ore of what will get us furthest towards achieving the SDGs and
should be promoted as the key Means of Implementation for the SDGs. To achieve this, we
would like to reinforce Ambassador Kamau’s intervention last week and call for a more detailed
GoalbyGoal
analysis of which kinds of resource streams, global and national partnership
activities, platforms and other modalities will be the most effective with respect to different
SDGs.
On the crosscutting
issue of technology transfer, we will need to redouble efforts on the
fundamentals – that is open trade, protection of IP, and other enabling frameworks – a nd catalyze
creative solutions that incentivize different actors to deliver according to their respective
capabilities. The private sector continues to be an important source for R&D, innovation and
dissemination of the technologies that will be indispensable to advancing the SDGs. Global and
national governance frameworks that foster innovation are critical; likewise, the resources it
takes to develop, commercialize and disseminate new technologies should be the intentional
product of publicprivate
collaboration and the blending and leveraging of different resource
streams.
Indeed, a focus on governance at all levels, including through transparent national
multistakeholder
engagement, will help catalyze, coordinate and amplify the impacts of all
resource streams and help direct them in ways that will leave no one behind: domestic resources
will be enlarged, foreign private finance will be mobilized and ODA will stretch further in part
because it will be used more efficiently and in part because it will mobilize private flows to reach
places they might not otherwise venture. The good thing about governance is that Member
States don’t need to wait for July or September to get started.
Finally, while we are grateful for the opportunity to speak today, going forward, we would
strongly recommend a change of format that allows for more continuous engagement of
stakeholders in realtime
during the course of the negotiations. We would also request that the
cofacilitators
arrange the seating of stakeholders and the designation of their respective seats to
reflect the modalities resolution of December 2014 (A/69/L.46, ¶ 2(b)), so that Member States
seeking to engage directly with the private sector can easily identify us in the room.
Thank you for your kind attention and consideration of our suggestions.
Interactive Dialogue on Financing for Development and the U.N. Post2015
Sustainable Development Goals With Major Group Stakeholders – April 23, 2015
Comments by Dr. Ariel Meyerstein (The United States Council for International Business) on
behalf of the Global Business Alliance for Post2015
Cofacilitators,
Excellencies:
The private sector stands willing to help move us from “billions to trillions” in development and
be the partner in sustainable development the global community needs in the post2015
development era.
During our Business Hearings on FfD we offered practical advice on how to support
infrastructure finance, SME finance and responsible investment. We proposed inserting
references to the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights previously absent from
the FfD Zero Draft. We have placed special emphasis on Goal 16 on governance and the rule of
law, Goal 8 on inclusive economic growth and empowerment, and Goal 9, particularly with
respect to infrastructure and innovation.
The proposed Means of Implementation in Goal 17 and the other 16 Goals fall short of the
actionable and pragmatic proposals needed. While we recognize the need to address systemic
issues and for enhanced communication between multilateral institutions, Goal 17’s targets on
trade, institutional and policy coherence set an agenda that may remain only aspirational well
beyond 2015.
So what should be included from the FfD outcome document? We propose that of the Zero
Draft’s sections, A, B, C (particularly ¶¶ 37 – 54, 58, 63, 66, 68 – 72, and 73) and of course,
section H on data, form the c ore of what will get us furthest towards achieving the SDGs and
should be promoted as the key Means of Implementation for the SDGs. To achieve this, we
would like to reinforce Ambassador Kamau’s intervention last week and call for a more detailed
GoalbyGoal
analysis of which kinds of resource streams, global and national partnership
activities, platforms and other modalities will be the most effective with respect to different
SDGs.
On the crosscutting
issue of technology transfer, we will need to redouble efforts on the
fundamentals – that is open trade, protection of IP, and other enabling frameworks – a nd catalyze
creative solutions that incentivize different actors to deliver according to their respective
capabilities. The private sector continues to be an important source for R&D, innovation and
dissemination of the technologies that will be indispensable to advancing the SDGs. Global and
national governance frameworks that foster innovation are critical; likewise, the resources it
takes to develop, commercialize and disseminate new technologies should be the intentional
product of publicprivate
collaboration and the blending and leveraging of different resource
streams.
Indeed, a focus on governance at all levels, including through transparent national
multistakeholder
engagement, will help catalyze, coordinate and amplify the impacts of all
resource streams and help direct them in ways that will leave no one behind: domestic resources
will be enlarged, foreign private finance will be mobilized and ODA will stretch further in part
because it will be used more efficiently and in part because it will mobilize private flows to reach
places they might not otherwise venture. The good thing about governance is that Member
States don’t need to wait for July or September to get started.
Finally, while we are grateful for the opportunity to speak today, going forward, we would
strongly recommend a change of format that allows for more continuous engagement of
stakeholders in realtime
during the course of the negotiations. We would also request that the
cofacilitators
arrange the seating of stakeholders and the designation of their respective seats to
reflect the modalities resolution of December 2014 (A/69/L.46, ¶ 2(b)), so that Member States
seeking to engage directly with the private sector can easily identify us in the room.
Thank you for your kind attention and consideration of our suggestions.