The conference which is scheduled for July 13-16, seeks to find a negotiated and agreed outcome, which should constitute an important contribution to and support the implementation of the post-2015 development agenda, according to officials organizing the summit.
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Australia has also stymied a global push to require wealthy nations to provide a timetable by year’s end on how they will meet a UN foreign aid target.
“The Addis Ababa Action Agenda is a significant achievement toward financing a sustainable development agenda in a holistic manner, one that recognizes the connection between economic prosperity, social development and environmental protection”, said Céline Beaulieu, WWF’s Head of Delegation at the conference. “The results here in Addis Ababa give us the foundation of a revitalized global partnership for sustainable development that will leave no one behind”.
Mr. Ban noted that the Addis conference was the first of three milestones this year. “The Addis Ababa Action Agenda is clear about the need to invest in policy making and legislation to ensure women’s equal rights and their participation and leadership in the economy”, said the Secretary-General.
Having run from 2000 to 2015, the eight UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are expiring this year in September and are being replaced by a new set of 17 UN SDGs at the start of 2016, which together aim to drive development efforts around the world.
“The world will not achieve the sustainable development goals without deep decarbonization and a greater emphasis on climate adaptation, preparedness and resilience”.
The Action Agenda builds on the outcomes of two previous Financing for Development conferences, in Monterrey, Mexico, and in Doha, Qatar.
“The value of this conference”, Phillips asserted, “is in setting the agenda for how the world community is going to cooperate in ensuring that all countries can benefit from development, specifically to overcome the challenges of poverty“.
Domestic resource mobilization is central to the agenda.
“In order to complement its support to partner countries in combating illicit financial flows, the European Union should now pass legislation obliging large multinational companies to publicly report their tax information on a country-by-country basis”.
Richer nations said developing states needed to improve their capacity to raise revenues and collect taxes. Crucial to success will be recognizing the infrastructure investment we need must be socially, environmentally and economically sustainable.
World Trade Organization President Roberto Azevedo, for his part, called on a new global partnership aimed at creating jobs and improving access to technology and financing with a view to promoting sustainable development.
In taxation, countries agreed to consider taxing harmful substances to deter consumption and to increase domestic resources.
This week’s conference, he said, would aim to set up “Technology Banks” in the world’s least developed countries, which will earmark 0.1 percent of their national income for the project.
Mushahidullah Khan cautioned that attaining SDGs in developing countries including Pakistan is less likely because of their weak economic conditions, many of which have still struggling to recover massive economic damages due to devastating climate change-induced disasters.
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Under the agreement, the UN Committee of Experts on worldwide Cooperation in Tax Matters will be strengthened, the United Nations statement said.
