Brussels, 15 September/ ACP: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development requires formidable financial means to win the fight against poverty and inequality in the world. With 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and 169 targets to reach, African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries are faced with the critical challenge of how to raise enough resources to realise these ambitions.

Public funds alone have been proven inadequate in financing the 2030 Agenda, with its unprecedented scale and scope. The Addis Ababa Action Agenda (AAAA) was thus adopted in July 2015, outlining a holistic framework for development finance that involves mobilising all available and potential resources – whether private or public, domestic or foreign – and then using them effectively, innovatively and complementarily in order to exploit the comparative advantage of each.

ACP countries must therefore tap into a variety of available financing options, such as tax resources, private financing, official development assistance (ODA), remittances and contributions from philanthropic organisations. But the great challenge remains in mobilising these fragmented structures in a comprehensive and coherent to effectively finance countries’ strategies for sustainable development.

To examine these issues, a policy dialogue will be held at the ACP House in Brussels on Tuesday, 26 September, bringing together Ambassadors of African, Caribbean and Pacific states in Brussels, alongside representatives of major donor countries (members of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development's (OECD) Development Assistance Committee (DAC)). The European Commission, European External Action Service, international financial institutions, as well as academia, the private sector and civil society will also participate.

Jointly organised by the ACP Secretariat at the OECD, the aim is to enhance understanding of the current development finance landscape, including key changes and innovations in finance instruments and approaches, and discuss how to establish sound and coherent financing strategies for the SDGs in ACP countries. Thematic sessions will tackle the following topics:

– Reform of development finance measures and instruments

– Challenges of development finance in ACP middle income countries (MICs); and

– International Tax Cooperation

The meeting will highlight the role of modernised ODA and a new global measurement framework known as Total Official Support for Sustainable Development (TOSSD) – a measure that seeks to capture other relevant flows aside from ODA. Best practices and strategic priority areas for Middle Income Countries will also be explored, focusing on the need to strategically leverage concessional and non-concessional development finance to boost access to public and private resources, while also managing debt and other risks. Finally, participants will be able to identify avenues for reflection and political discussion on international tax cooperation, an essential element in combatting cross-border flows, including illicit financial flows, as well as addressing the tax evasion by multi-national companies and residents’ offshore assets.

The meeting will be held at ACP House (Avenue Georges Henri 451, 1200 Brussels, Belgium) from 9h00 to 18h00 on Tuesday, 26 September 2017. For more information and a detailed programme, please contact:

Mr. Henrique Banze: Henrique.banze@acp.int

Mr. Bagnénou Lamien: lamien@acp.int

Ms Gisèle Nare: gisele@acp.int

– ACP Press