ETHIOPIA-FINANCING FOR DEVELOPMENT World looks to Ethiopia to break deadlock over financing new development goals

Record ID: 147404

  • Title: ETHIOPIA-FINANCING FOR DEVELOPMENT World looks to Ethiopia to break deadlock over financing new development goals
  • Date: 14th July 2015
  • Summary: ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA (JULY 13, 2015) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF DELEGATES VARIOUS OF WINNIE BYANYIMA EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF OXFAM INTERNATIONAL (SOUNDBITE) (English) WINNIE BYANYIMA EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF OXFAM INTERNATIONAL SAYING: "What is at stake here is a lot and a lot is being discussed. We are looking for a positive outcome of this conference and that positive outcome must
  • Embargoed: 29th July 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Gabon
  • Country: Gabon
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA5NQELXIZJPEV4PQTAJY3C0C6F
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: World leaders and money lenders are meeting in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, where some 190 nations hope to agree on how to bankroll ending poverty and hunger, combating climate change and achieving gender equality by 2030.
    Around 5,000 people are expected to attend the four-day financing conference that opened on Monday (July 13) to decide on ways of paying for 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), due to be adopted in September.
    In a world where growth is slowing, foreign assistance budgets are shrinking, and scepticism towards aid and multinationals is growing, finding the resources to achieve the ambitious goals will be tough.
    The finance meeting is a critical first step on the road towards signing the SDGs in New York in September, as well as a climate change agreement in Paris in December.
    "The Addis Ababa action agenda makes it very clear that all of our actions need to be underpinned by our strong commitment to protect and preserve our climate and natural resources, our bio-diversity and our climate. These commitments can bring about real change. But the real test will lie in their implementation," said U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki Moon.
    Huge sums are required to fund the SDGs, between $3.3 and $4.5 trillion a year, according to the U.N. Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).
    A major sticking point for the summit is a standoff over a push by the G77 developing countries to upgrade a U.N. tax body, which they hope would set new global rules to crackdown on tax dodging, mainly by multinationals.
    Nearly $1 trillion in illicit finance, flowing from tax evasion, crime and corruption, is estimated to leave poor countries each year, according to Global Financial Integrity (GFI), a policy research group.
    For every $1 in aid going into a developing country, $10 is lost via these illicit outflows, it says.
    The G77 wants the current U.N. tax committee to be upgraded to a political body with more power and money.
    The proposal is fiercely opposed by the rich countries of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), which drew up the current tax rules.
    "What is at stake here is a lot and a lot is being discussed. We are looking for a positive outcome of this conference and that positive outcome must include setting up an intergovernmental tax body under the United Nations that will work on tax cooperation globally because developing countries are loosing billions of dollars every year due to tax avoidance, due to harmful tax practices and illicit financial flows," said OXFAM executive director Winnie Byanyima.
    While aid is needed to support development in the world's poorest states, many fast-growing developing countries will be able to meet a large part of the financing gap themselves - if rules around tax and investment are reformed experts say.
    Developing countries attract more than 50 percent of foreign direct investment worldwide, up from less than 20 percent in 1990, OECD said.
    Many advocacy groups are disappointed with the current draft of the Addis Ababa accord which, they say, acknowledges many issues but lacks real action points.
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