A few final comments before the last meeting of the Intergovernmental Committee of Experts on Sustainable Development
The last meeting is on the 4th to the 8th of August and I haven't yet seen a copy of the draft going to that but look forward to getting a copy from governments.As a number of them also find the idea of a secret committee goes against the grain. I guess we could have asked NSA for a copy of the proceedings. :-)
How different it could have been a real opportunity to link the discussion in the SDG OWG MOI to what was being suggested in the finance committee. Knowing some of the key negotiators who set the committee up they are appalled by how it has been run.
It is clear that developing countries were unimpressed with the content and conduct of the ICESD to date and they expressed that in the SDG OWG. Original the text before the SDG OWG has a footnote that read:
“To be aligned with the outcomes of the report of the Intergovernmental Committee of Experts on Sustainable Development Financing and the third International Conference on Financing for Development in July 2015.”
This was taken out and really underlines the mistaken strategy of the Committee. I did attend the briefing the co-chairs had with stakeholders in New York on the 18th of July and was unimpressed with what they were saying. Of course if we had a copy of the latest draft report then we could have really focused the discussion.
So lets see what happens when the report comes out. Will there be any clear recommendations? See my previous blogs to see what i suggested. I do expect on the more traditional FfD areas that it will speak to those reasonable well. But on the sustainable development finance, which of course, it was set up to do I don't have any confidence.
The lesson from this is NO MORE closed meetings. This should have been about the best ideas coming forward and a text being developed together. The SDG OWG showed how it is possible for that to happen.
How different it could have been a real opportunity to link the discussion in the SDG OWG MOI to what was being suggested in the finance committee. Knowing some of the key negotiators who set the committee up they are appalled by how it has been run.
It is clear that developing countries were unimpressed with the content and conduct of the ICESD to date and they expressed that in the SDG OWG. Original the text before the SDG OWG has a footnote that read:
“To be aligned with the outcomes of the report of the Intergovernmental Committee of Experts on Sustainable Development Financing and the third International Conference on Financing for Development in July 2015.”
This was taken out and really underlines the mistaken strategy of the Committee. I did attend the briefing the co-chairs had with stakeholders in New York on the 18th of July and was unimpressed with what they were saying. Of course if we had a copy of the latest draft report then we could have really focused the discussion.
So lets see what happens when the report comes out. Will there be any clear recommendations? See my previous blogs to see what i suggested. I do expect on the more traditional FfD areas that it will speak to those reasonable well. But on the sustainable development finance, which of course, it was set up to do I don't have any confidence.
The lesson from this is NO MORE closed meetings. This should have been about the best ideas coming forward and a text being developed together. The SDG OWG showed how it is possible for that to happen.
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