2015 is a crucial year for development. At three interrelated conferences UN Member States will have the chance to build an ambitious and universal international framework to fight poverty, inequality and climate-change.

The first of the conferences will be the Financing for Development (FfD) Conference in Addis Ababa from 13-16 July. It will lay the foundation for an agreement in September on the new Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in New York, and for a binding climate-change agreement in Paris in December. If the negotiations in Addis are successful, 2015 could become a milestone-year for development. If they fail, it will be even harder to find an agreement in New York and Paris.

The conclusions of previous Financing for Development conferences in Monterrey 2002 and Doha 2008 will lay the groundwork for the negotiations. The discussions are already in full swing, the first draft of the outcome document demonstrates, how the areas of domestic public finance (tax), private and business finance, international public finance (ODA), trade, debt and systemic issues could contribute better to sustainable development .
Among the questions to be discussed will be: What could a future framework look like? What are the lessons learnt from the previous conferences? Which positions do Austria, the EU member states, G77 and NGOs have?
 

22 April 2015
5:30 – 7:30 p.m.
(followed by a small reception)
Albert Schweitzer Haus
Garnisongasse 14-16, 1090 Vienna

Discussion (in English) with:
• Introduction: Michael Obrovsky (ÖFSE), Head of Research Department
• Jean Saldanha (CIDSE, Brussels), Senior Policy Advisor and Chair of CONCORD FfD Taskforce
• Konstantin Huber (Austrian Ministry of Finance), Senior Advisor
• Sylvia Meier-Kajbic (Austrian Ministry of Europe, Integration and Foreign Affairs), Multilateral Development Cooperation

In cooperation with KOO and ÖFSE
With funding from Austrian Development Cooperation

Links:

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