Submit your registration to:
escap-mpdd@un.org
Deadline for registration: Thursday, 5 July 2012. |
Launch of the Publication
"World Economic and Social Survey 2012: In Search of New Development Finance"
by
Dr. Oliver Paddison,
Economic Affairs Officer,
MPDD, UNESCAP,
and a distinguished panelist,
Dr. Pracha Koonnathamdee,
Assistant Professor,
Faculty of Economics, Thammasat University.
Friday, 6 July 2012,
14:00-15:30 hours
Theatre, Ground floor
UNCC,
United Nations
Bangkok, Thailand
 Difficulties in raising sufficient domestic and external resources to finance the internationally agreed development goals, including the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), along with the numerous drawbacks of traditional aid, are leading the quest for innovative sources of development finance.
A perceived need for additional and more assured funding to address global development goals has led to a search for innovative sources of financing to complement traditional official development assistance. Recently, a number of innovative initiatives have been launched, particularly in the field of health, but these have not been major fundraisers. Other options with large fundraising potential have been proposed, including taxes on financial transactions and greenhouse gas emissions, as well as the issuance of special drawing rights of the International Monetary Fund to be leveraged as development financing. The feasibility of these proposals depends mainly on securing the political agreement needed to implement them.
Questions regarding the best ways to allocate the funds need to be addressed at the same time. Existing innovative development financing mechanisms earmark resources to specific purposes, such as for vaccination programmes designed to prevent the spread of contagious diseases. This has its advantages from a global public goods perspective, but the international programmes are not always well aligned with national priorities and well-functioning of national institutions in developing countries.
The World Economic and Social Survey 2012 analyses current and proposed mechanisms for innovative development finance and highlights mechanisms that can 1) increase the scale of development financing available and 2) provide stable and predictable financing to enhance sustainable development.
The Survey confirms the potential of innovative development financing to mobilize substantial resources for international priorities, but concludes that realizing this potential requires strong political will to follow through on available proposals as well as transparency in the allocation and management of those resources.
The World Economic and Social Survey is a product of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs. It provides objective analysis of pressing long-term social and economic development issues, and discusses the positive and negative impact of corresponding policies.
More details can be found at: www.un.org/en/development/desa/policy/wess/index.shtml
You and your colleagues are cordially invited to the seminar and particpate in the discussions.
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