U.S. Intervention on Domestic and International Private Business and Finance at the Second Preparatory Committee Meeting for the Fourth UN Financing

Noah Geesaman
Deputy Director, Office of Economic and Development Affairs
New York, New York
December 4, 2024
U.S. Intervention on Domestic and International Private Business and Finance at the Second Preparatory Committee Meeting for the Fourth UN Financing for Development Conference
AS DELIVERED
The United States is actively working to unite development partners and private investors to support sustainable development. We urge the UN to redouble its work to support developing countries in establishing the kinds of conditions that foster private sector investment. This work will help us both reach the Sustainable Development Goals and better access the untapped potential for increased foreign direct investments in developing countries.
Strengthening the enabling environment – including policies supporting accountability, good governance, anti-corruption efforts, environmental sustainability, and the rule of law—is an essential precondition to attracting high-quality investment, and we are pleased to see this reflected in the elements paper.
We commend the practical suggestions that reflect the requests we often receive from developing country partners, such as capacity building and technical assistance for the development of domestic banking sectors.
We appreciate the recognition that financial inclusion, particularly for women and marginalized groups, is critical and we support leveraging emerging digital technologies towards this end.
We recognize the critical role of multilateral development banks (MDBs) and development finance institutions (DFIs) in catalyzing private capital, and the efforts underway to strengthen their capacities, including greater use of guarantees.
Given the extensive existing network of institutions established to support international investment, we urge further coordination to ensure we not exacerbate fragmentation and further duplication of services with the creation of new investment support or investment financing facilities.
We do not believe it is the role of the UN to make recommendations for changes to credit rating methodologies, including in the FfD4 Outcome Document.
We strongly support creating a bigger pipeline of investment-ready projects by building on existing partnerships.
One example of how we are accomplishing this is the Blue Dot Network that the United States launched together with partner countries and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). The Blue Dot Network is aimed at advancing robust standards for global infrastructure and mobilizing investment for projects in developing countries.
We support transparency and expanded data collection and reporting, but have concerns about the burden of additional reporting requirements for small countries already struggling to comply with existing frameworks.
On sustainable finance, we support greater interoperability as a general goal, but also recognize that financial and market regulators have different mandates and jurisdictions may have different longstanding legal, regulatory, and fiduciary requirements for firms. We must avoid overly prescriptive recommendations.
###
link