Jesse Walter
Advisor for Economic and Social Affairs
U.S. Mission to the United Nations
New York, New York
November 24, 2020
AS DELIVERED
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I would like to thank Adisalem Desta of Ethiopia for facilitating this resolution.
The United States is proud to be a leader on financing for development. The scale and impact of private capital, domestic resource mobilization, philanthropy, remittances and other financial flows, and enhanced commerce and investment now dwarf the role of Official Development Assistance (ODA) in development finance. While we are joining consensus today, we reiterate once again that this annual Financing for Development resolution here in the General Assembly is duplicative and completely unnecessary and should be eliminated from the Second Committee agenda.
We also regret that in PP19 there remains a reference to “no country left behind.” The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development states “no one” will be left behind. We also believe this alteration is an effort to shift the discussion towards a narrower set of vested country interests and away from those that sustainable development impacts the most: individuals and communities. We must therefore disassociate from this paragraph.
We would also like to reiterate our position that it is inappropriate for UN bodies to weigh in on multilateral development bank policies and procedures.
Finally, regarding references to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the Addis Ababa Action Agenda, The Paris Agreement, the characterization of technology transfer, and the term “build back better,” we addressed our concerns in our General Statement delivered on November 18.
Thank you.
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