Second Preparatory Committee ahead of the Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development – General Debate
Statement delivered by Ms. Kairi Saar-Isop, Director General for Development Cooperation and Humanitarian Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Estonia
3 December 2024, New York
Excellences, Distinguished Delegates,
Estonia aligns itself with the statement delivered by the European Union.
To start, let me sincerely thank the co-facilitators – Mexico, Nepal, Norway and Zambia – for the Elements Paper, which is a solid starting point towards, hopefully, a forward-looking and ambitious Outcome Document.
Due to the short time limit, let me make 3 key points:
First, we believe that the key for successful international development cooperation and financing for development, are transformative, inclusive and future-oriented partnerships. Partnerships that help to build partner country´s capacities and know-how, but also build their ownership through long-term cooperation on policy dialogue, research collaboration, and sharing of best practices, and partnerships that tackle the fragmentation of global cooperation.
Second key word is digitalization. We believe that digitalization has transformative power that can reshape how resources are mobilized, managed, and directed towards sustainable development. Digitalization should be seen as a cross-cutting enabler in financing frameworks and partnerships. We believe that digital governance and digital public services can contribute to improved revenue collection, debt management, and creating an entrepreneurship ecosystem that attracts private investment, FDI and trade. So, as the Elements paper says, we need investments in resilient digital public infrastructure and digital public goods as well as digital skills, but also for the transformation of education systems, in particular in the LDCs, LLDCs and SIDS, to unlock these innovative solutions.
Third, we need to mobilise and scale up private finance, complementing public resources, including ODA, and be innovative towards more agile, flexible and adaptable financial instruments and structures to create synergies. ODA is one of several development financing instruments, and its value-proposition should, in our view, be determined in the wider context of development finance flows.
To conclude, Estonia looks forward to an inclusive, comprehensive and result-oriented negotiation process with our partners.
Thank you for your attention.
