USCIB represented the Global Business Alliance at a stakeholder dialogue at the United Nations about the Post-2015 Development Agenda negotiations on April 24 at the UN headquarters in New York.
Ariel Meyerstein, USCIB’s vice president for labor affairs, corporate responsibility and corporate governance, made the case for greater private sector engagement in the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, and particularly on Financing for Development, aimed at mobilizing private capital to support international development.
“The private sector stands willing to help move us from ‘billions to trillions’ in development and be the partner in sustainable development the global community needs in the post-2015 development era,” Meyerstein said during the stakeholder meeting in the lead-up to the UN’s Third International Conference on Financing for Development in July. The purpose of the meeting was to involve stakeholders, including civil society representatives and the business sector, in efforts to coordinate between the Financing for Development negotiations and the Sustainable Development Goal negotiations, which are proceeding along separate tracks. The session also canvassed views on the calls since Rio+20 and most recently by the Secretary-General and others for a technology transfer facilitation mechanism, which is currently contemplated in the Zero Draft of the Financing for Development Outcome Document and reflected in the Means of Implementation for the Sustainable Development Goals (Goal 17.6).
Meyerstein reminded delegates that the Global Business Alliance has placed special emphasis on the UN’s goals on governance, inclusive economic growth, and infrastructure and innovation. He noted that polices that foster open trade, intellectual property rights protection and enabling frameworks for investment are necessary for achieving the technology transfer needed for development. Governance frameworks that support innovation are also critical.
“Indeed, a focus on governance and capacity-building at all levels, including through transparent and inclusive national multi-stakeholder engagement, will help catalyze, coordinate and amplify the impacts of all resource streams and help direct them in ways that will leave no one behind,” Meyerstein said. “The good thing about governance is that Member States don’t need to wait for July or September to get started.”
View Meyerstein’s intervention on UN Web TV (~2:01:00).
Read USCIB’s SDG Priority Papers:
