On 20 October, an expert meeting was organized by Bread for the World with support of the UN Financing for Development Office on "Global Financial Reform: How might the 2015 International Conference on Financing for Development strengthen reform momentum?" The meeting brought together diverse stakeholders and discussed the current state of international financial architecture reforms, obstacles to implementing reforms and additional reforms needed to reduce the risks of systemic crises in the global and national financial systems. Participants included representatives of the New York Federal Reserve Bank, the financial sector, academia and civil society, along with representatives of UN member governments. Focus of the discussions were the Financial Stability Board (FSB) and G20 initiatives, and how the UN, as a development oriented platform for dialogue, could help make the global financial system more stable, efficient and responsible.
On 21 October, an informal briefing was held for the un community to bring the broad outlines of the previous day's discussion to a larger audience. It was timed to coincide with the discussion of the international financial system and development taking place in the general assembly the same day. Key materials from the expert meeting and the briefing may be found below.
The events were opened by Alex Trepelkov, Director of the UN Financing for Development Office.
Speakers at the expert meeting included: Matthias Thiemann, University of Frankfurt; Daniela Gabor, University of West of England; F. Christopher Calabia, Senior Vice President, Financial Institution Supervision Group, Federal Reserve Bank of New York; Stephany Griffith-Jones, Financial Markets Program Director, Initiative for Policy Dialogue, Columbia University; Amar Bhattacharya, Brookings Institution, Global Economy and Development; Peter F. Brennan, Chairman, Competitive Technologies and former Chair, Corporate Governance Committee, New York Society of Security Analysts; Saule Omarova, Cornell Law School; Marilou Uy, Director of the Intergovernmental Group of Twenty-Four on International Monetary Affairs and Development (G-24); Robert Hockett, Fellow of the Century Foundation, Cornell Law School; Barry Herman, The New School; Kevin Young, University of Massachusetts, Amherst and Jo-Marie Griesgraber, Executive Director, New Rules for Global Finance, an NGO based in Washington.
The dialogue took place in the context of intergovernmental preparations for the Third International Conference on Financing for Development, which will be held 13 to 16 July 2015 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Regulatory reform forms part of the “systemic issues” section of the agenda as adopted in the “Monterrey Consensus” of the first Financing for Development conference. This new Conference is expected to help shape the post-2015 global development agenda, to be agreed at the September 2015 Heads of State Meeting at the UN. It is a chance for political leaders, business and civil society to discuss key issues and proposals and help government negotiators formulate concrete policy measures at United Nations and other international forums.With this in view, a significant number of representatives of UN Missions from the global north and south attended each meeting.
A more complete report of the meetings will be posted soon.
