The Sunday Mail
A new financing facility to help more than 80 governments to channel investment toward the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) was launched on Thursday.
The Integrated National Financing Framework (INFF) facility was jointly launched by the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA), the UN Development Programme (UNDP), the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, the European Union and the governments of Italy and Sweden.
The facility will bring together international partners to align and magnify support to more than 80 governments to channel critical investment toward the SDGs, said the United Nations in a press release.
“The launch of the facility comes at the right time. Now, more than ever, our focus must be on strengthening partnerships to bridge the finance divide and channel finance to where it’s needed most,” said UN undersecretary-general Liu Zhenmin, who heads the DESA.
UNDP administrator Achim Steiner said the finance divide is obvious.
“Although there is enough money in the world to finance the 2030 Agenda, it is not allocated in the right places — just 20 percent of global capital is held in developing countries, which are home to 84 percent of the world’s population,” he said.
“To bridge this gap, this new INFF facility will provide countries with the technology, expertise and tools they need to implement ambitious financing strategies that will unlock game-changing levels of finance, allowing countries to take decisive climate action and make future-orientated investments in key areas like nature, literacy, health care and sanitation,” Steiner said.
UN deputy secretary-general Amina Mohammed said at the launch of the INFF that the facility will be both a hub for knowledge-sharing at the global level and a platform to grow the INFF community at the local level. – Xinhua
