Expert Preparatory Roundtable: International Financial Architecture

The 28 March expert preparatory roundtable focused on weaknesses in the international financial architecture and surfaced suggestions for improvement. It was co-organized with Queen Mary University of London (QMUL), the Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO), and the UNU World Institute for Development Economics Research (UNU-WIDER) with support from the United NationsFoundation. It is one of a series of expert roundtables that the Secretariat is holding to prepare framing inputs for HLAB.

A stable and fair international financial architecture that works for all is necessary for achieving our sustainable development ambitions. It has the characteristics of a global public good in that covers transborder interests and has both nonrival and nonexcludable features. The international financial architecture should enable long-term financial planning and investment in key sectors (climate resilience, education, social protection, innovation, women’s empowerment), and should serve as a platform to respond quickly to global shocks by offering access to pooled resources through transparent mechanisms to ensure equitable recoveries. Our current global financial architecture falls short of these ambitions and does not promote stability for countries of the Global North and South on equitable terms.

In Our Common Agenda, the Secretary-General proposed several initiatives to improve the international financial architecture by strengthening and fostering better alignment of existing mechanisms. He has called for a Biennial Summit between the Group of 20, the Economic and Social Council, the Secretary-General and the heads of international financial institutions, and reform of the international tax system to better account for a digitalized economy, while also addressing existing shortcomings in fair and effective taxation of businesses. The report also stressed the need for a new joint structure on financial integrity and tackling illicit financial flows.

The event was co-chaired by Dr David Passarelli (UNU-CPR) and Professor Simon Reid-Henry (QMUL & PRIO) with Professor Tony Addison (UNU-WIDER) as a high-level speaker.