• Leaders of the UN, Heads of MDBs Group hold meeting in effort to increase development financing and impact.
• MDB leaders also met with UN Member States to present how MDBs are working together on reforms including concrete deliverables to better support countries to meet development goals.

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres and top UN officials met with the Heads of Multilateral Development Bank (MDB) Group on Sunday as part of an unprecedented joint effort to help countries accelerate progress toward meeting the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030.

The first-of-its-kind meeting marked a reinvigorated partnership between the UN and MDBs to boost impact from multilateral institutions. Countries need between $2.5 trillion to $4 trillion in additional financing and investment each year to meet the 2030 deadline and MDBs aim to narrow the financing gap with the support of their shareholders.

UN and MDB leaders discussed three areas of collaboration: reinforcing efforts by MDBs to become a better, bigger and more effective multilateral system; enhancing effective collaboration between the UN and MDBs at the country level, especially in fragile and conflict-affected countries; and catalyzing private-sector resources to increase sustainable investment in developing countries.

The UN and MDBs agreed to collaborate towards the 4th International Financing for Development Conference on (FfD4) next year in Seville, Spain, where countries are expected to agree on how to increase development financing and discuss how to improve the international financial architecture.

MDBs welcome the Secretary-General’s advocacy for bigger and better MDBs as part of his call to unlock greater volumes of affordable long-term development finance. The UN’s global development footprint complements the efforts by MDBs to work as a global system. The UN-MDB partnership aims to build on already-strong examples of collaboration, particularly in some fragile states, where either the UN or specific MDBs have greater on-the-ground experience and comparative advantages in terms of access, presence, and expertise.

Following the working meeting, Spain, Jamaica and Canada co-hosted an open dialogue with MDB leaders, the UN Deputy Secretary-General and high-level UN Member State delegates.

MDB leaders highlighted steps to accelerate the SDGs, based on the 16 concrete deliverables outlined in the “Viewpoint Note”, a joint MDB workplan released in April 2024. These wide-ranging initiatives include scaling-up MDB financing capacity, boosting joint action on climate and catalyzing private-sector investment. MDBs also discussed how they can channel special drawing rights (SDRs) to significantly increase financing for the SDGs, including to support initiatives such as the G20 Global Alliance against Hunger and Poverty.

Sunday’s meeting took place during the Summit of the Future, a unique gathering of the UN General Assembly focused on strengthening multilateral institutions so they can better tackle shared global challenges, including climate change, poverty and inequality. In the Pact for the Future, the outcome document of the Summit, Heads of State commit to various actions to strengthen multilateral action, including on international finance.

Leaders from the following UN organizations attended the meeting:

United Nations, United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, United Nations Development Programme, United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, United Nations Children’s Fund, World Food Programme, UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, United Nations Human Settlements Programme, United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women

Leaders from the following MDBs attended:

African Development Bank, Asian Development Bank, Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, Council of Europe Development Bank, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, European Investment Bank, Inter-American Development Bank, Islamic Development Bank, New Development Bank, World Bank Group