Dialogue, public policies and international cooperation are the keys to recovery

The world is going through a complicated period owing to the COVID19 pandemic and major global challenges such as climate change and inequality. The responses to the socio-economic consequences of the pandemic and these global challenges require cooperation and coordinated action between the various actors. As indicated in Sustainable Development Goal 17, partnerships are essential in order to mobilise and share knowledge, experiences and financial resources.

Within such a context, France sponsored the first Summit Finance in Common to jointly run alongside the third Peace Forum. This Summit brought together all the relevant international community institutions involved in the financing of development, including public development banks, the European Union and its member states. The event sought to discuss the role of development banks in the reorientation and mobilisation of financial flows to comply with international climate commitments and progress towards achieving the Agenda 2030 Sustainable Development Goals.

European cooperation agencies are key institutions in the coordination of joint work with public development banks, in the interest of ensuring that sustainable development has a greater impact. FIIAPP, a member of the European network Practitioners’ Network of cooperation agencies since 2014, marked the Summit with the signing of the “Synergies with development banks” joint declaration, along with 15 other network members.

In it, the FIIAPP and other European agencies recognise that the joint response to the needs of partner countries for a green, sustainable and inclusive recovery should be guided by public policies – “policy first“. They therefore declared that one of the main contributions of the network is to establish cooperation around shared values with partner countries.

To this end, it is essential to establish and strengthen dialogue tools that cover all sectors and allow the identification and prioritisation of those measures needed in each sector. It is also essential that this dialogue is nurtured through public technical cooperation and a knowledge of European public administrations.

Accompanying partner countries in their reform processes in this way helps to ensure that such reforms take place in the most propitious climate for the influx of investments and that such investments are directed to where they have the greatest impact on the promotion of sustainable development.