Bukola Afeni
Editor
As part of measures of addressing the financial turmoil that has affected the lives of millions of people, and threatens to derail sustainable development efforts around the world, UN Secretary-General António Guterres, will convene a roundtable of leading finance experts and economists on Tuesday, 24 November, which is focused on pinpointing practical and realistic solutions.
According to a statement obtained from UN Department of Global Communications, the roundtable will focus on how to take forward the recommended actions.
“The emphasis will be on how can we eradicate the systemic inequalities of our global economy, and create an economic system that promotes equity, inclusion and sustainability, and what role the multilateral system should play in this process”.
The Secretary-General has invited 11 top economists to discuss concrete and actionable solutions in relation to the current global financial architecture to support inclusion and sustainability beyond COVID-19.
“The Roundtable, the third and final part of the series “Rebirthing the Global Economy to Deliver Sustainable Development,” will build on the high-level initiative on Financing for Development in the Era of COVID-19 .
The previous Roundtables, provided an opportunity to re-think economic models. The two prior roundtables, which featured a discussion on inclusion and sustainability by renowned women economists, addressed concrete issues of debt, trade and external finance, as well as jobs and climate action”.
The event will be moderated by BBC news anchor Nisha Pillai, the roundtable will feature opening remarks by the UN Secretary-General, followed by Christine Lagarde, President of the European Central Bank. After a moderated discussion with the economists, Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed will provide closing remarks.
The COVID-19 pandemic, which has claimed more than 1.3 million lives and resulted in more than 56 million confirmed cases, has gone beyond a health and humanitarian crisis to also become an unprecedented global development emergency.
In order to respond to the pandemic and to ensure a recovery that is sustainable and inclusive, the Secretary-General of the United Nations has worked to mobilize a comprehensive multilateral effort aligned to Agenda 2030 and the Paris Agreement. “This includes measures to suppress the transmission of the virus and tackle the immediate social and economic dimensions of this human crisis.
The initiative of the Prime Ministers of Canada and Jamaica and the UN Secretary-General on Financing for Development in the Era of COVID-19 and Beyond, which was launched on 28 May 2020, produced a comprehensive menu of policy options to guide policy-makers to survive in the short term.
“It facilitate a swift and sustainable recovery in the mid-term, and lay the groundwork for a resilient and inclusive future in the long-term. The options included concrete policies related to external finance, jobs, remittances, and inclusive growth; recovering better for sustainability; global liquidity and financial stability; debt vulnerability; private sector creditor engagement; and recovering better for sustainability”.
