Pursuant to General Assembly resolution 68/279, the third International Conference on Financing for Development will be held on 13-16 July 2015, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The outcome of the Conference should constitute an important contribution to and support the implementation of the post-2015 development agenda. The intergovernmental preparatory process of the Conference was launched on 17 October 2014. It includes a series of substantive informal sessions and informal interactive hearings with civil society and the business sector through January 2015, as well as drafting sessions of the outcome document in January, April and June 2015. Read more >>

Pursuant to operative paragraphs 255 and 256 of “The future we want” (A/RES/66/288, annex), the Intergovernmental Committee of Experts on Sustainable Development Financing adopted its report “proposing options on an effective sustainable development financing strategy to facilitate the mobilization of resources and their effective use in achieving sustainable development objectives”. The report makes three major contributions: it develops an analytical framework for financing sustainable development; proposes a basket of over 115 policy options for countries to choose from; and suggests areas for advancement of the global partnership for sustainable development. Read more >>

Pursuant to General Assembly resolution 68/202, the Second Committee of the General Assembly held a special joint meeting with the Economic and Social Council to consider lessons learned from the debt crises and the ongoing work on sovereign debt restructuring and debt resolution mechanisms on Tuesday, 14 October 2014, from 15:00 to 18:00, in Conference Room 2 (CB), at the UN headquarters in New York. Read more >>

Measuring Tax Transaction Costs in Small and Medium Enterprises (English, Spanish) is a result of a project, implemented jointly by FfDO and the Inter-American Center of Tax Administrations, aimed at strengthening the capacity of national tax administrations (NTAs) in developing countries in Latin America to assess tax transaction costs (TTCs). The purpose of this publication is to provide NTAs with a methodology that allows them to identify and measure TTCs for taxpayers and tax institutions, thereby assisting in identifying possible reforms aimed at reducing these costs with a view to fostering greater tax compliance. This could lead to more effective and efficient tax systems supporting the desired level of investment, and result in sustainable increase in government revenues available to fund countries’ development goals.

Pursuant to its resolution 2013/24, the Economic and Social Council held, on 5 June 2014, a one-day meeting to consider international cooperation in tax matters including its contribution to mobilizing domestic financial resources for development and the institutional arrangements to promote such cooperation, with the participation of representatives of national tax authorities. In addition to an update on work of the UN Tax Committee, as well as relevant activities of major international organizations active in the area of international taxation, the meeting featured two panel discussions on “Current issues in domestic resource mobilization for development: Base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS)” and “Extractive industries taxation issues for developing countries”. Read more >>

Pursuant to its resolution 2013/44, the Economic and Social Council held its Special high-level meeting with the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the World Trade Organization and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development on 14–15 April 2014 at the UN Headquarters, New York. The overall theme of the meeting was “Coherence, coordination and cooperation in the context of financing for sustainable development and the post-2015 development agenda”. The morning session on 14 April featured a Ministerial segment on “World economic situation and prospects”. The meeting also included thematic debates on: (a) Mobilization of financial resources and their effective use for sustainable development; and (b) Global partnership for development in the context of post-2015 development agenda. Read more >>