The High-level Dialogue on Financing for Development took place on 20 September 2023 at UN Headquarters, marking a critical moment to follow up on implementing the Addis Ababa Action Agenda.

Held every four years, it brought together Heads of State and Government and other senior officials, representatives of the private sector and civil society, and international financial institutions, including multilateral development banks, academia, and other relevant actors.

GI-ESCR had the privilege to be part of this important event through its Executive Director, Magdalena Sepulveda, who the President of the General Assembly invited to be a keynote speaker in a panel on “ Promoting inclusive and effective international tax cooperation and mobilising domestic resources. The other keynote speakers at the same panel were H.E. Mr. Jonas Gahr Støre, Prime Minister of Norway and H.E. Mr. Thabo Mbeki, Chair, High Level Panel on Illicit Financial Flows from Africa.

The session explored advances in international tax cooperation and measures against illicit financial flows, evaluated existing mechanisms for enhancing the efficiency of domestic resource mobilisation, and identified practical yet ambitious solutions for reform.

GI-ESCR Executive Director highlighted that working towards a fair international tax architecture is paramount to allow countries the fiscal space they need to face today’s challenges, close gender and social gaps in our societies and raise the much-needed revenues to invest in public services.

"Expectations were placed on the OECD process to end multinationals' tax avoidance. The outcomes were not in favour of developing countries. The United Nations is the appropriate forum to making international tax cooperation fully inclusive and more effective" Magdalena Sepúlveda Carmona. Her full speech can be found here.

Watch the recording here.