Int'l conference on Financing for Development opens in Ethiopia

The 3rd International Conference on Financing for Development kicked off on Monday in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa, with world leaders gathering to discuss a financing framework for the world's sustainable development in the next 15 years.

The four-day event is expected to adopt the Addis Ababa Action Agenda, a financing framework which will support the implementation of the United Nations-led Post-2015 Development Agenda.

The Post-2015 Development Agenda aims to help define the future global development framewrok that will succeed the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

In his opening remarks, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said the conference is a starting point for an era of cooperation and global partnership to address development constraints and towards sustainable development.

"The agenda presents an ambitious financing framework. It puts us on the right path to implement the post-2015 development agenda and the sustainable development goals. The framework is universally inclusive, we aim to leave no one behind," said Ban.

Chairing the opening session of the conference, Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn called for "a different approach than usual" which will build on the successes achieved on the MDGs and go towards realizing the world's sustainable development goals.

"I hope that it (the conference) will serve as a launching path for massive increase in investment in productive sectors in developing world sectors like agriculture, industrialization, renewable energy and infrastructure," he said.

"It will be a springboard for great advances in developing countries' capacity to finance their own development both through supporting the diversification of their economies, strengthening their tax administration capacity, and through hugely increased international cooperation on tackling tax avoidance and illicit flows," he added.

The conference, which is held with a number of side events, brings together high-level political representatives, including heads of state and government, finance ministers, foreign ministers, and representatives of nongovernmental organizations and business sector entities.