G8 DEVELOPMENT MINISTERS’ MEETING
Rome, 11-12 June 2009
CHAIR’S SUMMARY
G8 Development Ministers and senior officials, including from the EU Presidency and the European Commission, met in Rome on June 11 and 12, 2009, together with representatives from Brazil, China, India, Mexico, South Africa and Egypt, from the Presidency and the Commission of the African Union, from the Presidency and the Steering Committee of NEPAD, from the OECD, the UN, the FAO, the IFAD, the WFP, the WHO, the World Bank, CGIAR-Bioversity and the African Development Bank. The meeting focused on the impact of the economic and financial crisis on the developing world and was aimed at giving political input and support to development policies worldwide, with a specific view to the achievement of the MDGs and in preparation of the G8 L’Aquila Summit.
Innovative financing for development
We shared the view that innovative financing is a critical element in contributing, along with traditional ODA, to raising the resources needed to tackle the challenges of the economic crisis and to mitigate its impact on development. In this difficult context, a change of scale and speed in the implementation of innovative financing mechanisms for development is most needed.
To maximize effectiveness of innovative financing mechanisms, their functioning should be consistent with principles agreed in the Rome - Paris - Accra Declarations. In this regard, we encouraged the work of the Leading Group on Innovative Financing for Development, the High Level Task Force on Innovative Financing for Health Systems as well as the United Nations and the I-8/LIFE group, which encompasses the already existing innovative financing mechanisms. On this basis, we will work together to mobilize additional resources and activate innovative instruments, such as, for instance, AMCs and IFFIm, air-tickets solidarity levy and using the proceeds from emissions trading, including the promotion of public-private partnerships and new forms of voluntary contributions by citizens and private companies.
We welcomed the initiative of the "Global Remittances Working Group", that was launched by the G8 Presidency in 2009 and coordinated by the World Bank with the purpose of ensuring more reliable data on remittances, favouring more transparent and safer flows, as well as enhancing their impact on development. We will work together with other partners in the field of remittances with a view to collectively reducing the global average costs of transferring remittances, e.g. from the present 10% to 5% in 5 years. We invite all interested countries and stakeholders to join us in this effort.
29 June 2009