The second Tbilisi International Solidarity and Innovative Financing Forum (TISIFF) was held in Tbilisi from 14 to 16 December 2018 at the initiative of the Georgian Presidency of the Leading Group on Innovative Financing for Development.
High-level participation involving international organizations, diplomats, politicians, civil society stakeholders, researchers and the private sector produced recommendations on innovative financing aimed at fuelling debate at the United Nations, with a focus on the new opportunities offered by blockchain technology and impact investing.
Discussions looked again at the main forms of innovative financing trialled to date, while underlining two particularly promising trends:
Impact investing, that takes into account not only the viability of a project, but also its social or environmental impact, and blended finance, aimed at using public resources to leverage additional private funding and direct it towards development: social impact contracts, thematic bonds, guarantees, etc.
Cryptocurrencies and blockchain technologies with a focus on being more secure, efficient, confidential, scalable and interoperable (SECSI). The participants all underlined the revolutionary potential of this technology. Possible operational uses raised included securing land registers, reducing the cost of diaspora remittances and the creation of an identity register for refugee camps.
At the end of TISIFF 2018, the members of the Leading Group agreed to finalize recommendations to speed up international efforts on innovative financing. These recommendations will be passed on to the United Nations Secretary-General. They will also serve as a basis for the upcoming work of the Leading Group in the framework of and on the sidelines of events organized at the UN in New York during spring and summer 2019.
Lastly, Japan officially presented its candidacy to hold the next Presidency of the Leading Group, which should begin in January 2019.
8 January 2019