On the 28th of May, UN Secretary-General António Guterres, Prime Ministers Justin Trudeau of Canada and Andrew Holness of Jamaica, convened a virtual High-Level Event on Financing for Development in the Era of COVID-19 and Beyond. Amongst the speakers were Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Advocates Prime Minister Erna Solberg of Norway, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo of Ghana, and Paul Polman, the Chair of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC).

The Secretary-General called for immediate, collective action across six areas necessary to address and build back better from the pandemic. These include expanding liquidity in the global economy, addressing debt vulnerabilities, creating a space where private sector creditors can engage in timely solutions, enhancing external financing, preventing illicit financial flows, and aligning policies with the SDGs.

SDG Advocate co-chair Prime Minister Solberg announced that the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), an alliance that funds research projects to develop vaccines against infectious diseases, will aid in the global distribution of vaccines to low and middle income countries. Norway has also increased funding to  international economic and financial institutions to support debt moratorium and deferment of payments in order to help those most vulnerable. Moreover, Norway has created a high-level panel on financial accountability, transparency, and integrity to end illicit financial flows aimed at helping realize the SDGs, specifically SDG 17, by 2030.

SDG Advocate co-chair President Akufo-Addo expressed his concern that the lack of liquidity resulting from the pandemic will increase the risk of African countries cascading into a series of defaults. He introduced his vision of a new multinational system to support African economies, calling for a coordinated effort between the African Union and the international community to prevent illicit financial flows and to incentivise private creditors that hold developing countries’ sovereign debt to provide relief.

Paul Polman discussed the ICC’s partnership with Global Citizen to ensure that everyone everywhere has access to medical equipment. Mr. Polman also called on governments to support local small businesses and guide them in adopting best practices to protect their workforce.  Moreover, Mr. Polman urged Heads of State to support trade unions and civil societies to ensure that economies are receiving debt relief from both sovereign and private creditors.

The SDG Advocates agreed that  the COVID-19 pandemic has brought on a development emergency. They confirmed their commitment to finding global solutions to the crisis and affirmed that the SDGs are the roadmap to build back better, leaving no one behind and focusing on the most vulnerable.