Report to the IPU Governing Council by Ms. Silvia Dinica, Senator, Romania
10 april 2019
The World Investment Forum is the pre-eminent global platform for investment and development. Convened by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), the Forum is attended by governments, international experts, business leaders and civil society. The overall theme of the 2018 Forum was ‘Investing in Sustainable Development’. The event attracted over 6,000 investment stakeholders from 160 countries.
The IPU was pleased to respond to the request of UNCTAD to mobilize parliaments for the WIF. In addition, IPU’s President, Ms. Gabriela Cuevas Barron, addressed the opening of the WIF and participated in a number of high-level events.
The multi stakeholder nature of the Forum provides an opportunity to devise strategies and solutions for global investment and development challenges. The event is particularly important for parliamentarians as they are tasked with fulfilling global agendas in a national setting.
Parliamentarians are responsible for creating a smooth, pro-SDG environment at the legislative level by identifying reform priorities and drafting new legislation, on matters such as public-private partnerships or investment incentives. They have a vital role in formulating, approving, auditing and overseeing budget management.
Recognizing this, the IPU, together with UNCTAD and the United Nations Office at Geneva, organized a workshop for parliamentarians in the context of the 2018 Forum. The workshop explored a key sustainable development issue: How to finance the 2030 Agenda at the national level, and, in particular, how parliamentarians could ensure adequate resources for the implementation of the SDGs in their countries.
The workshop was composed of three sessions, all of which took the form of discussion panels. The panels consisted of both international experts and MPs. The first session focused on building leadership for the mobilization of public resources to attain the SDGs. The second session addressed the issue of private sector investments, which are increasingly seen as pivotal to the achievement of the SDGs. The final session of the workshop discussed ways in which parliaments could ensure that national SDG frameworks and budgets were results-oriented and informed by evidence and the needs of the people. Participants actively contributed to the discussion and the event was a fruitful and rewarding exchange for all.