Financing for Development : High Level Dialogue and Civil Society

The General Assembly has now fixed the dates for the High-Level Dialogue on
Financing for Development for 29-30 October 2003.

The High-Level Dialogue will be preceded on 28 October with a half day hearing with civil society and a half day hearing with the business community. The preparation of the civil society hearings, as well as other
civil society matters, is being done in collaboration with the International Facilitating Group on Financing for Development (IFG) (IFG-Liaison: Rosa G.Lizarde, email: rosaencasa@aol.com )

The substantive documentation for the high-level dialogue will consist of a number of important documents. The FFDO is working in colloboration with all the major institutional stakeholders to prepare the draft of the
Secretary-General's annual report on the follow-up efforts to the commitments of the International Conference on Financing for Development. The structure of this report will follow the structure of the Monterrey Consensus

On the first day of the high level dialogue the major activity will be two sets of ministerial level round tables. As in Monterrey, every roundtable will be composed of representatives of governments and observers states, representatives of civil society, representatives of private sector and representatives of intergovernmental organizations and specialized agencies. Drawing on the Monterrey round table experience, Governments have halved the over-all size of each round table to encourage more active
dialogue. Under this arrangement each round table will have 35 participants and will include three seats for civil society spokespersons. The heads of the World Bank, IMF, and WTO and heads of the African
Development Bank, Asian Development Bank, and Inter-American Development Bank and ten co-chairpersons designated by the regional groups will be the co-chairs .

On the second day, the high level dialogue on FFD will open in a formal session to hear statements from the major institutional stakeholders. At the conclusion of the formal session, the President will convert the high
level dialogue into the innovative informal dialogue. One representative from civil society will be selected by accredited civil society participants among themselves to participate in this informal General Assembly session

All NGOs currently in consultative status with ECOSOC or accredited to the Monterrey Conference itself are welcome to participate in the High Level Dialogue on Financing for Development. Other NGOs who wish to participate in the hearings or the dialogue need to apply for special accreditation to the High-Level Dialogue. These NGOs should provide the Financing for Development Office (FFDO) by 30 June 2003 with a letter explaining their areas of interest in the financing for development process and the other relevant documentation (see the ffdweb address below). The FFDO will then submit its recommendations to the Office of the President of the General Assembly.

Applications for new accreditations should be emailed to FFD2003@un.org or sent to Daniel Platz, FFDO NGO Liaison, Room DC2-2380, DESA/FFDO, United Nations, NY, NY 10017. If you post applications, please also fax (212-963-0443) the introductory letter to Daniel Platz.

For further information on the high-level dialogue please see the FFD website at www.un.org/esa/ffd