67.     The goal of developing a global partnership for development provided one of the key platforms for the Monterrey Conference’s response to the concerns of Member States over the continuous trend of decline in official development assistance flows to developing countries, which remains their primary source of external funding. The outcome of the Conference, the Monterrey Consensus, derived from full and extensive collaboration among the United Nations, the Bretton Woods institutions and other major stakeholders, such as the WTO. It aims to create a broad-based partnership between developed and developing countries, in order to explore ways of generating additional public and private financial resources to complement national efforts to mobilize domestic resources. As part of that partnership, the Monterrey Consensus sought to reverse the decline in ODA and to affirm the commitment of developed countries to the 0.7 UN Development target.

68.     Monterrey and the actions taken by donors in its aftermath have had a beneficial impact on the magnitude of official assistance flows.⁽¹⁵⁾  Even with recent progress, however, additional funds will be necessary. As a result, along with efforts to establish timetables to reach the ODA target of 0.7 percent reaffirmed at Monterrey, attention has turned increasingly to finding sources of financing in addition to traditional ODA—now referred to as “Innovative sources of financing for Development.” Since 2003, initiatives by Heads of State, studies from independent experts and technical groups have been reviewing the feasibility and implications of various proposals. Recent meetings of the International Monetary and Finance Committee⁽¹⁶⁾ and the Development Committee⁽¹⁷⁾ have pursued the matter, and the General Assembly⁽¹⁸⁾ has requested that possibilities in this regard be given further consideration.

^15.  As a result of commitments undertaken by member states at Monterrey, the decline in the share of ODA in developed-country GNI was reversed and reached 0.25 percent in 2003 and 2004. Moreover, if all commitments are met by the target date of 2006, total ODA is projected to reach $88 billion, an increase of almost 50 percent in nominal terms from the total recorded in 2002. If these pledges, together with additional commitments made by DAC member countries to increase ODA after 2006 are met, ODA is projected to reach $108 billion in 2010.

^16.  The IMFC noted in its communiqué for the Spring 2005 meetings that “On innovative sources of development financing, such as the International Finance Facility (IFF) and its pilot—the IFF for immunization—global taxes which could also refinance the IFF, the Millennium Challenge Account, and other financing measures, it welcomes the joint IMF and World Bank note outlining progress that has been made. The Committee asks to be kept informed of the further work ahead of the U.N. Summit.”

^17.  The Communiqué of the Development Committee for Spring 2005 “welcomed further work on innovative sources of development financing. We noted that negotiations among interested parties on the proposed pilot International Finance Facility (IFF) for Immunization are well advanced; and the analysis of technical feasibility of the IFF has created the conditions for the necessary political decisions on participation. We encourage interested donors to proceed with these proposals. Potential participants believe that global tax mechanisms to finance development may be feasible and desirable, while other members do not. We noted the analysis of the economic rationale, technical feasibility, and moderate coalition size needed for some of the global tax proposals. Building upon the existing political momentum in some countries, we invite the Bank and the Fund to deepen their analysis of the most promising nationally applied and internationally coordinated taxes for development for the Annual Meetings, as an input into the consideration of a pilot case for interested countries.”

^18.  The General Assembly has now requested “further consideration to the subject of possible innovative and additional sources of financing for development from all sources, public and private, domestic and external, taking into account international efforts, contributions and discussions, within the overall inclusive framework of the follow-up to the International Conference on Financing for Development”

^19. References to Innovative Financing are found in the following communiqués, 4/17/05, para.11; 10/2/04, para. 9; 4/25/04, para. 8; 9/22/03, para. 3;and 4/13/03, para. 3.

^20. The item is discussed in the communiqués of 4/16/05, para.13; 10/2/04, para. 17; 4/24/04, para. 14; and 9/21/03, para. 17.