[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”4.27.0″ _module_preset=”default” custom_padding=”||0px|||” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.16″ _module_preset=”default” vertical_offset_tablet=”0″ horizontal_offset_tablet=”0″ custom_margin=”-16px|auto||auto||” custom_padding=”3px|||||” animation_style=”fade” z_index_tablet=”0″ box_shadow_horizontal_tablet=”0px” box_shadow_vertical_tablet=”0px” box_shadow_blur_tablet=”40px” box_shadow_spread_tablet=”0px” locked=”off” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.16″ _module_preset=”default” custom_padding=”|||” global_colors_info=”{}” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/www.un.org\/pga\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/109\/2025\/02\/2025_Parliamentary_Hearing_at_the_United_Nations.png” title_text=”2025_Parliamentary_Hearing_at_the_United_Nations” url=”https:\/\/x.com\/Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ_PGA\/status\/1883891987360764252″ show_bottom_space=”off” align=”center” force_fullwidth=”on” src_tablet=”https:\/\/www.un.org\/pga\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/109\/2025\/02\/2025_Parliamentary_Hearing_at_the_United_Nations.png” src_phone=”https:\/\/www.un.org\/pga\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/109\/2025\/02\/2025_Parliamentary_Hearing_at_the_United_Nations.png” src_last_edited=”on|phone” disabled_on=”off|off|off” admin_label=”Image” _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”_initial” animation_style=”fade” global_colors_info=”%91%93″][\/et_pb_image][et_pb_accordion _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” sticky_enabled=”0″][et_pb_accordion_item open=”on” _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_accordion_item][et_pb_accordion_item title=”Background” _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” link_option_url=”https:\/\/www.ipu.org\/about-ipu\/strategic-partnerships\/annual-parliamentary-hearings-un” link_option_url_new_window=”on” global_colors_info=”{}” open=”off”]<\/p>\n
Every year during the Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ General Assembly, the IPU organizes a parliamentary hearing for members of parliament to exchange views with United Nations officials, representatives of the Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ diplomatic community, scholars and leading academics.<\/p>\n
The meeting was originally designed as a briefing session on a variety of topics.\u00a0 It has now evolved into a substantive debate about the main issues on the international agenda. The conclusions and recommendations of the hearing provide parliamentary input into the work of United Nations bodies. In 2004, the General Assembly passed a\u00a0resolution<\/a>\u00a0highlighting the parliamentary hearing as \u201ca regular feature\u201d of its proceedings.<\/p>\n The annual parliamentary hearing at the United Nations is organized in close cooperation with the relevant United Nations departments. They help to prepare background notes on the issues under consideration, focusing on their parliamentary dimension. The debates serve two main purposes. First, they help parliamentarians better understand United Nations decision-making processes and the status of negotiations on a variety of issues. Second, they make it possible for parliamentarians to convey to Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ Member States their views based on their own national and local experiences.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_accordion_item][et_pb_accordion_item title=”Objectives” _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}” open=”off”]<\/p>\n In alignment with the theme of the seventy-ninth session of the General Assembly \u201cUnity in Diversity for the Advancement of Peace, Sustainable Development, and Human Dignity for Everyone Everywhere\u201d, the event aims to<\/p>\n The discussion will also <\/span>provide<\/span> an opportunity for a reflection among parliamentarians on ways to close the financing gap for the <\/span>SDGs <\/span>in view of the 4th <\/span>International<\/span> \u00a0Conference<\/span> on Financing for Development, in Spain, <\/span>from <\/span>\u00a0<\/span>30<\/span> June<\/span> -3 July<\/span> 2025<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n [\/et_pb_accordion_item][et_pb_accordion_item title=”Program Elements and Guiding Questions” _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}” open=”off”]<\/p>\n Programme<\/strong><\/p>\n Moderator: Dan Dunsky<\/a>, Journalist<\/p>\n Thursday, 13 February<\/strong><\/p>\n 10:00\u201310:15 Welcome remarks<\/strong><\/p>\n H.E. Mr. Philemon Yang, President of the United Nations General Assembly 10:15\u201310:45 Interactive survey<\/p>\n Participants will be invited to respond to a few questions designed to identify basic positions and trends. The survey will be conducted on Mentimeter.com and will require participants to use their phones or tablets.<\/p>\n 10:45\u201311:45 The deep challenge of the SDGs: Mobilizing political will<\/p>\n The SDGs constitute the most comprehensive global plan to set economies and societies on a sustainable path and to tackle the root causes of poverty and inequality, advancing social justice and creating the conditions for peace. With only a fraction of the goals on track globally, and just five years left before their 2030 expiration date, parliamentary action to help implement the goals is more urgent than ever. Guiding questions: <\/p>\n 11:45\u201313:00 Parliamentary oversight of the SDGs: The unfinished business of institutionalization<\/p>\n IPU surveys and government reports show that, despite some progress, parliamentary engagement in the SDGs remains uneven and unfocused. Few parliaments have institutionalized the SDGs so that parliamentarians are fully familiar with the goals and have the capacity to oversee their implementation in a sustained manner through legislation and budgetary allocations. Most notably, parliamentary oversight of national progress reports to the Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ has remained stagnant over the years without ever achieving a critical mass. An SDG accountability \u201cculture\u201d has yet to take root in most parliaments so that laws and budgets are consistently tested against national plans for the SDGs and all relevant communities, including women, youth and the most vulnerable, are appropriately engaged and represented. Despite their popularity, parliamentary bodies for the SDGs such as committees and caucuses have produced limited results.<\/p>\n Guiding questions: <\/p>\n 13:00\u201315:00<\/p>\n Lunch break<\/p>\n 15:00\u201316:30 Development cooperation and the SDGs: Making the most of aid<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Official development assistance (ODA) and other sources of foreign aid are a central pillar of the financing for the achievement of SDGs in many developing countries. ODA is being disproportionately allocated to humanitarian assistance and refugee costs as well as to climate mitigation at the expense of core support for public goods and infrastructure spending in developing countries. Moreover, despite the importance of collective action to provide developing countries with the necessary financing and technologies to accelerate the implementation of the SDGs, geopolitical tensions and the resurgence of nationalism are hindering international cooperation and coordination.<\/p>\n In 2023, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)\u2019s Development Assistance Committee contributed a total of US$ 223.7 billion in programmes and direct budget support toward developing countries. While this amount represents a considerable nominal increase over the past decade, it is still only half of the commitment of 0.7% of GNI in global aid as set out in the Addis Ababa Action Agenda.<\/p>\n Besides aggregate figures, the quality of foreign aid, i.e., the specific allocation and expenditure modalities to make the most of aid, is often lacking. Key principles of aid effectiveness, such as national ownership, accountability and managing for results, are inconsistently applied. As the number of development cooperation actors increase, including new multilateral development banks and new donors from emerging economies, coordinating aid in recipient countries becomes more challenging and the financial size of aid decreases. Governance and in particular the lack of representation of developing countries in the international financial institutions, are additional factors which can undermine the overall volume and quality of aid.<\/p>\n Guiding questions: 16:30\u201318:00 Raising domestic resources for the SDGs: A case for tax reforms<\/p>\n There is a growing understanding among Member States of the importance of expanding and mobilizing domestic public resources to achieve the goals and targets of the 2030 Agenda. As indicated in the Addis Ababa Action Agenda, domestic public resources should contribute directly to public goods and services such as infrastructure, health and education. In the long term, this can contribute to poverty reduction, greater economic growth and increased trust in governments.<\/p>\n Since 2000, while there has been an increase of tax revenue as a global average, various financial, health and economic crises have caused this growth to be unstable. In addition, national reforms are needed to redistribute the tax burden more fairly between different classes of contributors and generally to boost tax collection, including by building capacity to fight tax evasion. There is also room for innovative ideas such as maritime and aviation transport taxes that can help poor countries finance the climate transition.<\/p>\n Over the past years more attention has been paid to international tax cooperation which includes multilateral tax cooperation instruments, transforming the international tax cooperation landscape and enabling progress to combat tax avoidance, with the aim of ensuring that no countries are left behind. In this connection, intergovernmental negotiations towards a United Nations Framework Convention on International Tax Cooperation will start in February 2025.<\/p>\n Guiding questions: <\/p>\n Friday, 14 February<\/p>\n <\/p>\n 10:00\u201311:30 The debt crisis and the SDGs: Proposals for sustainable solutions<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The ongoing debt crisis is a development crisis. According to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵCTAD), the global public debt reached a record US$ 97 trillion in 2023. Unsustainable debt servicing obligations have become a major roadblock to the implementation of the SDGs in many developing countries, as 54 developing countries spend more than 10% of their revenues on net interest payments and 3.3 billion people live in countries that spend more on interest payments than on education or health. To prevent the debt crisis further escalating the development crisis, a new multilateral debt workout mechanism bringing all creditors together needs to be considered along with actions to strengthen governance of the global financial system, which today includes non-banking actors, institutional investors, asset managers and other market players. Work has been done in international forums on debt such as the G20 Common Framework which aims to ensure a more development-oriented international debt architecture.<\/p>\n The recently adopted Pact for the Future calls to accelerate the reform of the international financial architecture to make the system more inclusive and improve the participation of developing countries. Additional transformations are also needed to the system such as scaling up affordable long-term finance and providing greater liquidity in times of crisis.<\/p>\n Guiding questions: 11:30\u201313:00 International trade for the SDGs: The challenge of poverty eradication through export-led growth<\/p>\n <\/p>\n International trade can help developing countries generate revenue that can contribute to economic growth and lead to the reduction of poverty and financing for sustainable development. Countries in special situations such as the least developed countries (LDCs), small island developing states (SIDS) and landlocked developing countries (LLDCs) remain largely marginalized in international trade due to their limited scale and undiversified nature of their economies, geographical remoteness, lack of access to the sea, major trading ports and world markets, high dependence on external markets, and vulnerability to natural hazards and disasters. Entire sectors of the global economy, such as financial services and technology, are led by developed countries and a few emerging economies, offering little opportunities for the integration of developing countries which remain largely marginalized. Developing countries continue to face tariff and nontariff barriers to their exports while being pushed to give free rein to foreign investors by relaxing their own regulatory environments. Correspondent banking, a lack of an enabling business environment and limited access to affordable financing in developing countries also present challenges.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The Pact for the Future<\/a> states its commitment to \u201ca rules-based, non-discriminatory, open, fair, inclusive, equitable and transparent multilateral trading system, with the World Trade Organization at its core\u201d. Additional reforms that can take place are the facilitation of accession to the World Trade Organization, especially for developing countries, and the promotion of trade and investment liberalization and facilitation. It is evident that the current Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) does not provide sufficient flexibility to protect industries such as those based on traditional knowledge and handicrafts. The Investor-State Dispute Settlement is often accused of being inherently biased in favour of large multinational enterprises acting against the ability of developing countries to legislate for the public welfare.<\/p>\n Guiding questions: <\/p>\n 13:00\u201315:00 Lunch break<\/p>\n 15:00\u201316:45 Private investments for the SDGs: The role of private long-term investments and of international finance<\/p>\n The financing of the SDGs is estimated to range between 2.5 to 4 trillion US dollars over the next five years. While governments can garner investments in infrastructure and services from the public, private investors, with their capacity to tap financial markets, are seen as essential to target 17 of SDG 17. Focused on the \u201cmeans of implementation\u201d, target 17.17 includes a commitment to scale up public-private partnerships (PPPs) to help mobilize private investments. Private business activity, investment and innovation are also included in the Addis Ababa Action Agenda.<\/p>\n The private sector involvement in the implementation of the 2030 Agenda includes PPPs as well as foreign direct investments and private capital mobilization, which have all declined due to the shift to digital business models. It has also led to underinvestment in various sectors, such as energy and infrastructure, and developing countries, particularly countries in special situations including LDCs, LLDCs and SIDS. For private sector investment to improve, there needs to be an equivalent improvement of the business enabling environment, which should include policies on investor and consumer protection and fair competition, as well as structural changes in reshaping private investments.<\/p>\n Solutions can include the mobilization of innovative types of private finance, including through blended finance as well as capacity building support for projects and aligning private business and finance with the SDGs.<\/p>\n Guiding questions: 16:45\u201317:00 Closing [\/et_pb_accordion_item][et_pb_accordion_item title=”Participation” _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}” open=”off”]<\/p>\n Participation in the informal interactive dialogue will be open to Member States and observers of the General Assembly, the United Nations system, as well as representatives of non-governmental organizations with consultative status in ECOSOC.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Accessibility arrangements<\/strong><\/p>\n Delegations are requested to inform the Secretariat of the accessibility requirements of their delegates to facilitate participation in meetings. Upon request, adjustments can be made to seating arrangements with a view to enabling the participation of persons with disabilities. For individual requests, please contact the Meetings Support Section of the Department for General Assembly and Conference Management (email: accessibilitycentre@un.org; phone: 212 963 7348\/9) no later than three working days prior to the meeting.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_accordion_item][et_pb_accordion_item title=”Summary” _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” open=”off” sticky_enabled=”0″]<\/p>\n\n
Hon. Dr. Tulia Ackson, President of the Inter-Parliamentary Union<\/p>\n
Although the SDGs were adopted by consensus at the global level, national ownership of the goals remains weak. Not all political forces in each country have adopted the SDGs as a shared agenda to drive policy at the national level. Many parliaments remain divided as to the actual policies required for the implementation of the SDGs. Further complicating this picture is an underlying scepticism that support for the SDGs can be sustained over a long time regardless of each country\u2019s political struggles.<\/p>\n
\u2022What explains relatively low levels of national ownership for the SDGs?
\u2022How can parliaments overcome conflictual politics that interfere with policies that advance the SDGs?
\u2022How can political momentum for the SDGs be reconstituted in the run up to the 2030 deadline?
\u2022 How can existing cooperation frameworks between the Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ and parliaments help turbocharge political engagement regarding SDG implementation?<\/p>\n
\u2022 How can parliamentary structures and practices for the SDGs be strengthened?
\u2022 What is required to bring about a whole-of-parliament effort for the SDGs?
\u2022 What other institutions must be mobilized and strengthened to support parliamentary oversight of the SDGs?<\/p>\n
\u2022 How can parliamentary oversight of the budget and other key aid processes be strengthened in both donor and recipient countries?
\u2022 As a form of public finance, can aid be used to catalyze private investments and other flows of development finance?
\u2022 What reforms are needed at national and global levels to make aid more effective?<\/p>\n
\u2022 What are the most important tax collection issues at national and global levels, and are current reform proposals strong enough?
\u2022 How can parliaments help ensure better compliance with national and global tax rules?
\u2022 Is there political support for financial transaction taxes and other such innovative taxes to support global public goods?<\/p>\n
Developing countries are almost always in a position of dependency vis-\u00e0-vis foreign lenders and global financial markets. While much of the global response to this problem tends to focus on debt relief, a comprehensive, sustainable solution must consider the whole debt cycle. This begins by looking at debt sustainability assessments which would include the structural causes of unsustainable borrowing, development spending needs, better capture vulnerabilities and risks and the different debt instruments from public and private sources that are available to countries in need. As debt service burden is set to remain elevated for several years, more needs to be done for financing options to reduce the risk of liquidity crises.<\/p>\n
\u2022How can parliaments strengthen their oversight of government debt?
\u2022What measures are needed to better regulate the financial sector nationally and globally?
\u2022What additional solutions can be presented to tackle the debt crisis?<\/p>\n
\u2022 How can parliaments help address some of the most important sticking points in the current multilateral trade and investment regime?
\u2022 Given the highly competitive global marketplace, how sustainable is the export-led growth model and can all countries replicate it?
\u2022 How can countries move up the value chain through trade and foreign investments?<\/p>\n
\u2022How can the private sector be incentivized to invest while establishing mechanisms to avoid negative consequences?
\u2022How can public engagement in and oversight of the private sector be strengthened, including through parliaments?<\/p>\n
Dr. Tulia Ackson, President of the Inter-Parliamentary Union<\/p>\n