Joint statement by MIKTA

July 13-16, 2015, Addis Ababa

1. The international community has gathered here at the Third International Conference on Financing for Development (FfD) in Addis Ababa to assess the progress made in the implementation of the Monterrey Consensus and the Doha Declaration, to reinvigorate and strengthen the financing for development follow-up process, and to address new and emerging issues, including in the context of recent multilateral efforts to promote international development cooperation, taking into account the evolving landscape of development cooperation, interrelationship of all sources of development finance, the synergies between financing objectives across the three dimensions of sustainable development, and the need to produce a strong contribution to the United Nations universal Post-2015 Development Agenda. On this occasion, Mexico, Indonesia, the Republic of Korea, Turkey, and Australia (MIKTA) make the following joint statement attaching particular importance to areas in need of enhanced efforts for sustainable development.
2. We recognize that improving the ability of all countries to mobilize and effectively use domestic resources is at the heart of our common pursuit of poverty eradication and sustainable development. In light of this we emphasize the need to combine policy reform, political will and investments to raise domestic public flows through tax and fiscal system strengthening. We note that strengthened international support is needed to build the capacity of developing countries in improving their tax and fiscal systems, as well as combating tax evasion, which will contribute to the better mobilization and effective use of domestic resources.
3. We further recognize that unleashing and channeling private investments for sustainable development are of particular importance. Governments are key to promoting this shift by facilitating access to finance for businesses, adopting policies that promote sustainable and inclusive growth, creating tax regimes that can support health and education systems and empowering citizens to ensure that they have productive work and live in safe and equitable societies. In this regard, we recognize the importance of working with business and investors to achieve our sustainable development goals, and the importance of good governance, clear and transparent business rules, effective public financial management, rule of law, competition policies and consumer protections as the preconditions upon which our shared success will be built. We also highlight the importance of supporting small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in their efforts to access finance and better integrate into the global economy.
4. Recalling our joint statement on the occasion of commemorating International Women's Day at the 28th Session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva on March 9, 2015, we reaffirm that gender equality and women's empowerment are critical to the realization of sustainable development as women and girls are both the beneficiaries and drivers of a transformative post-2015 development agenda. Discrimination and violence against women and girls must be addressed, while fair and equal opportunities should lead to the empowerment of women. Gender equality and women's empowerment should be integrated as a cross-cutting priority of our new global ambition. Early, sustained investments in women and girls to provide access to health, education and essential services like food, energy, drinking water and sanitation provide a baseline on which we can build. Promoting greater economic and financial inclusion, and increased access to financial resources and training in financial literacy, to support women as micro, small and medium business owners, women in agriculture and promoting strong and equal access to a range of financial and trade instruments will be key to unlocking more profound and effective participation from women in the formal and informal economy.
5. Stable, peaceful, and inclusive societies as well as effective, accountable and inclusive institutions serve as enabling environments for sustainable development, and support strong macroeconomic policies and stable investment environments that are critical to sustainable, inclusive and robust global growth, jobs and removing barriers to our shared prosperity. In this vein, good governance, transparency, a human rights approach and the rule of law will also be important drivers of development. The Post-2015 Development Agenda should be guided by the promotion of the rule of law and good governance at the national and international levels as essential elements for the effective use of the means of implementation as well as monitoring and accountability. Governance plays an important role in leading from the mobilization of sufficient development resources to the implementation of sustainable development goals.
6. The Post-2015 Development Agenda should envision a world of universal respect of human rights and human dignity, and of equal opportunity permitting the full realization of human potential while promoting shared prosperity. To achieve a life of dignity for all, special attention must be given to social protection for vulnerable and marginalized populations, youth unemployment, and elimination of all forms of inequality. This will be key to ending poverty in all its forms and finishing the unfinished business of the MDGs.
7. We recognize that to achieve our mandate to leave no one behind, we must address the needs and challenges for middle income countries (MICs), in which around two thirds of the world's poor are concentrated. We must work to consolidate and preserve the development gains of many middle income countries. We must also learn from and scale up the successes of middle income countries, which are in some cases impressive, to achieve our shared goals. In light of this we call for the international community to consider criteria other than per capita income in their assessment of a country's development reality, complementing it with more comprehensive methodologies such as multidimensional poverty measurement. These tools will allow us to design and implement more targeted development strategies, to tailor cooperation flows to fit each country's priorities and national context, and to effectively reach those most in need both within and across countries.
8. We acknowledge the major challenge posed by humanitarian crises on the well-being of societies and the development efforts of countries. Humanitarian crises, complex emergencies and natural disasters also cause downturns in development cooperation flows, which is a significant risk for the global development agenda. Leaving no one behind also requires the coherence of developmental and humanitarian finance emphasizing preparedness and resilience to ensure more timely, comprehensive, appropriate and cost-effective approaches to the management of humanitarian and disaster relief assistance.
9. A revitalized global partnership is critical to the success of the FfD process and the post-2015 agenda. While each country is responsible for its own development, the global partnership is designed to bring different types of development cooperation together from all development partners. We recognize the importance of effective development cooperation that is founded on the principles of country ownership, focus on results, inclusive multi-stakeholder development partnerships, transparency and mutual accountability. With the evolving number and type of development actors in the current development cooperation landscape, it is increasingly important that development cooperation is implemented in an effective manner involving a broad range of stakeholders, both public and private, national and international. In this regard, the development effectiveness principles can provide an important contribution to maximize the impact of both the post-2015 and the FfD processes. We welcome that the principles for effective development cooperation, with no one size fits all formula and full consideration of the specific situation of each country, are recognized. We see the global partnership as one of the primary drivers in leaving no one behind, particularly for vulnerable least developed countries (LDCs), small island developing states (SIDS) and landlocked developing countries (LLDCs), but also to promote a life of dignity for all, with special attention given to social protection for the most vulnerable and marginalized, and to address youth unemployment and elimination of income inequality. In addition, we see the potential of the Global Partnership for Effective Development Cooperation (GPEDC) as a useful platform for dialogue and the exchange of best practices, and its monitoring framework as a successful experience that can contribute to the post-2015 and FfD monitoring and follow-up processes.
10. Given the importance of a robust, inclusive and transparent follow-up and review framework for the assessment of the post-2015 and the FfD implementation, it is critical to secure reliable, timely and quality data that is also measurable, collectible, and comparable. We recognize the importance of building and enhancing capacity for better data collection, management, and analysis, while making best use of the available data. National statistical systems have a central role in generating, disseminating and administering data. They could be supplemented with data and analysis from civil society, academia and the private sector. To leave no one behind, high-quality, timely, reliable, and disaggregated data will be essential to the measurement of progress across different groups based on gender, age, and region, as well as people living in vulnerable situation and other characteristics relevant in national contexts. Efforts to strengthen the monitoring, follow-up and review capacity at all levels should be supported with the help of ICT.
11. MIKTA, a group of like-minded nations with the vision of contributing to the shared interests of the international community and to improving cooperation as well as global governance, agree to explore future collaborative opportunities, enhance their cooperation also in the G20, and will strive to the success of the FfD process and the Post-2015 Development Agenda.