Addis Ababa — Ambitions are high at the international Conference on Financing for Development which opened today in Addis Ababa with close to 5000 participants in attendance.
"The conference puts us on the right path for planning for development but we must leave no one behind," Mr. Ban Ki-Moon, the Secretary General of the United Nations Mr Ban implored world leaders during the opening of the one of the biggest conference to be hosted in Ethiopia.
Acknowledging that the conference has an ambitious agenda, Mr. Ban believes "it is a starting point for due cooperation". Mr. Ban would like to see a sustainable world free of poverty
The Prime Minister of Ethiopia, Mr. Haile Mariam Desalegn told the audience "we need a radical breakthrough because business as usual approach will not take us anywhere". Prime Minister Desalegn explained he hoped the conference would also address the matter of organising local funding for development projects.
"I wish for a serious resolve on the part of the international finance industry," said Mr. Desalegn in reference to drafting regulations which can stem the enormous amounts of money Africa loses to tax evasion, illicit capital flight and other dishonest transactions that bleed the continent dry.
The Prime Minister said he hoped the conference would look into development with environmental protection. As he elaborated, "our future in this planet is no longer certain unless we embark on a new way of doing things".
The Chairperson of the African Union Commission Madame Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma urged developing nations to help each other financially, promising that "every dollar will be put to good use". Madame Dlamini-Zuma echoed Mr. Ban's sentiments that the solution for financing development lies in using all sources of finance: private, public, local and international.
Ms. Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, the President of Liberia added her voice of encouragement saying, "we have an obligation to make it {sustainable development} happen".
Head of states and government, ministers of finance; foreign and development cooperation, as well as relevant institutional stakeholders, non-governmental organisations, and business sector are attending the Third International Conference on Financing for Development. The conference takes place between 13 and 17 July 2015.
