The UN has launched the "Elements Paper" for next year's Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development (FfD4) in Sevilla, Spain. The paper will form the basis for discussions at the upcoming second meeting of the FfD4 Preparatory Committee (PrepCom), which will take place from 2 to 6 December 2024 at UN Headquarters in New York. Here are my personal top 10 policy reforms, copied and pasted directly from the paper:

The Elements Paper Top 10: 

1. Commit to enacting or strengthening taxes targeting high-net-worth individuals, including through international cooperation, with countries choosing the best policy mix for their economies.
2. Commit to enhance ownership transparency, and design a global beneficial ownership registry for a wide range of assets.
3. Commit to supporting policy coherence at all levels to ensure development partners’ policies strengthen rather than weaken development cooperation, including by promoting local procurement, local audit, and the involvement of local actors.
4. Mainstream the inclusion of standardized state-contingent debt clauses, such as climate resilient debt clauses and pandemic clauses.
5. Set up a working group to develop a model law on debt restructuring for Member States to consider adopting as part of their domestic legislation, including to guard against disruption of debt restructuring processes by holdout creditors.
6. Initiate an intergovernmental process in the United Nations … with a view to closing gaps in the debt architecture and to explore the need for a multilateral sovereign debt restructuring mechanism.
7. Provide emergency and stand-by IMF resources based on need rather than borrowing limits.
8. Invite issuance of new Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) to help address the developing country debt crisis (…), create a new playbook that strengthens their role, including … approaches that allow SDR allocations that respond specifically to the need of vulnerable countries during future financial crises and shocks.
9. Launch a review of the potential mispricing of risk in international risk-weighting frameworks used in regulation, such as Basel III, to ensure that weightings correctly reflect risks in different country contexts, including for guarantees and blended finance, SMEs, infrastructure, and trade finance.
10. To strengthen national follow-up, call on Member States to appoint focal points for financing for development in their finance and other relevant ministries and establish cross-departmental platforms for financing for development policy coordination and preparing national presentations.

Needless to say, the stakes for FfD4 are high. It is clear that the Elements Paper must be a floor, not a ceiling, for the FfD4 outcome if we are to bridge the financial divide, close the SDG financing gap of around USD 4 trillion per year, and create a fairer and more effective international financial architecture. 

What is your Top 10 List? And what is missing in the Elements Paper? Share your views as a comment or response to my LinkedIn post. We will be able to take some messages to the UN when we attend the PrepCom meeting in New York next week.