Four years following the adoption of the Addis Ababa Action Agenda, the Financing for Development outlook remains turbulent. The socioeconomic fabric in many Arab countries continues to be strained beyond malleable limits due to cascading regional challenges and global events. Sustainable development aspirations are falling out of reach in the face of multiple crises, which are having a toll on national and regional efforts to mobilize all means possible (financial and non-financial) to finance sustainable development.\

In its recent publication on ‘The State of Financing Development in the Arab Region (2019)’, ESCWA found that the resources required to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) exceeded the financial and non-financial means currently available to the Arab region. The Arab SDG gap was found to be rising under the influence of a ‘financing reflux’, which is impeding efforts to capitalize on the full array of financing solutions offered by the Addis Agenda.

It is within this context that ESCWA is convening the first session of the Committee on Financing for Development in the States Members of the Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia. The list of documents submitted to the session can be found below.