UN Forum Focuses on Financing for Development Goals

United Nations Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed and the IMF's Christine Lagarde join world leaders for the Financing for Development (FfD) Forum at UN Headquarters. The meetings come almost two years after the Addis Ababa FfD Summit to implement the global SDGs or Sustainable Development Goals"Two years ago, world leaders made promises through the Addis Ababa Action Agenda to build a more responsible global financial system," notes Eric LeCompte who helped negotiate the outcomes and gave remarks during the closing sessions. LeCompte leads the religious development group Jubilee USA. "We must follow through on the commitments we made together in Addis Ababa."The agreement in Addis Ababa two years ago expressed concern about predatory financial actors or so-called "vulture" funds. Commitments were made to promote responsible lending and borrowing and curb tax evasion and corruption."The developing world loses more than a trillion dollars a year due to irresponsible lending, tax evasion and corruption," said LeCompte, "The success of these efforts at the United Nations will be judged on what practical ways we can move an agenda forward that supports the developing world to harness these revenues."Jubilee USA Network is an alliance of more than 75 US organizations and 650 faith communities working with 50 Jubilee global partners. Jubilee USA builds an economy that serves, protects and promotes the participation of the most vulnerable. Jubilee USA wins critical global financial reforms and won more than $130 billion in debt relief to benefit the world's poorest people.  www.jubileeusa.org