20-21 June 2018, Ashgabat, Turkmenistan

In conjunction with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) nationalization process in Turkmenistan, the United Nations Development Programme and the State Bank for Economic Affairs (TFEB) are working to improve the access of Turkmenistan to international financing and to improve its capacity to deliver and manage such financing streams effectively.

As part of the joint initiative, UNDP and TFEB will hold Financing for Development Conference “Partnership for Development Financing at the Heart of the Great Silk Road” that brings together over 100 partners from interested ministries and state agencies, international financial institutions that have an interest in the country, private entities and commercial banks who are potential investors in the country, as well as development experts from UNDP and other international organizations.

One of the purposes of the event is to create a joint understanding of the country’s sustainable development priorities, the related financing needs and the various options that exist for mobilizing such resources, especially from international financial institutions and private capital.

As part of the Financing for Development Conference, participants are also offered to consider some specific ongoing development and infrastructure projects in Turkmenistan, such as construction of the TAPI pipeline, which contribute to the sustainable development of the region of greater Central Asia. The session also seeks to shed some light on government’s views on the issue of private sector development and diversification, and its priorities and measures for encouraging bilateral state and private investments.

Background

In September 2016, Turkmenistan nationalized Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), thereby defining its national development agenda up to 2030. The country adopted a government document that establishes the national coordination mechanism for the SDGs implementation, monitoring and reporting. Implementation of the nationalized SDG agenda would require much more significant financial resources and new approaches and partnerships for resource mobilization.

According to some estimates, achieving the SDGs globally will require as much as US$ 2.5 trillion of additional resources and investments annually (UNCTAD 2014). Addis Agenda of 2015 and the ECOSOC Forum on Financing for Development follow-up (FfD Forum) held in New York in April 2018 reaffirmed that a new approach to financing for development is needed, one that maximizes both domestic and international finance from public and private sources, bringing together grants, loans, private investment and other innovative sources of financing to support the Sustainable Development Goals.

Check out the agenda and speakers of the conference through: Partnership-for-Development-Financing-2018