General Assembly Passes Resolution on Financial Inclusion for Sustainable Development

The UN General Assembly today adopted a resolution stressing the importance of financial inclusion as a key tool for implementing many of the vital development goals enshrined in new Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Addis Ababa financing for development agenda.

Reiterating the significance of financial inclusion, as acknowledged in these agreements and in other high-level discussions, the resolution formally lays out the support of member states for extending “full and equal access to formal financial services for all.”

The resolution emphasizes that several  of the key SDGs—including eliminating poverty, gender inequality, and hunger, and building economic growth—explicitly mention financial inclusion among their targets. Negotiators are currently discussing which indicators, including financial inclusion, will be used to measure progress on each of these goals.  The resolution also encourages integrating financial inclusion in the follow-up and review framework of the SDGs and calls on the UN system to do everything possible to ensure its implementation.

The full text of the UN resolution appears below and can also be found on the UN website.


United Nations General Assembly
Seventieth session Second Committee

Macroeconomic policy questions: international financial system and development

Draft resolution submitted by the Vice-Chair of the Committee, Purnomo Ahmad Chandra (Indonesia), on the basis of informal consultations on draft resolution A/C.2/70/L.36

FINANCIAL INCLUSION FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

The General Assembly,

Guided by the purposes and principles enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations,

Reaffirming its resolution 70/1 of 25 September 2015, entitled “Transforming our world: the 203 0 Agenda for Sustainable Development”, which adopts a comprehensive, far-reaching and people-centred set of universal and transformative Sustainable Development Goals and targets, its commitment to working tirelessly y for the full implementation of this Agenda by 2030, its recognition that eradicating poverty in all its forms and dimensions, including extreme poverty, is the greatest global challenge and an indispensable requirement for sustainable development, and its commitment to achieving sustainable development in its three dimensions economic,  social  and  environmental—in a balanced  and  integrated manner, building upon the achievements of the Millennium Development Goals and seeking to address their unfinished business,

Reaffirming also its resolution 69/313 of 27 July 2015 on the Addis Ababa Action Agenda of the third International Conference on Financing for Development, which is an integral part of the 203 0 Agenda for Sustainable Development, supports and complements it and helps to contextualize its means of implementation targets with concrete policies and actions, and reaffirmed the strong political  commitment to address the challenge of financing and creating an enabling environment at all levels for sustainable development in the spirit of global partnership and solidarity,

Recalling that the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, inter alia, sets out policies, the adoption and implementation of which seek to increase financial inclusion, and that the Addis Ababa Action Agenda, inter alia, seeks to ensure a policy and regulatory environment for the promotion of financial inclusion in a balanced manner and with appropriate consumer protection, working towards full and equal access to formal financial services for all,

Emphasizing the relevance of inclusion in the international financial system at all levels and the importance of considering financial inclusion as a policy objective in financial regulation, in accordance with national priorities and legislation,

Acknowledging that the promotion of formal financial systems and services with robust risk-based regulatory frameworks for all financial intermediation, as appropriate, contributes to effectively and comprehensively combating corruption and curbing illicit financial flows,

Taking note of the summary by the President of the Economic and Social Council of the special high-level meeting of the Council with the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the World Trade Organization and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (New York, 20 and 21 April 2015),[1] of the report of the Secretary-General on the international financial system and development[2] and of the report of the Secretary-General on the outcome of the third International Conference on Financing for Development,[3]

Stressing the importance of inclusiveness within the United Nations development system and that no country be left behind in the implementation of the present re solution,

  1. Welcomes the inclusion in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development[4] of, inter alia, several targets related to the promotion of financial inclusion, recalls that the Sustainable Development Goals and associated targets are integrated and indivisible and balance the three dimensions of sustainable development, and in this regard looks forward to their achievement;
     
  2. Also welcomes the inclusion in the Addis Ababa Action Agenda[5] of, inter alia, several policies and actions intended to ensure a policy and regulatory environment for the promotion of financial inclusion, and in this regard looks forward to their implementation;
     
  3. Decides to give consideration, as appropriate, to financial  inclusion in the follow-up and review framework of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and in the follow-up process of the Addis Ababa Action Agenda;
     
  4. Calls upon the relevant organizations of the United Nations system, within their respective mandates and resources, to ensure that no country is left behind in the implementation of the present resolution;
     
  5. Decides to include, under the item entitled “Macroeconomic policy questions”, the sub-item entitled “Financial inclusion for sustainable development”, in the provisional agenda of its seventy-second session, unless otherwise agreed in the discussions on the revitalization of the Second Committee.

[1] A/70/85-E/2015/77.

[2] A/70/311.

[3] A/70/320.

[4] Resolution 70/1.

[5] Resolution 69/313