CAPE CONFERENCE 2014 DAY 1 Simon Maxwell

1.What did we do? 2.What did we learn? 3.Some brief reflections 4.What’s next?

What did we do? Context and overview What lessons did the MDG era yield for development finance? Domestic revenue mobilisation, international public finance and the SDGs. What role for international public finance?

What did we learn? (18 speakers) 1.The world has changed (fewer LICs, more tax revenue) 2.Aid remains essential for poorest countries. 3.There’s a lot going on (SDGs, FFD, Sendai, UNFCCC, but also DAC on definitions) 4.There is lots of technical work to do on all aspects of finance for development (oda, domestic revenue-raising, leveraging private finance) 5.Politics matters, nationally and internationally (e.g. wrt to tax, non- oda issues). 6.Global normative frameworks ‘can’ help focus minds.

Some brief reflections Don’t think we all agree. The world has changed – but not half as much as it is going to! Active financial policy is an essential instrument for managing transformation. Active financial policy should be comprehensive and multi-level (don’t ignore global issues). Remember to build on what we have (OWG, ICESDF) and will have (SG Report, ERD, flagship prep’n) Managing the politics means solving the simultaneous equation.

What’s next? Leveraging the right entry points and finding the right priorities