The G20 Development Working Group held its fourth meeting under the Italian G20 Presidency to finalise its outcome documents and discuss the follow-up to the Matera Declaration on Food Security, Nutrition and Food Systems.
The Development Working Group (DWG) met for the fourth time on September 13th and 14th under the Italian G20 Presidency. The meeting was attended by delegates from G20 members, invited countries and representatives from international and regional organisations.
The two-day meeting, chaired by Amb. Marco Ricci, focused on the negotiations on the three DWG outcome documents which reflect the G20 priorities set during the Italian Presidency in the area of sustainable development: 1) Financing for Sustainable Development, 2) Territorial Development and SDGs Localisation, and 3) the 2021 Rome Update.
G20 delegations welcomed the collective work undertaken during the year and conveyed wide support and satisfaction for the quality and the ambition of the DWG outcome documents and deliverables. These build on a series of Thematic Group meetings that took place in the first half of 2021 and proved very useful to facilitate the advancement of the DWG agenda, thanks to the contributions of developing countries, international organisations, civil society organisations, G20 engagement groups and other stakeholders.
In the area of Territorial Development and Localisation of the SDGs, the DWG envisages a G20 Platform for policy dialogue on SDGs Localisation and Intermediary Cities, whose launch is foreseen by the end of 2021, G20 High Level Principles and the development of a Compendium on city-to-city partnerships for the SDGs.
In the area of Financing for Sustainable Development (FSD), the DWG engagement focuses on promoting Integrated National Financing Frameworks (INFFs), Sustainability-related financial instruments and the definition of a Common vision for aligning finance with the SDGs in developing countries.
The Group is also finalising the 2021 Rome Update, a key deliverable of the DWG which serves as a roadmap to highlight G20 contributions to the 2030 Agenda during the Italian Presidency and take stock of the progress made on previous G20 Development Commitments.
Finally, DWG delegates discussed updates and options to ensure concrete and collective actions to follow-up on the Matera Declaration towards and beyond the Rome Summit.
In the next days, the DWG will conclude the negotiations and finalise its outcome documents ahead of the Rome G20 Summit.