The 1st Session of the Preparatory Committee for the 4th International Conference on Financing for Sustainable Development commenced on Monday 22 July 2024 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The outcome of the week-long conference serves as foundation for the Fourth International Conference to be held in Spain in 2025.

Leading the delegation on behalf of the Honourable Minister of Finance Dr. Rets’elisitsoe Matlanyane, the Ambassador of The Kingdom of Lesotho to the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, H.E Ntšiuoa Sekete, tabled five proposals to address financial challenges facing developing countries, and for the acceleration of the implementation of the SDGs.

The Ambassador highlighted promotion of debt sustainability and exploring debt relief; scaling up Foreign Direct Investment; reforming the international financial architecture, and multilateral development governance reform; scaling up concessional financing resources in order to meet SDGs financing needs, as well as supporting domestic resource mobilization in vulnerable countries.

The Addis Ababa Action Agenda (AAAA), is said to be the most ambitious global financial framework to mobilize resources for the implementation of Sustainable Development Goals and means for the implementation of the 2030 Agenda that was agreed in 2015 when Ethiopia hosted the 3rd Financing for Development Conference.