Remarks by the UN Resident Coordinator, Mr. George Wachira, at the Development Policy Dialogue Series Roundtable on Enabling Policies for Financing Sustainable Development and Enhancing Poverty Reduction.

Dr. Phil Mnisi, Governor of the Central Bank of Eswatini, 

Shrimati (Smt/Mrs.) Navjot Kaur - General Manager, Financial Inclusion and Development Department, Reserve Bank of India,

Excellencies members of the diplomatic corps, 

Senior Government Officials and representatives of state and parastatal entities,

UN colleagues, with special recognition to the UN Economic Commission for Africa and UNDP who are co-sponsors of this event alongside the CBE and UNRCO,

Esteemed speakers and panellists from various entities and organisations 

Esteemed delegates, valued partners, the media,

Distinguished ladies and gentlemen.

It is with great sense of honour and deep gratitude that I welcome you today on behalf of the United Nations Family in the Kingdom of Eswatini to this pivotal roundtable discussion on Enabling Policies for Financing Sustainable Development and Enhancing Poverty Reduction.

Allow me to start, as I must, by extending my profound gratitude to the CBE Governor Dr. Phil Mnisi for his enthusiastic support and leadership ever since we first discussed the idea of such a roundtable, and throughout the preparations despite his busy schedule. I particularly appreciate that at our very first meeting, Governor Mnisi showed a strong commitment to the collaborative exploration of ideas. Indeed, this gathering is about exploring ideas and learning together. Thank you, Governor, and your able team at the CBE for the excellent collaboration.

I also wish to acknowledge the Central Bank of India for their support; and from within the UN family, the UN Economic Commission for Africa and UNDP, not to mention my colleagues from the Resident Coordinators Office. Thank you all for your contributions to getting us here.

Why we are Here: The Context

Allow me to say a few words about why we are here today, and to do so by, first, highlighting a few contextual elements, globally and nationally.

Globally, the landscape presents daunting challenges—conflicts, the aftermath of the pandemic, climate change, finance crisis, higher costs of food and energy—all of which have set back our progress towards the Agenda 2030 of the SDGs. The high inflation driven by food and fuel prices, alongside shrinking development resources, underscores the urgent need for integrated policies and sustainable financing solutions. With a mere 12% achievement of these goals globally, the call for accelerated action has never been louder. 

Within this global context, we must recognise that there has been a shift in emphasis, away from traditional development funding (including donor aid) to models of financing development, including from domestic sources and increased international investments especially in countries like Eswatini that have been labelled as Middle Income. 

Nationally, Eswatini has done well in navigating the global challenges while maintain a steady and optimistic path forward. Most fundamentals suggest that the Kingdom is poised for take-off in building prosperity for all. At the same time, some stubborn facts and figures still stare at us, seeking to be addressed with urgency. These include the unacceptably high rate of poverty (59%), the high rate of unemployment between 24% and 36% from different sources) which is even higher for young people (between 49.7% and 58% from different sources), high inequalities, and the calls for improved service delivery – health, education, sanitation, social protection. 

Together, the global and national dimensions give a firm context for His Majesties call at Sibaya – that we are a time of ‘Nkwe’, where we need to move faster to respond to the needs of the people through accelerating development. 

It is also the reason we are here today: we are here to explore how policy and regulatory tools and frameworks can be leveraged to facilitate sustainable financing and investments in critical areas like renewable energy, agriculture, manufacturing, and MSMEs, which could in turn generate jobs and resources for further investment in the social sectors and services. 

When we came up with the idea of this roundtable, the Governor and I were inspired by the fact that central banks in many economies are encouraging and pioneering innovative financing mechanisms to support the transition to sustainable energy sources, boost agricultural productivity, and promote financial inclusion. 

In our conversation today, we are going to discuss the themes of Priority Sector Lending, Just Energy Transition, and Climate Financing opportunities, our goal being to shed light on these themes and explore actionable policies that could catalyze investments, spur economic development, create jobs, reduce poverty and preserve the environmental.

In my discussions with Dr. Mnisi, we agreed that we keep this first meeting at an expert level so that we can use all the time available to explore and learn together on the important topic of leveraging policy tools to enable financing for sustainable development.

Three Key Thoughts 

Allow me to conclude with three thoughts:

1. Locating Priority Investment Pathways to accelerate Sustainable Development: As we race towards 2030 with so much left to be done to achieve the SDGs and competing resource needs, the idea of strategic investments in areas that are likely to have the highest multiplier effect has become critical. In the run-up to the SGD Summit last year, six transformative investment pathways or transitions were identified: 1. transforming food systems, 2. affordable energy, 3. digital connectivity, 4. education, 5. job creation and social protection, and 6. climate change and pollution. I hope that in today’s conversation we can generate ideas on these or any other relevant national investment pathways that could be prioritised to deliver on the national vision of inclusive growth and sustainable development. 
2. Navigating Energy Transition Choices: Today’s conversation is not about advising Eswatini on the path to take; it is rather about ensuring that we have as much information on the table as we can to ensure strategic and informed choice-making. On the one hand, Eswatini has the pressing need for economic revitalization, job creation, and poverty reduction. At the same time, Eswatini’s commitment to environmental sustainability is evident in its alignment with global climate goals, including the Paris Agreement and the Nationally Determined Contributions which set the stage for a low-carbon, climate-resilient future. Eswatini is also developing its Climate Action Vision 2050 and Long-Term Low Emission Development Strategy, currently being developed with support from UNDP. The conversation today is about the options available and how we might navigate the trade-offs. 
3.  UN's Value Proposition: As always, the UN family remains committed to being the best partner possible in Eswatini’s journey to sustainable development. Allow me to highlight 3 offers that the UN brings to the table:
   • First, the UN’s convening power brings to the table a mosaic of stakeholders, each contributing ideas and innovative solutions. As we consider ideas about investments to accelerate sustainable development, the UN is available to support an exploration and development of bankable and market-ready national projects which could help financing to drive production for trade. 
   • The UN is available to support the needed shifts across policy and regulatory frameworks to ensure a system-wide alignment to achieve sustainable development. Given our vantage point globally and nationally, we insist on and are committed to systems thinking which keeps in view the interconnections of development choices, initiatives and investments in ways that could ensure sustainability and maximise impact. Applying systems thinking to the design of policies and regulatory frameworks would help to ensure the synergistic alignment of resources.
   • Institutional and stakeholder capacities are key in driving the development agenda. The UN is always available to support the capacity-building at scale to support public institutions and stakeholders over time to collectively drive the acceleration needed to achieve the development vision. 

Finally, it is my hope that, at the end of this morning’s discussions, we will not only leave here more enlightened about the topics of discussions, but we will also have some concrete, actionable ideas that we can take forward.

In particular – and the Governor and I have discussed this – we hope that we can follow-up this expert meeting with a policy-level roundtable where we can brief our policy makers and proposals that could give concrete expression to the outcome of today’s discussions.

Siyabonga kakhulu!