In the lead up to the Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development, the meeting will continue negotiations on the outcome document and invite observers to comment on the revised text.

Governments and other stakeholders completed their first full reading of the zero draft of the outcome document on financing for development, focusing on issues from illicit financial flows and reform of international financial institutions to corruption, official development assistance, and debt.

UN Member States started a three-year process to negotiate the convention and two protocols on priority issues. This process contributes to the discussion on reforming the architecture of the international financial system.

The nearly USD 700 million Work Program approved focuses heavily on chemicals and waste at a time when the GEF hopes to prove to the multilateral community it has the capacity to serve as the financial mechanism for a global plastics treaty and that it could play a significant role in realizing the vision of the Global Framework on Chemicals.