As Prepared for Delivery

When the UN was founded 75 years ago, the world was predominantly rural. Only 30% of people lived in urban areas. By 2010, we reached a fifty-fifty share. Now, today, 66% of us live in towns and cities, a complete reversal of the situation at the founding of the United Nations.

We hear a lot of talk about Agenda 2030, about the Financing for Development Agenda, about the Paris Agreement. But there is a fourth global agreement, which has been forgotten. This is Habitat 3 and the New Urban Agenda. Yet, it is imperative that the city and local government financing agenda is addressed because in an urban world, this is critical for action to reach the Agenda 2030 goals. Not only in terms of environmental sustainability because we will not survive on this planet unless we get that right, but also for social goals, and economic and social sustainability.

In many continents, urbanization has reached 80%, has produced high productivity and higher living standards. But this is not a guarantee. Africa and parts of Southeast Asia are urbanizing at a record-breaking rate without the associated investments, without the associated productivity increases. This is critical and dangerous, and if we are not careful, we will lock in inequality and environmental unsustainability in these incredibly, quickly, rapidly growing cities.

The International Municipal Investment Fund (IMIF) is part of the coalition between the United Nations Capital Development Fund and United Cities and Local Governments for a global financial ecosystem that works for cities and local governments. We thank the Swiss Development Corporation, Sweden, the European Union and other partners for bringing us to this level where we now have the world’s first dedicated fund to invest in resilient, sustainable projects in developing country cities; accompanied by the Technical Assistance Facility (IMIF-TAF), which will work with governments on the policy and regulatory environments to enable cities to access global capital markets, domestic capital markets, and the investment finance that is necessary for the housing, the transport, the green space, the energy, the waste disposal, and all that is necessary to the make the future urban world a nice, safe place to live in for our children and grandchildren.