FIG Policy Symposia

In late June 2025, UN member states held the 4th International Conference on Financing for Development (FfD4) in Sevilla, Spain, to agree on an ambitious global financing agenda that advances sustainable development. To help ensure that FfD4 not only addresses quantity but also quality of financing, UNDP launched its Finance, Integrity and Governance (FIG) Initiative, in close collaboration with UNDESA. FIG serves as a co-creative knowledge track that is separate from but in support of member states’ FfD4 negotiations.

The FIG Initiative consists of three multi-stakeholder symposia that provide stakeholders with a space to examine emerging issues on financial integrity and governance in an informal, Chatham House Rule-based, safe space. Each symposium is followed by a working paper that summarizes key insights and recommendations surfaced during the discussions.  

The FIG Working Papers are available to download on this page. The first paper is based on a FIG Symposium in May 2024, and focuses on financial integrity in connection with the two topics of international tax cooperation and illicit financial flows (IFFs). The second paper, based on a FIG symposium in October 2024, covers financial integrity in relation to the two themes of sovereign debt and professional service providers’ role regarding IFFs and tax abuse. The third and last paper reflects discussions in a FIG symposium held in April 2025 around the topics of domestic public resources and an FfD4 follow-up mechanism. 

A fourth, complementary paper published in June 2025 synthesises the outcomes of the three FIG symposia held between May 2024 and April 2025, translating key insights and recommendations into forward-looking action areas to support the implementation of FfD4 commitments on financial integrity and governance.

The fifth paper focuses on key practical and technical constraints to tackling IFFs. It is intended as an aide to stakeholders engaged in the implementation of illicit finance-focused FdD4 commitments. This report identifies five constraints and offers recommendations for how these may be overcome.