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At the official launch of the INFF Facility, Mr. Akhadbek Khaydarov, Deputy Minister of Finance shared Uzbekistan’s experience on development of INFF and issuance of the first SDG Bonds. The event was organized by UNDP, OECD, UN DESA, the EU, the Governments of Italy and Sweden to announce a new joint flagship initiative – the Integrated National Financing Framework (INFF) Facility.
Integrated national financing frameworks (INFFs) were first introduced by UN Member States in the 2015 Addis Ababa Action Agenda as a country-led approach to strengthen public and private financing for sustainable development.
“Although there is enough money in the world to finance the SDGs, it is not allocated in the right places and amounts — just 20% of global capital is held in developing countries, which are home to 84% of the world’s population,” said Achim Steiner, UNDP Administrator. “To bridge this gap, this new INFF Facility will provide countries with the technology, expertise, and tools they need to implement ambitious financing strategies that will unlock game-changing levels of finance — allowing countries to take decisive climate action and make future-orientated investments in key areas like nature, literacy, healthcare and sanitation.”
Today, over 80 countries are developing INFFs and Uzbekistan is one of them. Moreover, Uzbekistan became one of the first in the region to issue a Sovereign Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Bond. Mr. Akhadbek Khaydarov, Deputy Minister of Finance shared the country’s experience on how INFF is helping implement strategies and reforms to finance national sustainable development priorities and the SDGs.
“Our overarching goal for the next five years is to increase the country’s GDP per capita by 1.6 times and to join a group of upper-middle income countries by 2030,” noted Mr. Khaydarov. “We expect that INFF will help us to build a holistic approach for mobilizing public and private finance as well as strengthening the dialogue across the Government, private sector and civil society.”
In his speech, he also highlighted the role of INFF in mobilizing financial resources through innovative instruments. According to him, last year, Uzbekistan launched ‘Yashil Makon’ initiative to plant trees across the country and preserve national resources. Such activities increasingly require the mobilization of both public and private capital which the country intends to harness through innovative financial instruments such a green bond, blended finance, green Sukuk and others. “INFF is helping us better manage such a diverse development financing landscape and finance national development priorities and SDGs in a coherent manner.”
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Since 2020 the Government of Uzbekistan has been implementing the UN Joint Programme “Establishment of Integrated National Financing Framework for Sustainable Development in Uzbekistan”, led by UNDP alongside the United Nations Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF), the World Health Organization (WHO) and the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). It aims to facilitate the establishment of an Integrated National Financing Framework (INFF) in the country to maximize the development impact of ongoing reforms. The Joint Programme is funded by the UN Joint SDG Fund with contributions from the European Union and governments of: Denmark, Germany, Ireland, Luxembourg, Monaco, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland.
