Mexico Holds the 10th Retreat of the Group of Friends of Monterrey on Financing for Development

• This event marks a decade of strategic dialogue on Financing for Development (FfD). Its tenth retreat is the first global gathering focused on advancing the Sevilla Commitment (2025), an international agreement that lays out concrete steps to strengthen the financial architecture and close the financing gap for sustainable development.
• The retreat helped align positions among countries and international organizations ahead of the 2026 ECOSOC Forum on Financing for Development Follow-Up, at a pivotal moment for reinforcing the UN's role in addressing global challenges.

The 10th Retreat of the Group of Friends of Monterrey opened this Wednesday in Mexico City, bringing together international stakeholders for a two-day strategic dialogue focused on Financing for Development (FfD).

The event was inaugurated by Enrique Ochoa, Mexico's Undersecretary for Multilateral Affairs and Human Rights; María del Carmen Bonilla Rodríguez, Undersecretary of Finance and Public Credit; and Li Junhua, United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs.

The retreat drew more than 130 representatives from governments, the United Nations, international financial institutions, multilateral development banks, academia, and civil society - all convening at a decisive moment for the implementation of the Sevilla Commitment, adopted in 2025 at the Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development. This year's retreat was the first global meeting to focus specifically on its follow-up and implementation.

At the opening session, Undersecretary Ochoa stressed the importance of "moving from ambition to implementation, from shared language to concrete action. The SDG financing gap continues to widen, and without adequate resources and clear means of implementation, even our most carefully negotiated commitments risk becoming little more than wishful thinking."

Undersecretary Bonilla Rodríguez echoed that message: "Following the adoption of the Sevilla Commitment at last year's Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development, the international community has gained renewed political momentum and a comprehensive framework for tackling some of the most pressing challenges facing the global financial system. The focus now shifts from negotiation to implementation."

UN Under-Secretary-General Li Junhua noted: "For over a decade, the Group has brought together the true champions of the financing agenda. You have been instrumental in keeping development financing high on the UN agenda and I am counting on your leadership to drive the implementation of the Sevilla Commitment."

Discussions turned on structural issues of global stability and development, including debt and financial sustainability, reform of the international financial architecture, domestic resource mobilization and tax progressivity, and trade as an engine of development.

The retreat also served to prepare for the 2026 ECOSOC Forum on Financing for Development Follow-Up - the first formal forum charged with reviewing the implementation of the Sevilla Commitment - and provided an opportunity to examine development finance within the framework of Secretary-General António Guterres' UN80 initiative, which aims to strengthen the effectiveness of the United Nations system amid ongoing budget constraints.

The Group of Friends of Monterrey, established by Mexico, Germany, and Switzerland in 2016, is an informal forum for open, candid strategic dialogue ahead of formal negotiations on Financing for Development.

This retreat reflects Mexico's commitment to the Financing for Development agenda since the Monterrey Conference of 2002. The implementation of the Sevilla Commitment now stands as a meaningful test of the international community's capacity for collective action and of the relevance of multilateralism.