The emergence of stolen public assets recovery as an international vehicle for financing development

A background of crisis

Last week I indicated that the first international conference on financing for development held in Monterrey, Mexico at the end of 2002 was a precursor to the launching by the United Nations of its global development agenda. The ambition of that development agenda soon morphed into the Millennium Development Goals, 2005 to 2015. At the time of the first conference the world was gripped in multidimensional global crises spearheaded by the peace and security crisis arising from the 9/11 terrorist attack on the United States. This crisis-ridden global environment favoured bold international actions aimed at promoting peace and development.

In that column I had identified three innovative international best practices in financing for development,