Two years on after the Third International Conference on Development Finance in Addis Ababa, the involvement of the private sector and partner country governments in sustainable development remains a highly topical subject. However, the question remains, has the conference’s action agenda led to any evident change?

During SITE Development Day discussions were held to find out how much progress the world has achieved two years down the road when the initial enthusiasm and commitments are no longer in the immediate spotlight. The conference began with a speech by Anna Hammargren, Deputy Director General, Ministry for Foreign Affairs.

As the first speaker Raj Desai, Professor at Georgetown University and Senior Resident at the Brookings Institution, gave a presentation on the effects of IFC operations "Combining Good Business and Good Development: Evidence from IFC Operations".

The first presentation was followed by a panel discussion on sustainable business practices with experts:

• Eva Blixt, Senior Advisor on Environmental Issues and Research Manager at Jernkontoret (see presentation)
• Måns Nilsson, Deputy Director and Research Director at the Stockholm Environment Institute (see presentation)
• Rami Abdelrahman, Global Program Manager at the Sweden Textile Water Initiative
• Lena Hök, Head of Sustainability and Ideas for Life at Skandia (see presentation)
• Raj Desai, Professor at Georgetown University and Senior Resident at the Brookings Institution

After the coffee break, next panel elaborated on the topic of private capital for development and foreign aid with experts: 

• John Hurley, Visiting Policy Fellow Centre for Global Development and former lead US negotiator for the Addis Ababa Action Agenda (see presentation)
• Charlotte Petri Gornitzka, Chair of the OECD's Development Assistance Committee
• Anna Ryott, Managing Director Swedfund (see presentation)
• Magnus Cedergren, Head of Unit, Loans & Guarantees, Sida (see presentation)
• Penny Davies, Policy Adviser at Diakonia (see presentation)

Måns Fellesson, Deputy Director at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, continued with a presentation regarding the action agenda from Addis Ababa and how it is used in achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

Owen Barder, Vice President at the Center for Global Development, discussed how insurance contracts could improve emergency and humanitarian aid. 

Finally, the conference hosted a panel discussion on the central topic within development and aid on how to ensure the reliability and sustainability of institutional investments while securing the allocation of resources to those in greatest need, with experts: 

• Ulf Erlandsson, Senior Portfolio Manager at Global Macro Trading, Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund (AP4) (see presentation)
• Elina Scheja, Lead Economist at Sida
• Mats Olausson, Senior Advisor to the Climate & Sustainable Financial Solutions Team, SEB
• Frida Arounsavath, Researcher, Swedwatch (see presentation)
• Owen Barder, Vice President at the Center for Global Development

Conference discussions from panels and presented research conclusions are reported in the FREE Policy Brief written by Anders Olofsgård, Deputy Director at the Stockholm Institute of Transition Economics (click here).

In order to make the next Development Day even more relevant and better organized, please fill out this short post-conference survey and leave your suggestions and comments (click here).

In total, more than 130 scholars, policy makers, experts, and practitioners participated in the SITE Development Day 2017. To see the conference highlights, participants, speakers, and panelists, please see conference photos on SITE Facebook page.