Permanent Mission of the Russian Federation to the United Nations

Permanent Mission of the Russian Federation to the United Nations

Statement by Ms. Svetlana Lukash, G-20 Sherpa, Deputy Chief of Presidential Experts Directorate, Executive Office of the President of the Russian Federation at the High-Level Dialogue on Financing for Development

Distinguished colleagues, 

Russia prioritizes the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals both in its national policy and globally. 

I will emphasize 3 specific proposals based on the Russian expertise in financing for development and participation in the work of multilateral institutions. 

1. Implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals has shown that developing countries have achieved major progress as a result of the mobilization of their own efforts. 

The main internal source of financing is an effective and transparent tax system. 

Today, international community has effective instruments to combat tax evasion and tax base erosion. 

Base Erosion and Profit Shifting Action Plan elaborated by the OECD and G-20 as well as the agreements on the automatic exchange of data on financial accounts have already provided an unprecedented level of transparency in tax issues. Tax havens and off-shore funds were identified and now they can be effectively taxed, the use of cross-border taxation systems has significantly declined. More than 130 jurisdictions joined the G20/OECD Inclusive Framework for BEPS. Introduction of the provisions of the plan into the national legislation guarantees increase in public revenues. 

Russia itself successfully uses this initiative and provides technical assistance to its EAEU partners in building national systems of tax administration.

2. So far, no institutional basis for cooperation in combating illicit financial flows has been established. International law provides only framework norms without regulating reciprocal rights and obligations of states to find and recover assets. That is why we propose establishing a multilateral legal mechanism under the auspices of the UN to recover criminal assets.

Key conditions for the efficiency of such a mechanism are practical cooperation of law enforcement bodies of our countries, disclosure of information on criminal assets in countries of origin and of destination, and elaboration of principles for the management of arrested, confiscated and recovered assets.

3. We see the key task for development financing in establishing conditions for the inflow of long-term investment from all sources possible.

In this context, bankable projects are essential. To prepare quality projects for development we call on to a more active use of the opportunities provided by multilateral development banks and recommendations of the G-20 on increasing the efficiency of all stages of investment projects implementation.

In conclusion, I would like to highlight that we can reach the objectives of financing for development only by joint efforts, through cooperation, partnership and coordination of governments, financial institutions, private sector and civil society. It's only this way we will be able to make the world more sustainable, inclusive and fair for all.

Here the UN play a coordinating role. However, we believe it necessary to enhance cooperation between the UN and other competent international institutions - the IMF, the World Bank, OECD, and G-20 - and to use their initiatives and recommendations to achieve synergies.

Thank you for your attention.