The Politics of Inclusion in the Monterrey Process

The Monterrey Conference on Financing for Development in 2002 brought leaders and senior officials from Governments and international organizations, senior financial sector executives and NGO advocates together for the first time on “hard” financial and trade matters. The Conference provided a forum at which participants talked to each other in informal roundtables, as well as made public speeches. Commitments were made to increase development assistance and to improve global as well as national governance. This paper examines how this unique event came about, traces the backsliding in international dialogue since then, and suggests how it could be reinvigorated.