Mr Chairman, [Secretary General], excellencies, ladies and gentlemen,

The private sector organizations and their business leaders thank you for inviting us to work with you. We are grateful to the Financing for Development Secretariat for this opportunity and for their support.

We have taken up the challenge to be active partners both in the preparation of this conference and here in Monterrey.

Business recognizes that the development of investment opportunities coincides directly with the objectives of this conference – to provide financing for development.

We know that ODA plays a critical role, but it will never be sufficient to meet the needs of the world’s least developed countries.

The only long-term and sustainable source of development finance is private sector investment – both domestic and international.

At this conference, business has delivered a range of innovative financing mechanisms and practical models for partnerships with governments and international institutions ... to actually mobilise this capital.

More than thirty concrete proposals were launched at the Business Forum on day one. Each one was followed up in the next days during dialogues with partners from governments and international organizations.

These proposals included:

- the financing of power, water and infrastructure projects - by Vistech, Suez, Electricite de France, Standard & Poors and the Business Council for the UN;

- the strengthening of small and medium-size enterprises through private sector equity funds - by State Street Global Advisors;

- incubating local sources of venture capital - by Potomac Associates;

- enhancing debt and equity financing – by AMBAC, the Zurich Group and Spring Investment;

- linking micro-credit with connectivity to redevelop Afghanistan – by Grameen Phone;

- establishing a Global Information Clearinghouse to strengthen information, analytics and risk management for countries and investors – by Samuels Associates;

- enabling international debt work-outs and international bankruptcy mechanisms – by the Securities Industry Association;

- and producing Investment Guides to help the poorest countries attract new investment – by the International Chamber of Commerce.

At our Follow Up Dialogues, we were heartened by the active interest taken by:

- the World Bank
- the International Monetary Fund (IMF)
- the International Finance Corporation (IFC)
- the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB)
- Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA)
- the US Agency for International Development (US A.I.D)
- UNCTAD
- and the UN’s Department of Economic and Social Affairs;

We would like to thank the governments that have shown interest in these proposals.

There are no silver bullets here. None of these proposals can be implemented by business alone. They need to take root in each country - and, to succeed – they need the active participation of your governments.

Business came to Monterrey under the motto “Let´s move from words to action” - and we are committed to doing just that, in partnership with you all.