Interest in the United Nations SDG Investment Fair

Taking advantage of their participation in the High-level Political Forum (HLPF), the ORU Fogar delegations held meetings with the organizers of the SDG Investment Fair: Javier Caicedo Trujillo, Economic Affairs Officer in the Policy Integration Unit of the Financing for Sustainable Development Office (FSDO) within the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA), and Mariangela Parra-Lancourt, Chief of the Strategic Engagement and Policy Integration Unit of the Financing for Sustainable Development Office (FSDO) at UN DESA. The first meeting, held on 10 July, was attended by Fabián Koki Noriega, Governor of Áncash (Peru), and Carles Llorens, Secretary General of ORU Fogar. The following day, the UN DESA representatives met with Rachid El Abdi, President of ORU Fogar, accompanied by regional presidents from Mali and Senegal.

During both meetings, an overview of the SDG Investment Fair was presented. Launched in 2018, the Fair was initially conceived as an annual event aimed at closing the financing gap preventing developing countries from achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Over the years, it has evolved from a one-off event into a year-round platform for collaboration. This transformation reflects the need to provide continuous support rather than isolated interventions. A key milestone in its recent history was its tenth edition, held in Seville in 2025 during the Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development (FfD4), where the Seville Commitment was adopted to further strengthen the platform's role.

The Fair is much more than a meeting space; it is a comprehensive ecosystem built around several essential components. At its core are the Live Pitches, during which governments present concrete, SDG-aligned investment opportunities to a selected audience of institutional investors, development banks and private-sector stakeholders. Equally important are the technical assistance services and Investment Clinics, through which the Fair provides expert support to improve the bankability of projects, including training on risk mitigation, SDG impact assessment and the preparation of effective investment pitches designed to attract capital.

The Fair also serves as a platform for thematic policy dialogue. It hosts high-level round tables addressing structural issues such as financial regulation, blended finance, the energy transition and access to finance for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). In doing so, it becomes a space for building connections and strategic partnerships, acting as a global hub that fosters long-term relationships between the public and private sectors, including networks such as the Global Investors for Sustainable Development (GISD) Alliance.

To date, more than 30 countries have used this platform to showcase projects in key sectors such as transport, clean energy and agriculture, building an investment portfolio worth tens of billions of dollars.

Representatives of ORU Fogar and the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA) agreed to work in close coordination over the coming months so that several regional projects could be presented at the April 2027 SDG Investment Fair, with the objective of securing international financing opportunities.