On June 11, Mher Margaryan, Chargé d'Affaires a.i. of Armenia to the United Nations, delivered remarks as a panelist at a discussion entitled “Unlocking SDG Financing: findings from Early Adopters” held during the high-level event “Financing for SDGs — Breaking the bottlenecks of Investment, from Policy to Impact” of the 72nd session of the General Assembly of the United Nations.

The panel served as a platform to launch the study conducted by the United Nations Development Operations Coordination Office and the Dag Hammarshjöld Foundation focusing on the experiences of three countries, Armenia, Indonesia, and Kenya, which have been identified as “early adopters” of the UN’s practical work to unlock broader, non-traditional financial flows for development. The study reports that financing initiatives in Armenia have followed two major trends since the adoption of SDGs in 2015: the emergence of social enterprises and a shift from traditional philanthropic activities towards venture philanthropy and impact investing.

The participants discussed the role of the UN in innovative space for the sustainable development goals, highlighting the case of Armenia as a unique case where partnership between private and public sectors has morphed into a thriving tech start-up hub and attracted global recognition.

The list of panelists included Bradley Busetto, the former UN Resident Coordinator in Armenia, now senior Advisor to the UN Joint SDG Fund, Andrea Armeni, Co-Founder and Executive Director of “Transform Finance”, Esther Pan Sloane, head of Partnerships, Policy and Communications, UN Capital Development Fund, Gail Hurley, Policy Specialist at UNDP, Lisa Orrenius, Head of Office of Dag Hammarshjöld Foundation and Richard Bailey, Joint Funding/Financing for Development Specialist at UN DOCO.