Fifty years ago in 1975, leaders from the industrialised world gathered in Paris to discuss the 1973 oil crisis, financial shock, and subsequent global recession that knew no borders. Canada joined the following year. What has since become known as the G7 saw its member countries agree to gather annually to discuss the world’s most pressing political and economic challenges. The effort highlighted global cooperation.
It seems only fitting that this year’s theme for Canada’s International Development Week (IDW) is Building a better world together.
At the same time, Canada assumes this year's G7 presidency, and FinDev Canada – Canada's bilateral Development Finance Institution (DFI) is preparing to lead the work with peer DFIs and share how best to leverage the power of the private sector to innovate, create jobs, and develop markets to solve global challenges.
A collective identity and shared values
Earlier this year, the G7 development finance “baton” was officially passed from our Italian counterparts, the Cassa Depositi e Prestiti (CDP), to FinDev Canada. Ongoing collaboration among the DFIs is important to advance development issues facing emerging markets and developing economies (EMDEs), and so continuity has been core to the transition.
This year, FinDev Canada has three objectives for the G7 development finance track:
Leadership: Amplifying Canada as a leader in development finance through the private sector across priority issues including energy, infrastructure, and food security;
Legacy: Strengthening collaboration among the G7 DFIs to better address the interconnectedness of the issues and the existing work in progress;
Leverage: Mobilising private capital and harnessing the innovation of the private sector to support market-based solutions in EMDEs. FinDev Canada recently received CAD$700 million in concessional finance to support the de-risking of development assets. This aims to attract private investors to EMDEs, and is one example of how blended finance lowers barriers to entry in less developed markets.
Stronger together
The strength and potential of collaboration is well-captured in the proverb, “Sticks in a bundle are unbreakable.” Our greatest strength lies in our cooperation. The G7 DFIs alone have loans and equity outstanding of approximately US$65 billion – sizable capacity to advance sustainable private sector growth and positive development impact.
Our objectives in leading the DFI workstream seek to strengthen their roles to more effectively mobilise resources, streamline efforts, and ensure continuity across priority development issues.
Cooperation also extends to the DFIs’ key partners in the private sector. DFIs are uniquely positioned to meet the private sector where it is – leveraging their core capital or concessional capital, each with its own risk-return dynamic, to de-risk opportunities. Products like blended finance enable private investment to be scaled while risks are properly managed.
DFIs tend to partner well with the private sector because they have a comparative advantage in the co-creation of blended finance opportunities. FinDev Canada is excited to collaborate with partners, such as the Investor Leadership Network, and their member investors, to identify opportunities to be catalytic in sectors like infrastructure - amplifying respective capital strengths, industry knowledge, and market expertise.
Through this private capital mobilisation lens, the DFIs are exploring the work of the Partnership for Global Investment and Infrastructure (PGII). FinDev Canada will assume the Chair of the DFI Expert Working Group of the PGII to advance capital mobilisation and identify opportunities for DFIs to enable critical mineral development while balancing global standards on environmental, social, and governance.
Together with CDP and British Investment International, FinDev Canada will also implement the Collaborative on Sustainable Food Systems - an initiative brought forward from Italy’s Presidency. Collectively we will strengthen coherence in our investments across sectors that contribute to food security in EMDEs.
Further, in June 2025, following the Leaders' Summit, FinDev Canada will host G7 Development Finance Days in Montreal to engage with a broader Canadian and international ecosystem of development finance stakeholders to advance an agenda on private capital mobilisation. This can begin to calibrate the right work in front of the right organisations while responding to the urgency and scale required.
Overall, by communicating our shared values and identity, the G7 DFIs are optimistic about the possibilities that emerge when we cooperate and “stick together.”
Like the goals of International Development Week, FinDev Canada’s efforts aim to contribute to Canada’s economic security, resilience, and prosperity. Stay tuned for more updates from FinDev Canada and the G7 DFIs during Canada’s G7 presidency.