 We're going to get started. It's already a few minutes past nine o'clock. I'm Kunal Sen, the director of UniWider. I'm very excited to see all of you here in person and, of course, virtually. I want to invite Bhad Vigarh Solyem to the director general of NORAD to give his welcome address to all of you. We are indebted in UniWider that NORAD has been supporting us not only for this conference, but for the entire program that you're going to listen to the different sessions, the domestic resource mobilization, the domestic revenue mobilization. And so wonderful to have Bhad here in person. Bhad, did you want to give a few opening remarks? Thank you. So good morning, everyone. And welcome to Oslo on this sunny, crisp autumn day. It's like this every day in Oslo. It's also a great honor for me to open this important and really timely conference. And I should add also a few words about our support for UniWider, which is not a gift because UniWider is a valued partner and a really, really useful partner in our tax for development program. Of course, through their domestic revenue mobilization program. But it doesn't only produce excellent research of high academic quality. It also manages, we believe, to connect with policy relevance to authorities in the global south, which is, of course, important for us. And the conference also underlines something that is really important for us in NORAD, which is to use knowledge and insight in our grant management and in our policy advice. Actually, we have an internal advice. And I'll say it in Norwegian first because it's much better in Norwegian because it rhymes in Norwegian as fakta har makta. Or in English, facts inform policy. And facts, of course, it's because it rhymes. It's about knowledge and insights informing policy. And being able to use that in our grant management thoroughly. And that is maybe more needed now than in a long time because we are in a decade, which is quite different from and much more challenging than we believed it would be. So we have behind us really now generation of immense social and economic progress globally. I usually start this way so we shouldn't forget what we've been through. So if we go back to 1950, around 70% two out of three people globally lived in extreme poverty. Before COVID, it was less than 10%. And also, just looking at the last generation or a little less, from the year 2000 until COVID hit us, child mortality was halved globally. Maternal mortality was down 40%. Sometimes people tell me because I'm fond of numbers that, well, these are only numbers. But for the children who live, it's not numbers. And for their mothers who live to tell and raise them, it's not numbers. This is real progress. But it has changed. And after this economic progress, we are also now facing a real setback. It started with a slowing of social and economic progress before COVID. But COVID was a big economic shock, not least for developing economies. And we still see that poverty numbers have not come back, or poverty reduction numbers have not come back at the level they were. And I think it's also important to understand that it was a health crisis. But it was also a broad social and economic setback in crisis in many developing countries affecting people across the board. Then, of course, adding to that is the global effects on Russia's brutal attack on Ukraine, not least on food security globally. And I think also it's important in this context to look at two other tendencies. And one of them is the gradual decline in political and civil rights, which is also a change from decades of progress, which we are seeing now, and which is making social and economic progress more challenging and working conditions more challenging. And behind all these is, of course, the great development destroyer, climate change, which is already making itself very visible, for instance, in the Sahel in South Asia and other regions, but which will have an immense and negative effect on social and economic growth and progress in the decades to come. All this creates a very different environment around us. If you look at, for instance, humanitarian needs, they have doubled in only five years. We are now very far from reaching the SDG goals, which we in 2015 thought were challenging, ambitious, yes, but possible. Now it's highly unlikely to reach many of them. And the financing gap, the gap between what's actually needed and what's available for finance, is much bigger. So of course, we need in this situation to exhaust all sources of financing, but there is no way around the fact that strengthening domestic tax systems to mobilize resources needed for development holds a key to turning around this and reaching the SDG goals. And I would say it is more urgent now than it has been in the past. There is, of course, hope and progress. International tax cooperation is like you will now seeing more rapid changes now than maybe in the last 100 years. There's a potential to reshape the economic landscape and power sustainable development. And just a few numbers to remind you of some of these advantages. So according to the OECD Center for Tax Policy and Administration, the exchange of information has led to 41 billion US dollars in additional revenues in developing countries, 41 billion. And only the UNDP OECD project tax inspectors without border has alone led to over 2 billion US dollars in additional revenues. This means more money for local health care schools and so on. It's numbers that count. Norway and Noura is an ambitious and reliable partner in these efforts. In accordance with the Addis Ababa Tax Initiative, we have substantially increased our support for domestic resource mobilization. Since 2015, we have increased from around $14 billion a million US dollars annually to more than 30 million US dollars in last year in 2022. It's, of course, about collecting more and better, but it's also about reducing revenue losses through illicit financial flossing corruption. And I'm pleased to see that the program for this conference tackles both of these angles to revenue mobilization. From Norway's side, we support this agenda on many different levels, I would say, from broad, multilateral action for new tax norms to targeted capacity building and developing countries. And our goal is to see tax systems that are more predictable, more transparent, more progressive, and fairer. Working in a domestic context with national tax system is key, but it is not enough. We also support key institutions in international tax cooperation. They always rework to mainstream their work on tax policy and administration to be more aligned with the needs of developing countries. The result is that developing countries can increasingly effectively receive tax relevant information from other countries which increase their revenues. And of course, we also support the UN tax committee to increase their capacity to deliver high quality technical guidance, which is particularly valuable for many developing countries. I want to end this by leaving you with a sense of urgency. Many of the people with knowledge and know-how are how to be able to strengthen domestic resource mobilization to finance sustainable development is gathered here in this room, listening in on the conference today. You have a responsibility to use your knowledge, work together, and contribute to make sure that knowledge and facts inform policy decision. And then, of course, we, as one of the richest countries in the world, and a donor, we have a responsibility, first of all, of course, to finance, to spend 1% of our gross domestic income, which is there's broad political support for Norway, to spend these resources well. Or as I would say, to let facts inform policy in our work so that we actually spend these resources and use our knowledge to mobilize domestic resources even better in the future. Thank you, and have a few great days here in Oslo. Thank you, Badvega Saljel, Reginald Norad, for your welcome address. I mean, the point that you make that it's so important for us who work on domestic revenue mobilization to bring evidence, analytical rigor, and inform policy in what we do. And I think the conference itself is going to be an example of exactly how we do that in UNU wider north with our partners in many different countries. So welcome to the Wider Development Conference, revving up revenue for development, the role of domestic resource mobilization. This is UNU Wider's first major conference in Norway and delighted to hold it in the wonderful city of Oslo. I'm very pleased to see so many of you here in person, and we're also a large online audience through our hybrid platform. And they will be very much engaged with us in different sessions going forward. So UNU Wider is a policy think tank, research institute, and UN agency all rolled into one, and part of that at the nation's university. We work on informing economic and social policies with cutting edge research and policy analysis, especially in the global south. In 2019 to 2023, our research focused on transformation. How should economy, states, and societies be transformed if you have to see significant steps towards achieving, as in the 2030, sustainable development goals, the SDGs? We've recently produced a synthesis report of our research on transforming economy, states, and societies. And the copies of the report are available out just outside in the publication desk, outside the auditorium, but also available online. Please do take a moment to read the report and learn about the research that we've been doing for the past five years. One of the key SDGs we work on is SDG 17, partnerships for development. And one critical goal of SDG 17 is mobilizing domestic revenue for development. The conference itself is centered around the challenges of how developing countries can better use and mobilize their domestic resources to accelerate progress towards the goals of the 2030 agenda for sustainable development. As the general mentioned, as we gather today, we recognize you're living in critical times, facing challenges that are both complex and multifaceted. The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the heightened political tensions, such as Russia's war with Ukraine, has caused a significant negative impact on the prospects of development for countries in the global south. The presence of concerns have illustrated the urgency for collective efforts working together to address these challenges. The deadline for reaching the 17 SDGs is fast approaching, just over seven years now, that we left till 2030. Now determination to achieve these goals must be matched with strategic actions and robust financial commitments. However, as again, the director general mentioned, the finance gap required to realize these goals has grown due to these recent global shocks. The flow of aid from wealthy countries to low-income countries has diminished. And many developing countries find this was allocating a substantial portion of their revenues to debt payments, instead of the critical services they need to reach the goals outlined in the SDGs. The next two and a half days will be about debating, discussing the solutions, the tools to make the SDGs a possible reality, despite the strong headwinds. The role of domestic revenue mobilizations become critical, not merely for taxation, which is often a mistake, but as a comprehensive approach that encompasses savings, non-tax revenues as the remittances, tackling illicit financial flows, and bolstering social protection. So the way we see domestic revenue mobilization is much more broader than pure tax. And that's very important for us, and you'll see that in the program on the next two and a half days. At UNIW, we deeply engage in the realms of domestic revenue mobilization. Over the past four years, we have intensified our focus on this topic, and we express our gratitude to NORAD for the invaluable support for the domestic revenue mobilization program, which we call GRM, in short. This conference presents the research, the first phase of the program, the first four years that we have been working on, specifically on GRM, supported by NORAD, and we're going to do this program, this first phase ends this year. However, our program is not only about research, but also been deeply committed to strengthening the capacities of our partner organizations, such as revenue authorities and policy think tanks in the global south. Together, we are co-creating knowledge that we believe addresses the unique needs of countries in transition and contributes a greater global good. I'm delighted that so many of our colleagues from the revenue authorities and policy think tanks and universities in global south are here today, both in person, but also virtually. So the conference. The structure of this conference features five plenary sessions here in this auditorium at the beginning or end, beginning or end of each day of the conference. So something happening, a plenary or a keynote happening in the morning, the beginning or the end of the day. Including keynote addresses from colleagues as Hanan Maasi, Chief Economist of UNICA, Professor Neil Johansson, the UNESCO Copenhagen, and policy plenary on financing sustainable development, which takes place later today, the impact of our revenue authority to research collaborations in southern Africa and the critical issue of illicit financial flows. We also have five rounds of four concurrent parallel sessions, the details of which can be found in the program on our website. That's the best we check the program and the sessions, but also post at the door of every session room. And it deals with various aspects of domestic revenue mobilization from building equitable tax systems, harnessing the potential of extractive industries for development, exploring fiscal states, and the challenge of raising domestic savings in southern Africa. Additional sessions will also be held on the government revenue data set, which UNI wider puts together, GRD in short, and there will be opportunities for networking and knowledge exchange. The wider Deppin Conference series are centered around the desire to create a space for knowledge sharing and a forum for debate and discussion, where scholars and policy makers from around the world come together to share the unique insights and perspectives. That's the intention of this conference series I've been running every year, including the one we have in here, Oslo. And so I'm very much hope that you'll have productive two and a half days in Oslo for those of you here in person, but also those who attend this conference virtually.