Wednesday 11 June 2025
19:00 – 20:00
Welcome Reception
Welcome, context and group introductions.
20:00 – 22:00
Opening session
The key challenges facing finance ministries
The work of finance ministries is crucial to the work of government. From setting tax rates and financial regulations that set the ground rules for the national economy, to allocating – and monitoring – spending for public services, finance ministries hold an essential role in the centre of government.
The range of challenges requires clear understanding and fresh thinking on the role finance ministries can play in a modern government, and what their civil service leadership need to do to deliver.
In this session, finance leaders will discuss global economic trends, as well as discussing how governments can encourage economic growth.
This session will also provide attendees with an invitation to take part in Global Government Forum’s ‘Making Government Work: The future of the finance ministry’ research project.
Presentation and discussion
Presenter:
John McCarthy
Chief Economist, Government of Ireland, Ireland
Discussions take place over dinner and the session ends at 22:00
Thursday 12 June 2025
09:00 – 10:30
Accounting for the changing world: the impact of volatile global order on finance ministries
There has never been as much uncertainty over global alliances. As geopolitics is being reshaped at an unprecedented pace, finance ministries face challenges in both leading financial planning across government and developing robust plans to support national economies at a time of uncertainty.
This session will bring together finance ministry leaders to discuss how they are planning for an uncertain future. It will discuss how governments are able to undertake medium term financial planning; how they are planning to absorb the looming increase in defence spending and boosting cyber security; and how governments are reviewing their economic strategies to boost national resilience.
Including presentations and discussion
Presenters:
Lord Gus O’Donnell
Former Cabinet Secretary and Head of the Civil Service, United Kingdom
Session followed by a refreshment break
11:00 – 12:30
How to boost productivity – in government and beyond
Raising productivity is vital for all areas of society. In government, there is a need for greater productivity to ensure that there is maximum value for money from public spending, while productivity growth is also needed to – in the words of Mario Draghi, the former European Central Bank president – reignite sustainable growth.
A recent report by Draghi set out the urgency in addressing Europe’s productivity challenge – and highlighted several of the findings that can also be applied around the world: closing the gap between innovation into commercialisation; developing plans for decarbonisation and competitiveness; and increasing security and reducing dependencies.
This session will look at the role that finance ministries can play in helping to boost productivity and economic growth – from creating environments to encourage innovation and supporting institutions such as National Productivity Boards; to measuring – and boosting – public sector productivity.
Including presentations and discussion
Presenters:
Sarah Glavey
Head, Public Service Transformation Policy, Department of Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform, Ireland
Valentina Ion
Director, Public Finance Strategy, Microsoft
Knowledge Partner
12:30 – 13:30
Lunch
13:30 – 15:00
How to tackle fraud in government
At a time of strained public service finances, governments around the world are redoubling their efforts to minimise fraud and error across the public sector.
This session will share insight from leaders across the world on the best approaches to tackling fraud and error. This will discuss the controls that finance ministries can implement with departments in order to build assurance that money is not being lost to fraud, as well as how technology can be used to tackle the problem. The discussion will also share international insights on the role that finance ministries can play in supporting cross-sector efforts to identify fraud and reclaim money that has been lost.
Including presentations and discussion
Presenters:
Laércio Marques
Deputy Secretary, Secretariat of Finance, State of Sergipe, Brazil
Nadia Sultan Abdulla Al Ali
Director, Government Procurement Platform Department, Ministry of Finance, United Arab Emirates
Adam Stewart
Senior Director, UK & Ireland, Visa Government Solutions
Knowledge Partner
Session followed by a refreshment break
15:30 – 16:30
From AI to crypto: Getting taxation right for the digital economy
Governments around the world are working to get their taxation systems right for the modern economy.
However, finance ministries can struggle to agree a shared definition of what the digital economy is, and how to set tax rates accordingly. And this is only one of the challenges that governments face in creating a tax regime that works for modern economies. They also need to consider the tax regimes for digital transformations such as artificial intelligence, and develop robust protocols for taxation of digital assets such as cryptocurrencies.
The session will discuss how to future proof taxation in a digital economy that is increasingly unbound by international borders – and how to build international systems and alliances that can help address these challenges.
Including presentations and discussion.
Presenters:
His Excellency Mahmood Al-Aweini
Secretary General, Ministry of Finance, Sultanate of Oman
Ingrid Blunt
Accountant General, Treasury Department, Ministry of Finance, Barbados
Mohamed El Amine Seghrouchni
Director of Control, Audit and Inspection, General Treasury of the Kingdom, Ministry of Economy and Finance, Kingdom of Morocco
16:30 – 16:45
Summary and thanks
Summit concludes at 16:45