UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres called on the international community on Monday to “revive the” climate chaos “development engine and international conflicts, during the fourth international conference on development funding, organized in Spain.
“Today, development and its great catalyst – international cooperation – are faced with massive opposite winds,” warned Mr. Guterres on the first day of this meeting which is held in Seville, in the south of the country, where a scorching heat reigns.
“We live in a world where confidence is crumbling and where multilateralism is put to the test. A world with an economy in slow motion, growing trade tensions and decimated aid budgets. A world shaken by inequalities, climate chaos and raging conflicts,” he continued.
In this context, it is necessary to “accelerate investments”, “repair and relaunch the engine of development”, insisted the UN official, by inviting the international community to “take the lead” by “investing in the fields having the greatest impact”, like “schools” and “renewable energies”.
This meeting is held in a particularly dark context for development aid, hit hard by reducing humanitarian aid decided by US President Donald Trump, who abolished 83% of programs abroad from the USAID development agency.
– The United States absent –
With $ 63 billion in public aid in 2024, the United States was hitherto the main donor country for many agencies and NGOs, currently faced with important difficulties, especially since other capitals, such as Paris, London and Berlin, have also reduced their aid.
“In a world where the donor community is decreased in a dramatic and dramatic way, it is time to take a step forward and not only to reaffirm our commitment, but also to redouble it,” said Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, calling to make the Seville conference an “opportunity” to “correct” this trajectory.
About fifty heads of state and government participate in this so -called FFD4 conference, the fourth of its kind since 2002, alongside managers of the main international financial institutions and 4,000 representatives of civil society.
Among the leaders present are the French presidents Emmanuel Macron and Senegalese Bassirou Diomaye Faye. The United States did not send anyone, after leaving the negotiation table in mid-June due to a disagreement on the text submitted to the delegations, accused of encroaching on their “sovereignty”.
The objective of this 38 -page document, known as “Seville engagement”, is to find solutions for southern countries, faced according to the UN with an estimated funding deficit at $ 4,000 billion per year “to hold their development objectives set as part of the 2030 AGENDA.
– NGO reviews –
This “will require resources on an unprecedented scale and” warned Monday the president of the World Bank Ajay Banga, by calling for the mobilization of all development players in the face of “debt increase” and the challenges posed by climate change.
“We know that there is not enough money in governments, philanthropic organizations or development institutions to respond to all projections or all promises. This is why we need the private sector,” he said.
The “Seville engagement”, which will be formally adopted Thursday, the last day of the conference, invites to review international financial architecture, in particular by giving more room to southern countries in large institutions and by demanding better cooperation against tax evasion.
This document, which will not however be binding on the legal level, will be supplemented by unilateral announcements as part of a “Seville platform for action”, relating in particular to the taxation of plane tickets.
The “Seville commitment” is already criticized by NGOs, which regret a lack of ambitions and solidarity on the part of the richest countries. On their appeal, several hundred people demonstrated on Sunday evening in Seville to claim a cancellation of the debt and a taxation of the super rich.
Posted on June 30 at 11:37 am, AFP
