Latest news with #developmentfinance
Japan Times
6 days ago
- Business
- Japan Times
Blistering heat and empty chairs mar U.N.'s flagship development event
Brutal heat scorched Spain this week, a blistering reminder of the climate change that is battering the world's poorest countries — stretching their finances even as government debt climbs to new heights. But at a once-a-decade U.N. development finance conference in Seville, two key ingredients were in less abundance: money and power. Just one Group of Seven leader — French President Emmanuel Macron — attended the event, where he and Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez addressed rooms with dozens of empty chairs. Organizers initially said they expected 70 heads of state; that was whittled to 50 as the conference got underway. Back in Washington, Paris, London and Berlin, rich-country leaders are slashing aid and cutting bilateral lending in a pivot to defense spending and rising debt at home. "The mood is ... I would say realistic, but also a sense of unity and of pragmatism," said Alvaro Lario, president of the International Fund of Agricultural Development, adding that the question on everyone's mind this week was how to do more with less. "How can we come together, or think out of the box, or create new type of ways of really stretching it more?" The Financing For Development meeting is a flagship U.N. conference, charting the trajectory to help tackle changes the world must make to tax policies, aid spending or key areas such as debt, health and education. Its outcomes guide global aid funding and U.N. policies for the decade to come. Few disagree over the need for action. Hundred-year floods and storms are happening with alarming regularity, and rising debt-servicing costs are siphoning money away from health, education and infrastructure spending in the developing world. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez delivers a speech during the close of the U.N. conference in Seville on Thursday. | AFP-Jiji But even top developing-world leaders such as Mia Mottley, the Barbados prime minister and a prominent global climate champion, and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, currently chairing the Group of 20 major economies, backed out of the event at the last minute. The media room was stacked with Spanish press gossiping about a domestic political scandal while disillusioned civil-society leaders stalked the halls, upset with the watered-down agenda and the lack of fiscal or political firepower. "We are facing a backsliding of many agendas that we had advanced a few years ago," said Henrique Frota, director of ABONG, a Brazilian association of NGOs. "Developed countries are reducing their investment in (official development assistance) and European countries are not fulfilling their commitment ... they are giving less and less money right now for every kind of agenda." Event leaders were relieved to produce an outcome document — despite gnawing fears in the past months that Washington would torpedo any deal. In the end, U.S. officials backed out altogether. "The entire community was very afraid of coming here because one country wasn't attending," said U.N. Assistant Secretary-General Marcos Neto. "But the document ended up working out ... I'm leaving happy, with more optimism than I thought I would leave with." Neto highlighted significant steps toward implementing climate and development goals, including the Seville Platform and multiple agreements from public and private sectors to leverage funds for the biggest possible impact. A woman carries an umbrella near Las Setas during a heat wave in Seville on July 2. | REUTERS The Seville Commitment included tripling multilateral lending capacity, debt relief, a push to boost tax-to-gross domestic product ratios to at least 15%, and get more rich countries to let the International Monetary Fund use "special drawing rights" money for countries that need it most. But in Seville, only host nation Spain signed on to commit 50% of its special drawing rights funds for the purpose. U.N. Deputy Secretary-General Amina J. Mohammed acknowledged that the attendance was not as star-studded as hoped, and that public funds are under pressure. "But there's innovative financing, there's the private sector, there's the triple lending of MDBs... so the resources are there," she said, referring to multilateral development banks. "We just have to have the political will to leverage through these mechanisms that have come out of the platform of action and continue moving with them." U.S. President Donald Trump, despite his country's absence, loomed large over the event; his climate change skepticism, hostility toward diversity initiatives and pledge to review U.S. participation in multilateral organizations made some keen to strip out references to climate change and rebrand initiatives as focused on resilience, education or health. Still, some said the gloomy backdrop should not deter leaders focused on progress. "Ultimately the important thing is doing it," said Jose Vinals, a former group chairman of Standard Chartered and cochair of both the FFD4 Business Steering Committee and the Global Investors for Sustainable Development Alliance. "The private sector is, for the most part, still willing to walk the talk."
Reuters
6 days ago
- Business
- Reuters
Blistering heat, empty chairs and the C-word mar UN's flagship development event
SEVILLE, July 4 (Reuters) - Brutal heat scorched Spain this week, a blistering reminder of the climate change that is battering the world's poorest countries - stretching their finances even as government debt climbs to new heights. But at a once-a-decade UN development finance conference in Seville, two key ingredients were in less abundance: money and power. Just one G7 leader - France's Emmanuel Macron - attended the event, where he and Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez addressed rooms filled with dozens of empty chairs. Organisers initially said they expected 70 heads of state; that was whittled to 50 as the conference got underway. Back in Washington, Paris, London and Berlin, rich-country leaders are slashing aid and cutting bilateral lending in a pivot to defence spending and rising debt at home. "The mood is ... I would say realistic, but also a sense of unity and of pragmatism," said Alvaro Lario, president of the International Fund of Agricultural Development, adding the question on everyone's mind this week was how to do more with less. "How can we come together, or think out of the box, or create new type of ways of really stretching it more?" The Financing For Development meeting is a flagship UN conference, charting the trajectory to help tackle changes the world must make to tax policies, aid spending or key areas such as debt, health and education. Its outcomes guide global aid funding and UN policies for the decade to come. Few disagree over the need for action; hundred-year floods and storms are happening with alarming regularity, and rising debt-servicing costs are siphoning money away from health, education and infrastructure spending in the developing world. But even top developing-world leaders Mia Mottley, the Barbados prime minister and prominent global climate champion, and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, currently chairing the Group of 20 major economies, backed out of the event at the last minute. The media room was stacked with bored-looking Spanish press gossiping about a domestic political scandal while disillusioned civil-society leaders stalked the halls, upset with the watered-down agenda and the lack of fiscal or political firepower. "We are facing a backsliding of many agendas that we had advanced a few years ago," said Henrique Frota, director of ABONG, a Brazilian association of NGOs. "Developed countries are reducing their investment in (official development assistance) and European countries are not fulfilling their commitment ... they are giving less and less money right now for every kind of agenda." Event leaders were relieved to produce an outcome document - despite gnawing fears in the past months that Washington would torpedo any deal. In the end, U.S. officials backed out altogether. "The entire community was very afraid of coming here because one country wasn't attending," said UN Assistant Secretary General Marcos Neto. "But the document ended up working out ... I'm leaving happy, with more optimism than I thought I would leave with." Neto highlighted significant steps toward implementing climate and development goals, including the Seville Platform and multiple agreements from public and private sectors to leverage funds for the biggest possible impact. The Seville Commitment included tripling multilateral lending capacity, debt relief, a push to boost tax-to-GDP ratios to at least 15%, and get more rich countries to let the IMF use "special drawing rights" money for countries that need it most. But in Seville, only host nation Spain signed on to commit 50% of its "Special Drawing Rights" for the purpose. UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina J. Mohammed acknowledged that the attendance was not as star-studded as hoped, and that public funds are under pressure. "But there's innovative financing, there's the private sector, there's the triple lending of MDBs ... so the resources are there," she said. "We just have to have the political will to leverage through these mechanisms that have come out of the platform of action and continue moving with them." U.S. President Donald Trump, despite his country's absence, loomed large over the event; his climate change scepticism, hostility toward diversity initiatives and pledge to review U.S. participation in multilateral organizations made some keen to strip the "c-word" - climate change - and rebrand initiatives as focused on resilience, education or health. Still, some say the gloomy backdrop should not deter leaders focused on progress. "Ultimately the important thing is doing it," said Jose Vinals, former group chairman of Standard Chartered and co-chair of both the FFD4 Business Steering Committee and the Global Investors for Sustainable Development Alliance. "The private sector is, for the most part, still willing to walk the talk."
The Independent
02-07-2025
- Business
- The Independent
UK accused of hypocrisy at landmark UN foreign aid conference
The UK has been accused of 'hypocrisy' over its lack of high-level participation at a key global development finance summit, on top of cuts to Britain's aid budget – while talking up its role in helping lower-income nations. The accusations have been made at the fourth Financing for Development Conference (FfD4), a once-a-decade summit happening all week in Seville, Southern Spain, where delegates are aiming to tackle the perennial problem of how to help developing countries access the money they need. Thirty-two African countries currently spend more on debt repayments than on healthcare, and 25 African countries spend more on debt payments than on education, an issue that activists say needs urgent action. Some 50 world leaders are due at FfD4, including Emmanuel Macron of France, Mark Carney of Canada, and Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission. The UK, however, has only sent a government minister in the form of Baroness Chapman, the international development minister. 'A level of ambition from the UK government would have been demonstrated clearly by sending higher level participation such as the prime minister or Foreign Secretary,' Lydia Darby, a senior policy advisor at Save the Children, told The Independent. Ahead of fDf4, writing in The Independent, Baroness Chapman called for a 'new era for global aid and development', that would see developing countries helped in building their own tax systems, and greater investment in developing countries from the private sector, among other measures. Hannah Bond, Co-CEO at ActionAid UK, said that it is 'hypocritical' for the UK to talk about 'fair finance' while cutting overseas aid. 'If the UK truly cares about fair finance, it must honour its overseas aid commitments, tackle unfair debts, and pay its fair share in addressing the climate crisis,' Bond said. 'Without this, talk of fair finance is nothing more than empty PR.' Baroness Chapman's appearance comes off the back of the UK cutting its foreign aid budget from 0.5 per cent to 0.3 per cent of Gross National Income (GNI) - which is expected to reduce foreign aid by £6.2 billion by 2025. Alex Farley, from advocacy group Bond, said that it is 'impossible' to see how the UK can deliver on existing funding commitments, respond to humanitarian crisis, and tackle climate change, following he 0.5 to 0.3 per cent cut. 'Let alone undo the damage these cuts have done to our reputation and credibility with countries,' he added. 'It would be nice to hear the government expressing regret for its cuts to the aid budget, rather than blithely claiming that they are somehow doing developing countries a favour,' Michael Jacobs, from the think tank ODI, told The Independent. Mr Jacobs added that the claim that private sector money can substitute public funds is 'silly at best, disingenuous at worst'. This is because 'the private sector wants returns, while much aid - for health, schools, sanitation, climate adaptation - doesn't make a profit, so is not investable', he said. Catherine Pettengell, executive director of NGO network Climate Action Network UK concurred that the UK had 'failed to sufficiently support developing countries' calls for fairer debt, tax, international cooperation, and climate finance ' in build-up to the conference. 'It's a crushing blow that only compounds the recent UK aid cuts,' she added. Attendees of FfD4 say, however, that it is not all doom and gloom in Seville. The final agreement of the talks - the Compromiso de Sevilla - was in fact agreed to just ahead of this week's conference. According to Save the Children's Ms Darby, there is notably positive language on matters including international tax cooperation and an agreement to initiate an intergovernmental process on debt. 'The document is an important step with plenty to build on in the months and years to come,' Darby said - though she acknowledged it has inevitably fallen short of 'the transformative ambition that civil society and vulnerable communities worldwide had called for'. While the UK, along with the EU, has been accused of watering down key priorities for low-and-middle-come countries, these countries have at least contributed much more positively than the US, which withdrew from talks ahead of the conference over the refusal from the rest of the world to delete the goal of 'sustainable development' from the text.
Zawya
01-07-2025
- Business
- Zawya
Arab Coordination Group (ACG) Institutions Issue Joint Communique at the Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development (FfD4)
Preamble We, the Heads of Arab Coordination Group (ACG) Institutions, convening in Seville during the Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development (FfD4), reaffirm our collective commitment to delivering agile, equitable, and forward-looking development finance solutions. As we celebrate 50 years of action, we draw strength from our legacy while looking ahead to make bold and transformative contributions to the global financing landscape. FfD4 convenes at a time of unprecedented and intersecting crises: widening development finance gaps, intensifying climate shocks, rising debt distress, persistent fragility, and an international financial system that remains inequitable and fragmented. While FfD4 has highlighted important challenges and ambitions, the path to meaningful reform remains uncertain—especially concerning climate finance, mainstreaming private capital, and recognizing the strategic role of ACG institutions. We Commit To: 1. Strengthening ACG's Role in Global Finance Architecture Advocate for the institutionalized inclusion of ACG institutions as permanent stakeholders in global governance, financing mechanisms, policy forums, and debt platforms. Ensure that regional priorities and realities are reflected in the follow-up and outcome reporting of FfD4. 2. Scaling Up Climate-Resilient Development Finance Expand collective financing for adaptation, resilient infrastructure, and cross-border climate initiatives in agriculture, water, energy, and transport. Support new climate finance tools, including green Sukuk and blended adaptation facilities. 3. Supporting Fragile and Conflict-Affected States Enhance early recovery and reconstruction financing using area-based, community-led models that support stabilization and local institution-building. Engage in innovative partnerships to provide financial protection and resilience tools for vulnerable populations. Prioritize financing models which recognize that economic opportunity is central to long-term stability. 4. Addressing land degradation Leverage diverse financing instruments to support long-term projects focused on restoring degraded lands and preventing further land degradation, improving soil health, and preserving biodiversity 5. Unlocking Private Capital and Enhancing Risk Sharing Scale guarantees, blended finance structures, and PPPs to crowd in responsible private investment into SDG-critical sectors. Launch co-investment platforms with regional sovereign wealth funds and international impact investors. 6. Promoting Islamic Finance and Financial Innovation Position Islamic finance as an inclusive development framework, with a focus on asset-backed solutions. Integrate data-driven approaches, AI, and digital tools to enhance transparency, targeting, and results of monitoring in ACG-financed operations. 7. Championing South–South Development Finance Cooperation Strengthening cross-regional collaboration and knowledge sharing in climate resilience, food security, and digital inclusion. 8. Coordinating Action and Increasing Strategic Visibility Endorse an ACG 2025–2030 Joint Action Plan to align future operations with key FfD4 themes and upcoming global forums, including COP30 and the 2026 SDG Summit. We Call Upon: Multilateral institutions to partner with ACG institutions as co-architects—not just implementers – of a more inclusive financial architecture that reflects the voices, needs, and innovations of the Global South. The international community transforms the aspirations of FfD4 into actionable outcomes that embed regional leadership and systemic reform. Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Arab Coordination Group (ACG). About the Arab Coordination Group (ACG): The Arab Coordination Group (ACG) is a strategic alliance that provides a coordinated response to development finance. Since its establishment in 1975, ACG has been instrumental in developing economies and communities for a better future, providing more than 13,000 development loans to over 160 countries around the globe. Comprising ten development funds, ACG is the second-largest group of development finance institutions in the world and works across the globe to support developing nations and create a lasting, positive impact. The Group comprises the Abu Dhabi Fund for Development, the Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa, the Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development, the Arab Gulf Programme for Development, the Arab Monetary Fund, the Islamic Development Bank, the Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development, the OPEC Fund for International Development, the Qatar Fund for Development and the Saudi Fund for Development.
Zawya
01-07-2025
- Business
- Zawya
Arab Coordination Group Champions Bold Financial Reform at the Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development in Seville
At the Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development (FfD4), the Arab Coordination Group (ACG) ( convened a high-level roundtable and issued a joint communiqué reaffirming its commitment to transformative, equitable, and regionally anchored development finance. Marking 50 years of partnership and impact in 2025, the ACG also adopted a new Joint Action Plan (2025–2030) to align its efforts with key global milestones, including COP30 and the 2026 SDG Summit. FfD4 spotlighted a widening annual financing gap of over USD 4 trillion, escalating climate shocks, and worsening debt distress. In this context, the ACG called for urgent structural reform and long-term investment strategies designed to address the needs of fragile, conflict-affected, and climate-vulnerable nations. Bridging Regions Through South–South Cooperation The ACG also co-hosted a strategic roundtable, 'Bridging Regions: Arab Coordination Group and Latin America and the Caribbean,' in collaboration with the OPEC Fund for International Development and CAF – Development Bank of Latin America and the Caribbean. The event brought together finance ministers, ACG leaders, CAF officials, and representatives from the Central American Bank for Economic Integration and the Caribbean Development Bank. Discussions underscored the growing power of South–South cooperation to drive shared development through knowledge exchange, policy alignment and joint investment. Key areas of focus included climate adaptation, energy transition, food security, infrastructure, and economic diversification. A Record Year of Impact The ACG's vision for the future builds on significant momentum. In 2024, the Group disbursed US$19.6 billion across nearly 650 operations in over 90 countries, making it the world's second-largest development finance group. These investments targeted core priorities: sustainable infrastructure, global trade, and solutions to systemic challenges such as climate change and food insecurity. Earlier this month, at its 20th Annual Meeting in Vienna, ACG leaders reaffirmed their commitment to scaling up support for sustainable development and for vulnerable communities worldwide. Shaping a More Inclusive Global Financial System The ACG's joint communiqué outlines bold commitments: expanding climate-resilient investment, supporting fragile states, restoring degraded lands, unlocking private capital, promoting innovative financing and deepening South–South cooperation. As the ACG prepares to mark its 50th Anniversary in October 2025, it looks ahead with renewed resolve to close financing gaps, advance inclusive growth and deliver tangible solutions to global challenges. Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Arab Coordination Group (ACG). About the Arab Coordination Group (ACG): The Arab Coordination Group (ACG) is a strategic alliance that provides a coordinated response to development finance. Since its establishment in 1975, ACG has been instrumental in developing economies and communities for a better future, providing more than 13,000 development loans to over 160 countries around the globe. Comprising ten development funds, ACG is the second-largest group of development finance institutions in the world and works across the globe to support developing nations and create a lasting, positive impact. The Group comprises the Abu Dhabi Fund for Development, the Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa, the Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development, the Arab Gulf Programme for Development, the Arab Monetary Fund, the Islamic Development Bank, the Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development, the OPEC Fund for International Development, the Qatar Fund for Development and the Saudi Fund for Development.
