Fourth Plenary Meeting - 4th International Conference on Financing for Development FFD4 (Sevilla, Spain)

I call to order the fourth plenary session of the fourth Conference on Financing for Development. Distinguished Heads of State and Government, Ministers, Excellencies, distinguished participants, the Conference shall now continue its general debate under agenda item eight. In accordance with the organization of work of the Conference, Statements in the general debate should not exceed five minutes. Speakers with longer statements are encouraged to read a shorter version of their text and to submit the full length of their statement for posting on the Journal of the United Nations. To assist speakers in managing their time, a timer is being projected on the screen. Please note, that in order to hear all speakers inscribed in the general debate, the speaker's microphone will be automatically deactivated once the time limit has expired after a short grace period. I apologize in advance if speakers are cut off. I now give the floor to His Excellency Salah Ahmed Jama, Deputy Prime Minister of the Federal Republic of Somalia.

Madam Chair, Your Excellencies, esteemed heads of states, governments, and distinguished delegates. Let me begin by extending our deep gratitude to His Majesty the King, the government and the people of Spain, and through the leadership of the United Nations for the warm hospitality accorded to me and my delegation, as we are honored to stand here in this historic city of Seville alongside fellow nations united by the common aspiration to reshape the global financial landscape in favor of inclusion, equity, and shared prosperity. This historic moment coincides with a day of deep national pride for Somalia. Across our country, citizens are commemorating our Independence Day, a celebration of liberation from colonial rule in 1960 and a reminder of our people's enduring spirit and resilience. The symbolism of this timing is powerful. Similar to the triumphant mood of 1960, the Somali people are very optimistic about the future as we have made significant gains in our state-building process. In the security arena, we have reformed our security architecture and waged a successful war against the deadly terrorist group, Al-Shabaab, liberating hundreds of thousands of Somalis under their shackles. In the economic front, we have recently concluded a HIPIC initiative through a prolonged process of the structural and staff monitoring program of the IMF and the World Bank. And we are now at a stage where we think about development. And we have only in few months time concluded our national development plan that we have renamed as the national transformational plan. In the governance front, we have tried to increase our domestic revenue so that we can finance our development, improved accountability and transparency mechanisms, and deepen our fiscal federalism. More importantly, in the governance front, which is a foundation for development, for financing, is the issue of good governance. And after 56 years, we have just started a one-person, one-vote electoral process across the nation. Unfortunately, our efforts and our recovery has coincided with very challenging times as the global landscape and the discussion on development financing has taken a different turn. Thus, we appreciate this opportune moment to gather here. Indeed, the decisions we take here today and the nature of the development financing modalities we discuss and embrace the scale and the scope accessibility of these financing instruments would be very detrimental to the aspirations, development aspirations of our people. With under two years to go, under four years to go before 2030, the attainment of all the sustainable development goals is somewhat questionable because the financing gap for the attainment of the sustainable development goals has increased from 2.5 trillion in 2014 to 4 trillion in 2024. In the case of Africa, the continent needs about 1.3 trillion annually. In 2024, the number of people living in countries that spend more on interest payments than on crucial social services such as education and health has increased from 100 million to 3.4 billion as per the report produced by the UN. I would like to highlight and extenuate, Mr. Chair, the unique and very particular circumstances of countries like Somalia and many in Africa from the east to the Sahel countries that are not only recovering from and dealing with serious domestic historical issues, but also are at the receiving end of externalities from global market volatilities to disturbance in supply chains and climatic shocks. We, Somalia, would like to welcome and echo the voices raised here and embrace the civil compromise. on climate financing. We hope that scalable, accessible and affordable financing modalities would be available to fragile and conflict countries like Somalia and others. We are also optimistic that the international financial architecture would be reformed and compatible with the needs of most of the citizens around the world. Let me conclude by saying Let this conference not become another footnote in a long series of unmet potential. Let Seville be remembered as the moment when rhetoric gave way to resolve, when the most fragile were finally heard, and when financing began to serve humanity's most urgent imperatives. Somalia stands ready.

I thank the Deputy Prime Minister of the Federal Republic of Somalia. I now give the floor to His Excellency Marco Veiga, Minister of Brazil.

Your Excellency, the President of the Government of Spain, Heads of States and Governments, Secretary General of the United Nations, Honourable Ministers, Ladies and Gentlemen. The fourth conference on financing for development inaugurates a series of interconnected meetings in 2025, alongside the BRICS Summit, the Social Development Summit, COP30, and the G20 Summit. Together, these events offer a unique opportunity to drive a fairer, more inclusive, and sustainable development. We know that the current challenges are not simple, but we need to act wisely and with a sense of urgency. As President Lula has been emphasizing, we cannot repeat more of the same. We need concrete progress. Without funding, our projects and our conferences will be nothing more than declarations of good intentions with no chances of becoming reality. Ladies and gentlemen, what is the situation of financing for sustainable development today? Unfortunately, it's not encouraging. In 2024, while the global economy grew by 3.2%, Official development aid fell by 7.1 percent. At the same time, military spending increased by 9.4 percent, reaching a staggering $2.7 trillion. $2.7 trillion. What kind of future are we leaving for our new generations? A future in which weapons are worth more than fighting hunger and poverty or protecting the environment? I am pleased to say that financing for development was one of the priorities of the Brazilian presidency of the G20 and has been widely discussed at the BRICS and in the preparations for COP30. But you need to go way further. We need to recognize that the high cost of debt for developing countries is the greatest obstacle to achieving our shared development goals. That is an exorbitant amount, reaching $1.4 trillion. that reduces the fiscal space for policies to promote economic growth and investments in social and environmental programs. What we are seeing is a negative flow of capital, which goes from countries in the global south where capital is scarce to rich countries. This situation is unacceptable. and economically unsustainable. Mr. President, Brazil endorses the civil commitment as a constructive step forward in financing for development, even though not all of our priorities are fully reflected in the document. We recognize important achievements, such as the reference to the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities. We value the UN in coordinating international cooperation and support the fiscal sovereignty of the nations and the need for more inclusive tax cooperation. However, I would like to emphasize four priorities. The reform of the international financial architecture with more inclusive governance, addressing the SDGs financing gap with fair debt restructuring, respect for national sovereignty, with policy space to define our own path to sustainable development, just transition and fight against climate change. And in the social field, we advocate the fight for hunger and poverty, with particular attention to the ethnic and gender dimensions. Combatting racism and sexism is a central part of development. Ladies and gentlemen, Brazil prepares to host COP30 while bringing a message of urgency and ambition, a message of strengthening the multilateralism and an appeal to everyone to make this year the year of the transition from debate to concrete action. Count on the support of Brazil in this fight. I leave here, embrace the President Lula to everyone. Thank you very much.

I thank His Excellency the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Brazil, and I now give the floor to His Excellency Jose Manuel Vicente, Minister of Finance of the Dominican Republic.

First of all, I would like to thank His Majesty Felipe and the President of the Government of Spain, Mr. Pedro Sanchez, for inviting us here to the beautiful city of Seville. We have been talking for more than 20 years about the need to redesign international financial architecture. While progress has been made, the fact that countries continue to call for such reform is a clear sign that much remains to be done. We are gathered here to continue building common solutions to global challenges that know no borders. Today, we are facing two threats to development that affect all countries equally. The first is external shocks that have significantly reduced the fiscal space in our countries. Since 2020, multiple crises have eroded the fiscal space of our economies. Although total global debt as a percentage of GDP has returned to pre-pandemic levels, its makeup has changed. The public component has grown significantly, limiting the capacity of many countries to respond to the demands of development. In 2024, only 62 countries managed to achieve a primary surplus. The Dominican Republic was one of those countries. And this is a reflection of our commitment to responsible budgeting. However, we are fully aware that this discipline must coexist alongside the structural challenge of how to meet growing social, economic, and climate needs. The second threat is climate change, which is combined with limited access to financing. The Dominican Republic faces a paradox. The country is highly vulnerable to climate change, and yet at the same time the country has restricted and costly access to climate finance. Despite our historically low carbon emissions, we suffer disproportionately from the effects of climate change. A concrete example of this is sargassum. This has been affecting our coasts in spring and summer. This problem first appeared in 2018, and since then it has become an annual phenomenon, a predictable one. As President Abinader put it at the United Nations Oceans Conference, it is an environmental, economic, and health crisis. And this is why we have requested that a regional emergency be declared. Against this backdrop, the international financing system requires reform to make it more accessible, flexible and agile. And to this regard, we have three lines of action to propose. Firstly, reaffirming the commitment to official development assistance, ODA. We recognize that developed countries also have their own domestic challenges, but We must emphasize that the agreed targets for official development assistance should be maintained. In addition, we must strengthen technical assistance to allow the transfer of key knowledge in areas such as tax and customs administration that have an impact on domestic mobilization of resources for development. Second, modernizing multilateral banking instruments. We need more innovative financial institutions. We should move towards mechanisms such as sovereign guarantees subject to climate or development linked outcomes. Green projects should not be penalized by country risk. It is necessary to use development bank balance sheets to make it cheaper to finance sovereign bonds that are linked to strategic projects. And third, We should expand debt for climate action swaps. Today, these instruments have been used essentially by countries with high levels of sovereign risk, which excludes nations such as the Dominican Republic, which do not face such conditions, but we do share the same needs. Multilateral banks must make it easier for more countries to access this tool. The Dominican Republic reiterates our commitment to transform the ideas discussed here in Seville into concrete actions that promote more sustainable, inclusive and resilient development. I thank you.

I thank the Minister of Finance of the Dominican Republic, and I now give the floor to Her Excellency Noor **** Ali Al Khalifa, Minister of Sustainable Development of Bahrain.

Excellencies, distinguished delegates, good afternoon. It is an honour to address this fourth International Conference on Financing for Development, which provides a platform to reflect on our shared interest and collective focus on charting a more prosperous and sustainable path for the global financing landscape. I want to take this opportunity to reaffirm the Kingdom of Bahrain's commitment to accelerating progress towards achieving the SDGs. The vision of the leadership ensured that at the heart of our national approach is a belief that resilient, inclusive and forward-looking financing ecosystems grounded in robust data and enabled private sector, a capable workforce and strong partnerships are key to unlocking sustainable development for all. Since the adoption of the Addis Ababa Action Agenda and the 2030 Agenda ten years ago, Bahrain has made significant strides in advancing its sustainable development efforts. We continue to align our fiscal policies with the national development priorities, mobilizing domestic resources for health, education, housing, social protection, economic growth and job creation. Our economy has been transformed thanks to our strategy of economic diversification, championing economic sectors with the greatest impact and empowering the private sector to lead the way. Today, the financial services sector is not only the largest contributor to GDP, it acts as a catalyst for sustainable financing and human capital development. The sector's strength is underpinned by clear and progressive laws and regulations that embrace new trends and a business friendly environment that encourages private sector investment and innovation. But beyond mandating ESG reporting requirements for financial services institutions, the Kingdom reaffirms that environmental sustainability must be embedded in all financing strategies, to this end, Bahrain is intensifying its investment in climate technology, clean energy and environmental resilience. Our fintech landscape enabled by a variety of digital payments and microfinance solutions, open banking frameworks, and an adaptive regulatory sandbox has expanded financial access and inclusion. We are committed to leveraging digital solutions that promote financial inclusion, focusing on micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises, women and youth-led enterprises, and the underbanked population, leaving no one behind. Looking ahead, we will continue to invest in our digital infrastructure, including AI and emerging technologies, as a means to double down on our progress to achieve sustainable development. We are proud that Bahrain is consistently ranked as a global leader in female digital skills and STEM education, highlighting our commitment to empowering women in technology and science fields. Reliable and timely data remains a cornerstone of effective decision making. That is why we continue to modernize our national statistics system in collaboration with the UN and the multilateral organizations, including the World Bank and the IMF. This ensures that financing strategies are guided by evidence, transparency and accountability. Ladies and gentlemen, We acknowledge that no country is immune to today's global challenges, from rising debt burdens to constrained fiscal space, growing climate related risks and regional conflicts, as we deliberate on financing solutions this week and work to bridge the widening SDG financing gaps. We are reminded that sustainable development is a shared responsibility and that there is an urgent need for coordinated multilateral solutions and re-establishing trust in the international financial architecture. Bahrain believes that partnerships anchored in mutual respect and global solidarity are essential to delivering results at scale. As a small country, we're always ready to expand, as was the theme of the opening session yesterday, and to work hand in hand with fellow member states, international organizations, and the private sector in shaping the future we all desire. To conclude, I'd like to express my sincere gratitude and thanks to the Kingdom of Spain and to the UN for convening this gathering in the beautiful and historic city of Seville. Thank you very much.

I thank the Minister of Sustainable Development of Bahrain, and I now give the floor to His Excellency Muhammad Aurangzeb, Minister of Finance of Pakistan.

Mr. President, Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, on behalf of the Government of Pakistan, let me express our sincere gratitude to the Government and people of Spain for hosting this important conference and for their generous hospitality. Today we meet amidst extraordinary global challenges. These challenges are particularly stark on the development side, the SDG financing gap is widening, debt vulnerabilities are deepening, poverty and hunger is rising, climate impacts are accelerating, and development gains painstakingly achieved over decades are being reversed. The financing for development process from Monterey to Doha to Addis Ababa had laid the foundation for a more inclusive and equitable financing for development framework. These conferences enshrine the principles of international solidarity, common but differentiated responsibility, and the right of every country to pursue development enabled through equitable access to financing, policy space, and a supportive international financial architecture. The Compromiso de Sevilla carries this legacy forward. It demonstrates renewed political will and pledges practical action to bridge the SDG financing gap. Pakistan particularly welcomes the commitments on doubling support for domestic resource mobilization, reversing recent cuts, and accelerating efforts to achieve the 0.7% ODA target, expanding access to concessional finance by utilizing matrices beyond GDP, increasing MDB lending capacity with a view to tripling it. Improving MDB lending terms, including by scaling up local currency lending and rechanneling 50% of underutilized SDRs and developing an SDR playbook. We call for early implementation of commitments on the critical issue of debt, in particular on first finding an institutional home for enhanced and systemized liquidity and debt management support to developing countries. Second, establishing a borrowers platform to strengthen borrower countries voices in the global debt architecture, and third, initiating an intergovernmental process under the UN on filling gaps in the debt architecture. Excellencies, despite being exposed to the fallouts from multiple global shocks, ranging from the pandemic to energy crisis to climate induced disasters, Pakistan is actively aligning domestic action with the global vision contained in the Compromiso de Sevilla. We have launched the Iran-Pakistan National Economic Transformation Plan 24-29, built on five pillars, exports, e-Pakistan, environment, energy infrastructure, and equity. Through comprehensive and consistent macroeconomic reforms, we have delivered a primary budget surplus, curbed inflation, and reduced our debt to GDP ratio. We have intensified domestic resource mobilization through broadening of the tax base, digitization of tax administration, and public financial management reforms enhancing transparency and efficiency. We are diversifying our economy through green and Islamic finance and are deepening financial inclusion through digital infrastructure, including through digital payment systems. We have established the Special Investment Facilitation Council and formulated the 2023 investment policy to attract enhanced foreign direct investment in critical areas as part of our overall development framework. Mr. President, globally, the road ahead demands solidarity, urgency, and action. Pakistan is committed to implementing the Compromisso de Sevilha and to transforming policy into tangible progress in partnership with all countries and all actors. Moving forward, let us all safeguard the true spirit of financing for development, rooted in an unwavering commitment to humanity, fairness, and shared prosperity. transcending political divides and narrow interests, so that together we build a future in which no person and no country is left behind, I thank you.

I thank the Minister of Finance of Pakistan, and I now give the floor to His Excellency Matija Kasaya, Minister of Finance, Planning and Economic Development of Uganda.

The President of the Conference, Your Excellencies, Head of State and the Government, Your Excellencies, Heads of Delegation, the Secretary General of United Nations, ladies and gentlemen. Your Excellency, President Pedro Sanchez of the Kingdom of Spain, and Secretary-General Antonio Guterres of United Nations, I have been requested by my Head of State, His Excellency, the President of Republic of Uganda, General Yoweri Museveni, to thank you for inviting him to participate in this discussion. Unfortunately, due to other equally important commitments, he is not able to be here with us. I convey his apologies. His Excellency President Museveni has prepared a written statement to this conference, which I will submit to the President of the conference. In his statement, His Excellency President Museveni has highlighted the following key issues. One, the uncertainty to investment, trade, and global development financing as a result of wars and conflicts, trade wars including tariffs and non-tariff barriers, protectionism, economic and trade policies, ECT. His Excellency therefore proposes preservation of multilateral frameworks. The need for commitments to implement agreed global frameworks for financing development, including the 2015 Addis Ababa Action Agenda, NEPAD, 2020, the third agenda for sustainable development, Africa Union Agenda 2063, etc. Three. Prioritization of trade as a means to finance development in low and middle income countries. Four, reducing the cost of accessing global capital, including FDI, remittances, loans, bonds, etc., and the high perceived risk for Africa resulting in the high premiums on borrowing. Five, Lowering trade tariffs on manufactured products from low and middle income countries to promote value addition to raw materials. Six, aligning development financing with economic policies, strategies and plans of how income countries and prioritization of science, technology and innovation, as well as infrastructure development. Seven, separation geopolitics in the implementation of frameworks for financing development. Eight, the need to leverage private capital, including private equity using official development assistance. Nine, lastly, the need for global cooperation to support specific country efforts to boost domestic revenue mobilization, including addressing illicit financial flows and tax evasion by multinational corporations. Mr. President, allow me to submit the written statement of His Excellency President Yoweri Museveni of the Republic of Uganda. And here I beg to hand over.

Thank you, thank you, thank you. I thank the Minister of Finance, Planning and Economic Development of Uganda. I now give the floor to His Excellency Situmbeko Musokotwane, Minister of Finance and National Planning of Zambia.

Your Excellencies, distinguished delegates, ladies and gentlemen, I am honored to address this conference on behalf of the people of the Republic of Zambia and in full solidarity with the nations of Africa and the wider global south. I bring warm and fraternal greetings from His Excellency, the President of the Republic of Zambia, Mr. Hage Enda Hijilema. Allow me at this point to express sincere thanks to the government and the people of Spain for their warm hospitality and for convening this very important meeting. Special thanks also go to the United Nations in that regard. Mr. President, we meet at a moment of profound and overlapping crises. Global inequality is widening. Climate-induced disasters are intensifying. Debt vulnerabilities are deepening. And for many developing countries, the promise of 2030 is fast slipping out of reach. Yet in the face of this adversity, we, the Global South, are not sitting idle. We are innovating. We are investing in our people, our institutions, and our economies. And we are taking charge of our development destinies. But our national efforts must be met with renewed global solidarity and a reformed international financial architecture, one that reflects today's realities and serves the many, not just the few. We welcome the adoption of the FFD4 outcome document, a product of tough but hopeful negotiations that Zambia had the honor of co-facilitating. It lays the foundation for urgent reforms, renewed commitments and practical action. But now we must move from paper to progress. Let us be clear implementation is everything. Your Excellencies, Zambia joins other developing countries in calling for action across three essential fronts. One, acceleration. We must urgently operationalize the commitments made here. The next five years will determine whether we rescue the SDGs or fail an entire generation. We cannot afford to delay. Two, accountability. We must hold ourselves and each other to account. That means building robust monitoring mechanisms, empowering national institutions, and ensuring all actors deliver on their responsibilities. Three, attainment. Our focus must remain on impact on tangible outcomes for jobs, food systems, infrastructure, innovation, and human development. Mr. President, we reaffirm that developing countries are and must be the architects of their own development, but national ambition cannot succeed without an enabling international environment. Mr. President, let us not forget that Africa is not a problem to be solved, Africa is a partner to be embraced. It is the growth frontier of this century, rich in ideas, national resources, human capital, and economic potential. Zambia, like many African nations, is reforming and repositioning. We are investing in renewable energy, modernizing our agriculture and food systems, strengthening fiscal governance, and rebuilding microeconomic stability. Mr. President, as we look ahead, let us rise above short-term interest and zero sum thinking. Let us rebuild trust between the north and south governments and citizens, generations past and future. Let this conference be remembered not only for its outcome document but for igniting a global movement of delivery. Zambia stands ready as a responsible, reforming and resilient partner to walk this journey with all of you. Together, we can finance the future we want. I thank you all for your kind attention, Your Excellencies. Thank you.

I thank His Excellency, the Minister of Finance of Zambia. And I now give the floor to Her Excellency Jenny Chapman, Minister of State for International Development of the United Kingdom.

Good afternoon, everyone. It's a pleasure to follow Zambia and we hear you. Thank you. Seville must be the start of a new chapter in how we finance development and sustainable growth over the next decade. FFD4 sets out three critical shifts and the UK will respond. Firstly, helping countries to raise more of their own revenues. The UK will support countries to raise more finance domestically and manage it better by sharing expertise from our own revenue authority and finance ministry. And we'll work with all partners to take urgent action to tackle unsustainable debt. We cannot do this alone. We'll work through the G20 to strengthen and expand and reform the common framework, ensuring timely and predictable relief for debt-distressed countries. We'll work with partners to maintain momentum on reforms to the existing debt architecture, including to make restructurings quicker and more efficient. We must also ensure future debt sustainability by pressing for more responsible and transparent lending and borrowing and scaling UK champion clauses innovations that pause debt repayments when a crisis hits. The second is on mobilizing international finance at scale, increasing access to finance from all sources beyond ODA, leveraging and multiplying wherever we can. We need private capital at a much greater scale in developing countries. We're proud to launch a coalition of governments, finance institutions, and investors at FFD4. with the aim of mobilising high quality finance for emerging and developing economies through stock exchanges. We'll work with the UK industry experts to unlock and scale up global institutional capital, develop local currency markets, and help to tackle exchange rate risks in developing countries. We'll look at evidence on the barriers to investment and if there need to be changes to our regulatory approach I will need to work with international partners and groups to build a coalition to call for those changes. And we welcome the ambition to triple the size of MDB financing. This will require stretching balance sheets and using guarantees, but that can only get us so far. We'll also need to inject more capital into some MDBs, which is why the UK supports a capital increase for the World Bank's IBRD conditional on reforms. If agreed, this could unlock billions of dollars annually. We've heard the call to explore new sources of climate finance. That's why we've committed to and are pushing for agreement on the International Maritime Organization's net zero framework. And the third is making the system work better for developing countries. This means getting behind countries own priorities and their own plans. It means putting women and girls at the heart of everything we do. It means simplifying and streamlining the aid architecture so it's easier for countries to engage and access finance. We must do more through multilateral organizations that pool and multiply resources and drive reform across the multilateral system to make it faster, more effective, and more sustainable. That's why we're proud to be Gavi's largest investor, as announced last week at the Gavi replenishment. It also means creating a fairer system where developing countries have greater voice and participation to shape the outcomes that they need. And that is why the UK is calling for more voice and more representation for low income and vulnerable countries at the World Bank and the IMF. Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank the Minister of State for International Development of the United Kingdom. I now give the floor to His Excellency Elmer Chiale Salcedo, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Peru.

President of the conference, this fourth international conference on financing for development, President of the Bureau here, Mr. Secretary General of the United Nations, Excellencies, distinguished delegates, ladies and gentlemen, On behalf of Peru, I would like to express our thanks to the Kingdom of Spain and to the United Nations for hosting and convening this fourth International Conference on Financing for Development, a key forum for promoting financing aligned with a common sustainable development agenda. We are meeting at a decisive time to propose courses of action that address the challenges that we are facing with urgency and depth. We have a financing gap that exceeds $4 trillion per year. In this context, we appreciate the efforts made by developed countries in the area of official development assistance, ODA, and we encourage them to redouble their efforts to make progress towards the target of 0.7% of gross national income being devoted to ODA. In Peru, we are seeking to bring proposals to the global dialogue, proposals that can help us build fairer and more inclusive financial architecture. First, it's essential to move beyond per capita income as the only criterion for accessing financing for development. Incorporating an approach based on multidimensional indicators is essential to more accurately reflect the realities and vulnerabilities faced by our countries. It's essential that we incorporate these criteria into the processes for resource allocation. Second, driving more flexible international cooperation focused on countries' real needs, their real needs, renewed partnerships, are needed that combine financing, technical assistance and the exchange of knowledge and experience. In Peru, we believe in the transformative potential of South-South cooperation and triangular cooperation, and at the same time we recognize the essential role played by North-South cooperation, and we urge that it be strengthened as part of a more articulated, coordinated, results-oriented system under shared responsibility. Thirdly, we recognize the challenges faced by small island developing states, SIDS, the least developed countries, the LDCs, and landlocked developing countries, the LLDCs, which require priority and tailored attention. At the same time, middle-income countries face increasing restrictions on access to concessional financing. They face high levels of debt and the risk of getting stuck in the middle-income trap. These realities demand a financial architecture that is more inclusive and capable of offering timely solutions to the different types of developing countries that there are. We support reforms that include effective debt relief and payment relief during restructuring processes, as well as progress towards international tax cooperation. Fourth, A truly transformative approach is needed to address climate change and disaster risk. These affect many developing countries, but they do so unequally. The energy transition should not be a luxury or an additional burden, but rather an opportunity to build more resilient and sustainable economies. To this end, it is key to ensure real, fair and timely access to climate finance. At the same time, Financing the green transition implies supporting export countries in the development of strategies to diversify production to drive greater added value at the local level. Finally, we must transform agri-food systems. This should be a global priority in the face of food insecurity and malnutrition. Madam President, by way of conclusion, I reaffirm Peru's conviction that it is determined to be a leading actor in this collective response. As chair of the G77 and China group in Geneva, we intend to firmly lead discussions on financing for development within UNCTAD. We are convinced that there can be no sustainable development without fair and equitable access to finance. This commitment will be continued at the upcoming UNCTAD 16, where Peru, as chair of G77 and China Group, will resolutely defend an ambitious agenda that reflects the true priorities of the Global South. We stand ready to work with each and every one of you to make this possible. I thank you.

I thank the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Peru. I now give the floor to His Excellency Rexson Ramofafia, Minister for National Planning and Development Coordination of the Solomon Islands.

Mr. President, Excellency, distinguished delegates, I'm honored on behalf of the government and the people of Solomon Island to address this conference. On the outset, let me commend the government and the people of Spain for hosting this conference. On that note, I also appreciate the support of the UN DESA for convening the fourth Financing for Development Conference. The conference is convened at a critical time against the backdrop of geopolitical shift and conflicts, increased vulnerability from the ongoing climate change and impact putting pressure on limited resources and unilateral decisions that undermine the multilateral system. At the same time, the AWAD4 offers an opportunity for the international community to take decisive and bold action to bridge this financing gap and mobilize grant-based and concessional financing, including through innovative and inclusive financing solutions. A decade ago, the international community adopted the SDG with vision to drive sustainable development globally. With only five years to the deadline, many of the goals are off track and there is huge financing gap. The Cville could be our final chance to make corrective action to deliver on the sustainable development goals and justice for people and the planet. As a small island developing state and LDC, we are confronted with inherent vulnerability, small economy, remote geography, high transport costs, limited resources base, and exposure to climate-induced disaster. These structural changes demand tailored concessional and sustained financing solution. The multilateral system must be responsive to current realities and consider the special circumstances of small island developing states. This includes urgent reform of the international financial architecture. In this regard, the key part of the reform of the international financial architecture is advancing through using the multidimensional vulnerability index in policies and practices for development support. Access to finance should be based on vulnerability and not outdated income classification. Such reform must also include the greater and equitable representation by small island developing states in the international financial institution to ensure small island developing states have a voice in the global economic governance. Solomon Islands emphasised the urgent need for international cooperation to develop climate infrastructure in key sectors such as energy, agriculture, transport, fisheries, and ICT, which is essential for boosting connectivity and enabling sustainable growth. The integration of Public-private partnership, development coordination, and mobilization of domestic resources is essential for tackling the complex challenge faced by a small island developing state. The multilateral cooperation is critical in integrating the informal sector with the global economy. For Solomon Islands, 85% of our population are informal sector. They are smallholder farmers, operators of family owned resorts and owners of the country's natural resources. We call for digital transformation initiatives to empower our rural population to access the market and financial services. In this context, Solomon Islands calls for increased collaboration with development partners to support the government commitment towards modern, transparent and financially inclusive national economy. On the national reform, Solomon Islands is committed to public sector reform, including a tax reform program, governance reform to empower accountability institution and human capital development while also promoting unity and stability. Solomon Islands support the call for greater flexibility and innovative approach to the global financial system that are relevant and fit for purpose. In closing, Solomon Islands believes that the success of the D4 outcomes will be determined by its ability to address the specific challenges and needs faced by small island developing states and LDCs. There is no doubt that adequate grant base and concessional finance technology and capacity need to be mobilized now and then later. Mr. President, thank you.

I thank the Minister for National Planning and Development Coordination of the Solomon Islands. I now give the floor to His Excellency Michael Halkitis, Minister of Economic Affairs of the Bahamas.

Madam President, Excellencies, distinguished ladies and gentlemen, good afternoon. On behalf of the government of the Commonwealth of the Bahamas, I express my sincere gratitude to the government of Spain for the kind hospitality afforded to my delegation. Excellencies, in September 2015, the Bahamas joined other United Nations member states in endorsing the historical framework document, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Since that time, the Bahamas has made steady progress towards promoting sustained, inclusive economic growth, employment opportunities, and decent work for all. The government of the Bahamas has prioritized economic diversification. particularly in tourism, financial services, and the emerging blue and green economies. Despite progress in these areas, however, this conference would be acutely aware that debt and the servicing of debt continue to stymie the economies of small island developing states. Whereas multinational banks have increased lending in response to external shocks, many developing countries face high debt service burdens and borrowing costs, which severely constrain their fiscal space and their ability to alleviate poverty and invest in sustainable development. Data from the United Nations Conference for Trade and Development reveals that in 2023, developing countries spent $1.3 trillion in servicing debt. Small island developing states, especially those deemed as middle-income economies, face a quandary, the proverbial debt trap and middle-income trap. Excellencies, as we consider the pressing challenges before us, I wish to highlight two important priorities: deepening climate vulnerabilities and the urgent need to operationalize the Multidimensional Vulnerability Index. The intensifying climate crisis continues to exacerbate the vulnerabilities of small island developing states. Rising sea levels and increasingly destructive storms erode economic and development gains, strain public finances, and undermine social stability. As such, climate vulnerability must be explicitly linked to financing mechanisms that go beyond mitigation to include adaptation, loss and damage, and resilience building. We reiterate the call for predictable, accessible, and scaled-up climate financing to support vulnerable states that find themselves on the front lines of climate disruption. The advancement of the multidimensional vulnerability index was championed and primarily developed by small island developing states under the Alliance of Small Island States. Excellencies, this conference is expected to produce concrete commitments and guide international financial cooperation to and beyond the 2030 deadline for the attainment of the sustainable development goals. To this end, my delegation calls for the reform of the international financial architecture, including reformed modalities for borrowing and debt repayment, the development of automatic debt relief mechanisms and enhancement of catastrophic risk insurance, the expansion of special drawing rights within the international financial institutions, the operationalization of the SIDS Center for Excellence as outlined in the Antigua and Barbuda Agenda for SIDS, and the establishment of the Debt Sustainability Support Service as outlined in the Antigua and Barbuda Agenda for SIDS. In this regard, my delegation was pleased to endorse this conference's outcome document, the Compromiso de Sevilla, which reiterates the global community's support for the Addis Ababa Agenda and launches an ambitious package of reforms that may address the annual $4 trillion financing gap for the attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals. On this matter, I respectfully urge my colleagues in the developed community to honour their commitment to allocate at least 0.7% of their GNP to development assistance, as well as their equally vital pledges towards the capitalisation of the loss and damage fund. Excellencies, in closing comments delivered at the 2025 Economic and Social Council Financing for Development Forum that was held two months ago, The United Nations Deputy Secretary General stated that "Seville must be more than a conference, it must be a turning point towards a new chapter for financing for development. Let's seize this opportunity together." I therefore urge all of the distinguished ladies and gentlemen present today as well as the international development bodies and international financial institutions further afield to honor, preserve, and action the commitments promulgated in the Seville commitment and plan of action. Thank you.

I thank the Minister of Economic Affairs of the Bahamas. I now give the floor to His Excellency Alberto Van Claverano, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Chile.

President, Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, delegates, friends all, let me begin on behalf of the government of Chile. Let me thank the government of people of Spain for their generous hospitality in the United Nations. Chile deeply appreciates the adoption of the civil commitment, which represents a concrete step towards a fairer, more inclusive, more effective financing system. We align ourselves with the statements delivered by Iraq on behalf of the G77 and China, and by Philippines on behalf of the group of middle-income countries. We would also like to share some remarks from our national perspective. This conference is taking place at an international context marked by uncertainty. The temptation to retreat and to lower our ambitions is real. However, the challenges that we face from climate change to persistent inequalities and financial instability demand shared responses. They demand common vision and coordinated action. No country can tackle these changes in isolation. Within this framework, the civil commitment provides a useful roadmap. It does not solve all of the challenges, but it does establish a clear policy framework for moving forward collectively. It reaffirms the 2030 agenda, and it clearly recognizes the urgency of closing the financing gap for development. This gap is not just a number. It reflects the distance that lies between the goals that we have and the efforts that are necessary in order to meet them. And this is at the heart of the slow implementation of the sustainable development goals. We welcome the fact that the document proposes concrete measures. And in particular, we highlight its recognition of the needs of middle-income countries, as well as the importance of adequately supporting these countries after the graduation process. In Chile, we continue to face structural challenges such as income inequality, informal employment, and climate vulnerability. These challenges are not reflected in our ranking as a country of upper middle income, which is based exclusively on GDP per capita. And this is why we strongly support the development of fairer and more representative metrics that can better guide international cooperation without penalizing progress. We also welcome the proposals for reform of the international financial architecture aimed at more equitable representation and more inclusive decision-making. We recognize the transformative potential of instruments such as sustainable debt. which can be coordinated with climate, biodiversity, and energy transition policies, especially in Latin America and the Caribbean. We also highlight the inclusion of traditionally invisible sectors, such as the care economy. In this area, Chile has promoted policies that redistribute and recognize unpaid work. We also value the recognition of the role of international trade as a driving force for development. Chile has seen growth thanks to access to to markets and thanks to a rules-based multilateral system. Revitalizing this system is key to inclusive and sustainable recovery. President, advancing with this agenda requires not only declarations and statements, but sustained and sustainable political decisions with forward-looking investment. In Chile, we have seen it work. Public policies that combine fiscal responsibility and social justice has contributed to improving cohesion and strengthening our resilience. We have also witnessed this in the financial field. Chile was a pioneer in Latin America in the issuance of sovereign green bonds and today is a leader in sustainable bonds with a focus on environmental and social matters. These tools have mobilized resources with measurable impact. They've diversified our investor base and strengthened fiscal credibility. No text is perfect, but this agreement sends a clear message, we will continue to work from multilateralism on cooperation and shared responsibility. We are convinced that only collective action can allow us to effectively address global challenges. I thank you, President.

I thank the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Chile. I now give the floor to His Excellency Yusuf Maitama Dugar, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Nigeria.

President of the conference, your excellencies, distinguished delegates, I bring warm greetings from President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and extended Nigeria's sincere appreciation to the government and people of the Kingdom of Spain for hosting this timely and important conference. And this conference is indeed timely, or rather, we are running out of time. It's 10 years since the Addis Ababa Action Agenda set the framework for financing sustainable development, but the gap in funding only increases and is now more than $4 trillion annually. Development assistance budgets in the largest economies have plummeted. In those 10 years, we've seen terms of trade and access to markets deteriorate, and the re-emergence of tariffs and rival trading blocks. Ratings agencies make or break our economic prospects, but with little transparency. The costs of the climate emergency in terms of remediation measures and increased competition for diminishing resources have soared. The challenges of violent extremism, organized crime, and irregular migration are common for us all here today. But we are on the frontline of this everywhere war and bear huge and disproportionate human and financial costs. So let us not for a moment allow ourselves to think that we are gathered here today for an abstract exercise in accounting or numbers. There are real world consequences for the decisions we take, or indeed for those we might defer. In the end, those consequences will be felt just as much in established as emerging economies, helping us to the level to level the playing field, or at least to make it a little less uneven, is to help us all. And Nigeria does understand that the process of change must begin at home. Our government has taken bold measures to improve fiscal responsibility and reallocate resources toward productive investments. One of the earliest reforms of President Tinubu's administration was the removal of fuel subsidies. A tough but necessary decision. We also unified our exchange rates, increasing market transparency. These reforms are already bearing fruit. Nigeria's credit rating has improved, and in 2024, our economy recorded its fastest growth in a decade. Our tax to GDP ratio rose from 10% to 13% within a year. Last week, President Tinubu signed comprehensive tax reform bills into law that seek to raise this ratio to 18% by 2025, introduce a global minimum tax for multinationals, and increase VAT to 12.5% by 2026. But this is an interconnected world. Domestic resource mobilization alone will not suffice. Illicit financial flows drain Africa of $88.6 billion annually. In response, Nigeria has embraced digitalization, overhauled its revenue systems, and launched a beneficial ownership register to promote financial transparency and fight financial corruption. We call on all countries to adopt open beneficial ownership registers and support the establishment of a global registry. Excellencies, we're also focused on financial inclusion and economic empowerment. Nigeria is scaling up the capacity of development finance institutions like the Bank of Industry and Bank of Agriculture to support micro, small and medium-sized enterprises, especially women and youth-led businesses. In January, President Tinubu announced the establishment of the National Credit Guarantee Company to enable the ambition and initiative of entrepreneurs and encourage the private sector growth that will deliver jobs and prosperity and peace and stability. We have a common interest. in giving a real voice in the global financial architecture. We have seen positive impact of the IMF reforms of special drawing rights in 2021 and urge a similar spirit of bold thinking to deal with the burden of debt repayments that undermine the prospects of so many poorer countries. Nigeria played a vital role in delivering the UN tax convention. It is a much better, much fairer deal than the OECD two-pillar tax initiative. We and many others will continue to protect and promote the UN tax convention. And I thank you very much.

I thank the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Nigeria. I now give the floor to Her Excellency Fatima Arouma Assil, Minister in charge of the Economy, Planning and International Cooperation of Chad.

Thank you very much, Monsieur le President.

Mr. President, ladies and gentlemen, distinguished participants, I wish to extend my sincere gratitude on behalf of the government of Chad to the President of the government of Spain, as well as the UN Secretary-General, for the invitation extended to my country. Ladies and gentlemen, distinguished guests, Chad aligns itself with the statements delivered by Iraq, Angola and Nepal respectively on behalf of the G77 plus China, the African group as well as the LDCs. The issue of development financing is of paramount importance for my country, a developing country which has been encountering significant challenges. These are security, humanitarian, climate related challenges, not to mention the ongoing repercussions of global crises and geopolitical tensions, the fourth UN Conference on Financing for Development is being held at a critical juncture for humanity. The world is traversing a number of crises, their complexity and the gravity of these crises is unprecedented. Global inequalities are growing, external shocks are proliferating, and financing challenges related to the SDGs are growing at the time as development assistance is continuing to diminish, which undermines the very foundation of the multilateral system. The UN funds programs and multilateral funds programs and agencies play a key role in delivering vital assistance to those who are most vulnerable. They are suddenly plunged into despair and they're facing drastic cuts in financial resources. Under these difficult circumstances, that is a program is drawing to a flows without the goals having been set, being attained, and this is imperiling the implementation of the, uh, uh, the 2063 agenda. The Seville Conference, therefore, represents a unique opportunity, before us to fully take stock of the magnitude of the urgent need to adopt necessary measures to reinvigorate multilateralism in order to achieve our shared goals, Excellencies. Distinguished participants, sustainable development is of significant importance with, uh, for my country, my country as we face, uh, a mult-, uh, a manifold multidimensional challenges. we, under the leadership of Marshal Mohamed Idris, Idris Idris, has continuously striven to provide the people of our country with decent living conditions, which they legitimately aspire to. In that vein, we have adopted a new national development plan for the 2025 to 2030 period. The plan is entitled Chad connection 2030. And this dovetails perfectly with the international agenda. As part of this plan, the state has adopted a commitment to implement a structural reform of the economy and society through four key pillars. Uh, which are, have 17 programs and 268 plans and reforms and four cross-cutting programs which focus on reform and decentralization of the state, as well as inclusion and the development of the private sector, as well as resilience and adaptation to climate change. These plans require mobilization of $30 million in investments for implementation thereof. Excellencies, the Seville Consensus is a last opportunity to fulfill the commitments and to accelerate the implementation of the 2030 agenda. The areas of intervention under Seville are ambitious and they're realistic, and their implementation will allow our developing countries to make definitive headway towards the attainment of the SDGs. SDGs. In this regard, we welcome the opportunity. The fact that we have implemented reforms in public finance and these have generated significant improvements in domestic resource mobilization. Significant measures have also been adopted in order to improve the business climate, to attract foreign direct investment. We have adopted official development assistance commitments and climate financing. And we stand ready to accelerate the implementation of the SDGs as a result. To conclude, once again, we applaud the adoption of the outcome document of Seville, and we stand ready to work assiduously alongside all stakeholders with a view to implementing the outcomes of this conference in order to achieve the goals that humanity has set in order to leave nobody behind. Thank you.

I thank the minister in charge of the economy, planning, and international cooperation of Chad. I now give the floor to His Excellency Henri Claude Oyima, Minister of State, Minister of the Economy, Finance, Debt, and Shareholdings, responsible for combating the high cost of living of Gabon.

Mr. President, I wish to take this opportunity to thank the Spanish authorities for their warm hospitality, as well as all the specific measures they have undertaken to extend a warm hospitality to our delegation since our arrival in the magnificent city of Seville. I also wish to convey the appreciation of His Excellency Mr. Vice President of the Republic of Gabon for the kind invitation extended to participate in this international conference on financing for development. The President of the Republic has tasked me with conveying to you his regrets at the fact that he has been unable to participate in person during this important meeting. Nevertheless, it is my great honor to represent him and on his behalf to deliver the following message, and I quote: Your Majesty the King of Spain, Mr. President of the General Assembly of the United Nations, Mr. Secretary General of the United Nations, ladies and gentlemen, 10 years have elapsed since the development -- the conference on financing for development in Addis Ababa, and adoption of the program and the related program of action. And the -- our government firmly believes that this is a unique opportunity to initiate an in-depth reform of development financing mechanisms. Not only is this reform necessary, but the reform also is urgent. And this is because we need to adopt a just, transparent, and especially an international financial system that is better tailored to reflect the realities of developing countries. we have natural -- abundant natural resources and recognized political stability, Gabon is facing structural challenges which are shared by many developing countries. We remain vulnerable to economic and climate vagaries. My country remains committed to sustainable and inclusive development, and we remain fully cognizant of the tremendous challenges that are being faced by African economies, as well as the countries of the global south. Ladies and gentlemen, like a large number of countries, Gabon is taking part in this initiative with robust commitments and effective follow-up mechanisms as we seek to transform the pledges into concrete action. We need to adopt an equitable financial compact to allow our states, and especially those in Africa, to achieve the sustainable development goals, as well as to implement the African Union Agenda 2063. Like other states, in particular African states, Gabon is faced with a debt crisis and this is constraining our ability to invest in key sectors including health care, education and infrastructure. Today, debt servicing is absorbing resources that should be dedicated to the advancement of human development. In this vein, my country aligns itself with the calls for financial justice, which are reflected inter alia in debt alleviation and equitable access to financing. For this reason, as I indicated in September 2024, New York, we advocate equitable rescheduling of debt and as well as broadening of concessional financing. Likewise, Gabon supports necessary architectural reforms of international finance. It is hard to understand that Africa, which represents 20 percent of the global population, Africa has so few voting rights within the international community. Our hope is the following, that the fourth international conference on financing for development will result in, number one, a more inclusive global governance, which is a reflective -- two, greater representation of African countries, three, stepped up efforts to combat illicit financial flows. Ladies and gentlemen, As you are aware, we have adopted a resolute commitment to ecological transition with 88% of our territory being covered by the tropical forest. This green lung of Africa is a country with a positive carbon footprint, which is finding it difficult, nevertheless, to gain access to the promised climate financing. The fragmentation of mechanisms, as well as complexity of resources, strips us of the necessary resources to implement our development agenda. For this we hope that this conference will result in acceleration of the harmonization of finance, of climate financing, but especially simplified access to climate financing, climate funds. Ladies and gentlemen, the success of this conference will hinge on our ability to go beyond specific interests to build a more equitable financial system. This needs to result in binding commitments and transparent follow-up mechanisms. Thank you, end of quote.

I thank the Minister of State, Minister of the Economy, Finance, Debt and Shareholdings responsible for combating the high cost of living of Gabon. I now give the floor to His Excellency Denis Christel Sassou-Nguesso, Minister of International Cooperation and Promotion of Public Private Partnership of the Congo.

Mr. President of the conference, ladies and gentlemen, ministers, heads of delegation, ladies and gentlemen, representatives of international organizations, distinguished delegates, ladies and gentlemen, I wish to take this opportunity to extend, on behalf of the President of the Republic of Congo, His Excellency Mr. Denis Sassou Nguesso, gratitude to His Excellency Pedro Sanchez and the government and the people of Spain for the warm hospitality which they have extended to us in the city of Seville. I also wish to thank the United Nations Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, for the organization of the Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development, and for having placed at the very heart of our thought the key matter of financing for sustainable development. Less than five years before the deadline for Agenda 2030, gaps between commitments made and the reality are growing. Due to a lack of adequate means, sustainable development goals for many developing countries remain beyond reach. It is now time to act in a realistic and a bold way. My country has decisively adopted a commitment to structure our strategy for financing on the public-private partnership model. We firmly believe that sustainable development hinges on close cooperation between the state and the private sector, each playing its key role in the dynamic of building together public policies. To that end, my country has institutionalized public-private partnerships as the linchpin for the implementation of public policy. in such key areas as healthcare, energy, infrastructure, agriculture, as well as the digital economy. This choice is, uh, underpinned by the national framework for integrated financing, which helps to align internal and external available resources to align these with our strategic priorities with a particular emphasis on SDG 8 decent work and economic growth, SDG 9 industry and innovation and SDG 11 sustainable town communities and cities. In terms of public debt we have adopted a responsible management strategy and this is geared towards diversifying financing sources and integrating environmental and social criteria in the budgetary process. We call for reform of the international debt restructuring system to ensure that it becomes more equitable and better tailored to meet the realities of countries of the South. Environmentally, at the environmental level, we have proudly adopted a commitment as a guardian of the Congo Basin, the second green lung of the planet. Its contribution to the global climate is accompanied by significant sacrifices in terms of natural exploitation of natural resources, but nevertheless it remains under financed. And this is why we advocate greater mobilization, more predictable and direct, uh, uh, mobilization and climate financing with tropical forest countries. we have adopted a commitment to structuring our climate financing instruments by drafting, by building sovereign green bonds and establishing a pilot mechanism. These efforts demonstrate the fact that developing countries can be an important factor in building a green and resilient economy. For our efforts to generate results, the international financial architecture needs to be reshaped in an in-depth way. The current system, from the post- war period neither reflects the complexity of present-day challenges nor the diversity of development trajectories. In this regard, we propose the following: integration of economic, climate-related, and structural vulnerabilities as a key criteria for access to concessional financing. and reforming access models for resources related to international financial institutions, rebuilding the financial agencies in order to ensure that they no longer penalize countries of the South by overlooking their reform-related efforts and their ecological role, and reassigning the special drawing rights and promoting innovative tools such as sustainable bonds or against nature mechanisms to help advance sustainability and to guarantee more equitable justice for Africa in international decision-making bodies. We no longer can afford to wait. Solutions exist. Let us seize this opportunity together to build a better future for humankind. We reaffirm our commitment to renewed multilateralism, rooted in solidarity, shared responsibility, and mutual recognition. Let us together pave the way for sustainable, fair, and inclusive development. Thank you.

I thank the Minister of International Cooperation and Promotion of Public Private Partnership of the Congo. I now give the floor to His Excellency Roderick Galdez, Minister for Social and Affordable Accommodation of Malta.

Mr President, Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, I want to begin by congratulating Spain and the United Nations on the successful organisation of this international conference at a time when concerted international action is needed on many aspects related to the financing for development agenda. It has been more than 20 years since we met in Monterrey, but despite the significant efforts of the entire UN membership, the challenges we face today in bringing financing for development to all who need it are substantial. Considering the state of the world, it is fair to say that our planet and its people are also dealing with several significant challenges. poverty, inequality, including gender inequality, climate change, biodiversity loss, pollution, as well as war, conflict, and the vulnerability of many states, and perhaps most relevant for our meeting in Seville, an enormous gap in financing for sustainable development. Malta, as a member of the European Union, was proud to have engaged constructively in the negotiations of this conference outcome document. We are pleased that there is new language on the need to reform the international financial architecture, on stepping up efforts to direct available financing to countries in need, and on the need to enhance the voice of developing countries in global financial governance. But we are most proud of the fact that numerous actions have been agreed to address the different aspects of debt challenges and lower cost of borrowing for developing countries, including small island developing states. But these achievements alone are not sufficient, and Malta believes that there is more that needs to be done. First, as regards the financing of sustainable development for all, the European Union, and its 27 member states alone contribute 42% of global official development assistance. This is a sign of the commitment from the European Union to address the most precarious pernicious development challenges. But it is also clear that other partners need to do more and that every source of finance, public, private, domestic and international needs to be utilized to increase the pot of funds available to developing countries. We believe that national ownership, national strategies and domestic resources are at the core of every state's sustainable development, and that in order to respond to development challenges, domestic resources must be maximised, collected and invested in inclusive and sustainable development. The private sector and the financing it can provide will also play a key role. Private finance can help create decent jobs, provide funding for economic transformations, and even finance countries' crucial investments. The question is, how can all those present here work together to channel this potential in a way which most benefits to developing countries and sustainable development? But let us be frank. Closing the financing gap cannot be predicated on domestic resources and the private sector alone to rescue the SDGs and all our 2030 agenda objectives from eradicating poverty to tackling climate change to promoting peace as sea change is required. To close the gap, the international community needs to work together to build a bigger, better and fairer financial system which is more responsive to the needs of developing countries, including least developing countries, which reflects the realities of the challenges we face today. The international system must be more effective and shock-responsive. We call on all creditors to offer climate resilient debt clauses which pause debt repayments when disasters and crises strike, providing space for developing countries to recover. We recognize that the system must be fairer too. This means greater representation and voice for the poorest and most vulnerable, including the World Bank and IMF boards tackling illicit financial flows. and helping countries to apply for international funding and build capacity to access the revenues they are owed from tax. Malta has been proud to contribute funding for development related initiatives, from widening the pool of academic scholarships available to developing countries to investing in digital health facilities in Ghana, assisting small island development states in the context of the different challenges they face. We are committed to putting our wallet where our mouth is. And we will continue to do so in the months and years to come, based on the principle that leaving the most vulnerable behind is not an option in the year 2025. Thank you very much.

I thank the Minister for Social and Affordable Accommodation of Malta. I now give the floor to Her Excellency, Dorgardur Katrin Gunnarsdottir, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Ireland.

Thank you so much. Excellencies, as we gather here in Seville, progress towards the sustainable development goals is severely off track. At the same time, we stand at a critical juncture as official development assistance is decreasing significantly this year and is unlikely to bounce back anytime soon. If we are to move the needle on meeting development needs and enable climate action, it is urgent that we find new ways of addressing financing challenges. Colleagues, The reduction of ODA does not reflect a decreasing demand. In fact, demand has never been higher, which underscores the urgency of enhancing quality and catalytic effect of ODA. Here, donor countries must shoulder their share of responsibility in reducing aid fragmentation and build partnerships where partner country governments sit in the driver's seat. Allow me to highlight three key points. First, I want to emphasise gender equality and women's empowerment, which play a key role in progressing the SDGs. Here I speak from experience, as Iceland's strong focus on gender equality as a policy priority played a significant part in Iceland's journey from being one of the poorest countries in Europe just 50 years ago to becoming a prosperous country and one of the wealthiest in the region. Investment in gender equality is investment in society. At the same time, I wish to emphasise that placing gender equality at the forefront requires political will, hard work and collective action. Likewise, it requires dedicated financing, where financial resources are channelled to programmes that tackle inequalities, leave no one behind and are aimed at closing very stubborn gender gaps. Here, I want to underscore the urgency of investing in sexual and reproductive health and rights, which can unlock women's potential and make sure their children are fed and that they go to school. Second, it is vital that every dollar invested in OTA leverages additional financing from other sources. Also bear in mind that the solutions that we have today are not static entities and we must all work together to make them more fit for purpose. We must also acknowledge that continued grant funding is still essential to mobilise investment in developing countries. Thirdly, creating an enabling environment in developing countries is of utmost importance. This involves many factors, such as a predictable regulatory environment that is attractive to investors, a robust system of domestic resource mobilisation that instils trust and strengthens also the social contract, and strong and credible anti corruption measures. We must also continue to combat illicit financial flows that are estimated to be worth tens of billions of dollars every year. It is vital that untaxed income is brought into developing countries' economies from offshore tax havens and intermediary jurisdictions. Excellencies, genuine progress on many key issues has been made in the outcome document, which we should all be proud of. even though I would have preferred much stronger language on gender equality. But importantly, the FFD process has shown that multilateralism can still deliver, even in these turbulent times. The numerous initiatives in the Seville Platform for Action will translate the text into action for tangible and lasting impact. We are pleased to announce that Iceland is endorsing five initiatives under the Seville Platform for Action on gender equality and women's empowerment the care economy, private capital mobilisation and aid effectiveness. Ladies and gentlemen, fundamentally Development cooperation is not about charity, it is about strategic investment in our common prosperity, well-being and the health of our own beloved planet. The Compromisso de Sevilha encapsulates our joint efforts and commitment. The road has been rocky, but it is our collective responsibility to make sure it leads to meaningful development outcomes. Thank you so much.

Thank you, Mr. President. I thank the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Iceland. I now give the floor to His Excellency Mutuli Nkobe, Minister of Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion of Zimbabwe.

Mr.

President, Your Excellency Pedro Sánchez, President of the Government of Spain, Your Excellency Antonio Guterres, Secretary General of the United Nations, Your Excellencies here present, distinguished guests. Delegates, at the outset, I wish to express Zimbabwe's deep appreciation to the Government and people of Spain for the warm hospitality extended to our delegation and for the excellent organisation of this led by fourth International Conference on Financing for Development. We are honoured to gather in this historic city of Seville, to collectively chart a course towards a more just and responsive global financial system, one that delivers for all. Your Excellencies, the time has come for honest reflection, given that the current global approach to development financing falls short, lacking both adequacy and even fairness. The SDGs face a financing gap of between two and a half to four trillion US dollars annually, a figure that continues to grow. Official development assistance is in decline and longstanding commitments by developed countries, including the pledge to allocate 0.7% of their gross national income, GNI, that remains largely unfulfilled. At the same time, developing countries, particularly in Africa, are burdened by mounting debt, the continued global tightening of monetary policy, illicit financial flows, unilateral coercive measures, UCMs, the adverse effects of climate change and geopolitical divisions. The result has been a reversal of development gains in some regions. In order to achieve the goals of the 2030 Agenda, we must move with resolve. towards bold structural reforms grounded in equity, solidarity, and mutual accountability. This conference must serve as the forum to commit to equity, solidarity, and shared responsibility, a moment to reshape the international financial architecture into one that is fair, inclusive, and fit for purpose. Zimbabwe, therefore, welcomes the adoption. of the Financing for Development four outcome document and the specific measures it outlines to mobilize adequate resources and unlock the high levels of investment required to bridge the SDG financing gap. Our focus must now shift decisively to full and effective implementation. Allow me to highlight three critical areas of action. First, Reform of the global financial architecture is long overdue. Decision making within international financial institutions must reflect the realities of today's world and not the post war order of eight decades ago. Developing countries whose economies are not affected by IMF decisions must have a fair voice and representation. Zimbabwe reiterates the need for a reformed global financial architecture that ensures an equitable and inclusive sustainable development for all. Second, we need urgent reform of sovereign debt architecture. African countries are facing crushing debt burdens, high borrowing costs and limited access to This has severely, uh, narrowed fiscal space for critical investments in health, education, infrastructure, and climate resilience. Debt restructuring is often delayed and paradoxically punished by credit downgrades. Third, illicit financial flows represent a major threat to sustainable development. Africa continues to hemorrhage billions annually, resources that could transform lives and build resilience. International cooperation on tax is therefore not optional. Zimbabwe pledges full support to the UN Framework Convention on International Tax Cooperation and its early protocols, which we believe can usher in a new era of global tax equity. Your Excellencies, the success of this conference will not be measured by eloquent speeches or well-drafted documents, but by our ability to deliver tangible results. Robust monitoring, inclusive implementation, and local ownership supported by the United Nations and its Resident Coordination System will be essential. In closing, Zimbabwe stands ready to do its part to make this conference a turning point, where words are matched by action and commitments by delivery. Together, we must mobilize the financing needed ensure the SDGs and restore credibility to the promise of sustainable development for all, I thank you.

I thank the Minister of Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion of Zimbabwe. I now give the floor to His Excellency, Mahmetguly Astana Gulov, Minister of Finance and Economy of Turkmenistan.

Mr. President, Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, I wish to take this opportunity on behalf of the delegation of Turkmenistan to welcome all participants of the fourth International Conference on Financing for Development. First and foremost, I wish to note the relevance of the theme under consideration during this conference on the discussion of the new global approach to the financing of sustainable development, which is the cornerstone for the implementation of Agenda 2030 and which will also determine implementation of the economic, environmental and social components thereof. The Republic of Turkmenistan has supported the Addis Ababa Program of Action on financing, and we have introduced a number of proposals for the development financing mechanism, both at the country and at the global levels. The most acceptable financing mechanism, in our view, are measures to help mobilize resources from all possible financing sources. These include public-private partnership, as well as the expansion of long-term financing mechanism for the private sector to expedite the SDGs, the involvement of private business and finances, financing is a key for addressing the deficit and financing for development. the establishment of integrated national mechanisms for financing SDGs have a positive impact on the implementation of Agenda 2030. I wish to note that the achievement of the SDGs will largely be determined by global partnership and cooperation. And at the same time, as we see it, UN bodies and IFIs need to continue to expand support to countries through the delivery of the necessary technical assistance and accessible financing in order to support the phased achievement of all 17 SDGs. An important factor in this process is support for the development of high quality, reliable and sustainable infrastructure through the expansion of financing and technical assistance. Many aspects of this assistance have been reflected in the outcome document for the conference. And this presented an updated global approach towards financing for development. Our country welcomes the above-mentioned document, including measures to ensure the timely implementation of the relevant development strategies and programs for countries in special situations, including the Doha Program of Action and the Program of Action for Landlocked Developing Countries, as well as others. The adoption of concrete action for the expansion of fiscal space, addressing urgent debt-related issues, and reduction of the cost of capital for developing countries will all help to significantly improve the financing for sustainable development landscape. We believe it is critical to implement the necessary monetary and fiscal response measures to ensure liquidity for entrepreneurship and households, and to prevent excessive debt obligations and minimize volatility and to support stability of trade and financial markets. In terms of fiscal measures, there is a need to enhance opportunities related to revenue, given that today the challenges, uh, uh, uh, are significantly surpassing opportunities at the disposal of any given state. To effectively cope with this, there's a need to adopt a firm commitment to multilateralism, international cooperation, and global solidarity based on peace and harmony of all states. I wish to note that 2025 is the United Nations International Year for Peace and Trust. 12th of December in the city of Ashgabat, the capital of Turkmenistan, an international forum on peace and trust will be held. And this will bring together participants from throughout the world to build upon progress and to develop further plans to strengthen a global culture of trust. Another significant event to be held this year is the conduct of the third UN Conference on Landlocked Developing Countries, the LLDC3. This will be held from 4 to 8 August on the shore of the Caspian Sea at the Avaz Sea Resort. Preparations are currently underway to ensure the successful conduct of this important conference. The third UN Conference on Landlocked Developing Countries will be an important platform for building dialogue, for strengthening partnerships, and to shape effective strategies to address the problems faced by those states. To conclude, we wish to note that the modern-day world is seeking new forms and mechanisms for development financing. And there is a need for these to be more effective and innovative, and we stand ready to work with stakeholders in Tokunia to pave the way towards a better future while leaving nobody behind. Thank you for your attention.

I thank the Minister of Finance and Economy of Turkmenistan. I now give the floor to His Excellency Augustine Kpelleh Ungwafuan, Minister of Finance and Development Planning of Liberia.

Our distinguished chair, excellencies, and distinguished ladies and gentlemen, at the onset, Liberia expresses deep gratitude to the King, government, and the people of the Kingdom of Spain for the warm reception and excellent hospitality at our disposal since our arrival in this beautiful city of Seville to attend this historical conference redefining the financing of our global architecture to find better paths to securing a more sustainable, equitable, and just future for our children. On behalf of His Excellency Joseph Newmon Boakai, President of the Republic of Liberia, and the people of Liberia, we extend thanks to Member States of the United Nations for the overwhelming support demonstrated by the recent election of Liberia to the non-permanent seat at the Security Council of the United Nations. We stand ready to work collaboratively with all countries in meeting the UN agenda for world peace and sustainable development. We also align our statement with those of the African Union, the Group of 77 plus China to ensure equitable access to resources in the implementation of SDGs. This Financing for Development Conference is very crucial to our common agenda for strengthening multilateralism, achieving global peace and security, and deepening development. Ten years ago, we agreed on this, the Sustainable Development Goal, with a great promise to leave no one behind. Today, we have gathered at this critical junction where SDGs are highly underachieved, with widening economic inequalities exacerbated by worsening effects of climate disasters, further compounding human suffering and poverty. We are witnessing steep decline in overseas development assistance, ODA, and rising and unsustainable debt burden. These troubling realities must prepare us to commit our path to the future to accelerate the implementation of the sustainable development goal. Reforms for the international financial architecture will ensure a more equitable, more inclusive, and more predictable global financial framework that enhances robust global cooperation, commitment to multilateralism, trade, and industrialization to achieve inclusive growth. We want to encourage a development financing model that is more transformative to attract public-private partnership capital investment and facilitate actionable reform for domestic resources mobilization, particularly targeted investment in natural resources beneficiation. We call for equitable and just global trade As we continue to deliver development to our people, when our natural resources are underpriced and extracted and exported with far value addition, we join our developing countries to call for international tax cooperation to support countries exercising their tax rights, including through fair distribution of taxing rights under double taxation treaties, fight tax evasion and aggressive tax avoidance. While we subscribe to globalization, we call for reform that enables base erosion and profit shifting on a sufficient scale, which continue to undermine domestic resource mobilization in developing countries, particularly in Africa. We need to commit to strong policy action that promotes equality and greater financial transparency and accountability, with robust reinforcement mechanisms to combat and prevent illicit international financial flow, and the recovery and return of assets derived from illicit activity for developing nations. This will help provide resources to finance urgent development needs of developing countries. Developing countries are trapped in debt repayments, forcing them to abandon critical investment in sectors that will spur growth, to address social economic development challenges and reduce poverty. We must act collectively to ensure fairer credit rating assessment for developing nations. At a national level, the national development plan and rest agenda for inclusive development is anchored on SDG, intended to drive transformative change across the country. We are digitizing our revenue collection mechanism to ensure accountability and transparency effort to enhance our investment plan across the country. To promote investment inclusive development, we are strengthening our anti-corruption institution to deepen trust and rule of law and governance.

I thank the Minister of Finance and Development Planning of Liberia. I now give the floor to His Excellency Germa Amenti, Minister of Agriculture of Ethiopia.

The President of the Conference, Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen, I wish to extend my deep appreciation to the government of Spain for convening the fourth financing for development conference and welcoming us to the beautiful and historic city of Seville. Mr. President, 10 years ago, my country had the privilege to host the third financing for development conference, which set an ambitious global framework to finance. sustainable development goals with the adaptation of the Addis Ababa action agenda. Ethiopia appreciates the broad based consensus reflected in the Seville commitment, which is largely grounded in the foundation of the Addis Ababa action agenda. As evidenced by $4 trillion deficit in SDG financing, it is clear that the targets under the Addis Ababa Action Agenda have not been met with concrete action. As a result, developing countries are confronted with unsustainable debt, declining private and public finance. the climate crisis, heightened geopolitical tension, and the economic and financial crisis they entail. Ethiopia firmly believes and remains hopeful that the implementation of challenges faced by the Addis Ababa Action Plan agenda will be effectively addressed through the implementation of the Seville commitment. Mr. President, I would like to point out four interrelated topics. First, Ethiopia comments the focus given to domestic resource mobilization. Nevertheless, we must recognize achieving our domestic resource targets are significantly limited as debt servicing is constraining the impact of domestic revenue generation. We therefore call on the international community to revamp efforts to adopt and implement the commitment to ensure global taxation of multinational companies in every country they have productive activities. We further call for the establishment of a sovereign debt mechanism under the auspices of the UN. Secondly, we urge developed countries to step up their commitments by providing increased grant-based and highly concessional financing. Furthermore, we emphasize enhanced South-South and triangular financing. cooperation to mobilize additional support through mandated creating financial instruments, ensuring developing countries receive the resources they need to their development endeavors. This is especially necessary considering the high cost of global development financing and the debt burdens that developing countries are faced with. We further urge for a strong and actionable commitment to the ODA with the national development plans. Thirdly, emphasize the need to put special mechanisms in support of countries that are highly prone to shocks to avoid disruptions in development trajectory. This requires prevention of abrupt disruption of existing finances and provision of new finance. Finally, the key to unlock all the financing commitments resides in resolving the protracted challenge in accessing available finances. Development, climate and other finances that are readily available in national systems and multilateral frameworks should be dispersed to the countries of target. Infrastructure and resilience Financing should be given priority. Countries of the south, particularly Africa, that enjoy an immense demographic dividend should be granted finance on favorable terms, especially in the field of decent job creation. Considering the notable shortcomings in the implementation of Agenda 2030, it is imperative to strengthen and accelerate the civil commitment to secure effective and timely results. It is our hope our next convention would be to assess positive scorecards of implementation. To this end, Ethiopia expresses its unwavering commitment to its full implementation. I thank you.

I thank the Minister of Agriculture of Ethiopia. I now give the floor to Her Excellency Erika Shafuda, Minister of Finance of Namibia.

Your Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, gratitude to the loving people of the Kingdom of Spain for the warm welcome and hospitality. It is indeed an honor for me to convey warm greetings from Her Excellency, the President of Namibia, Dr. Netumbo Naidoo, and the entire Namibian people. We have come here to the fourth International Conference on Financing for Development with greater expectations. It is our hope and belief that the commitments made at this conference will be implemented to the letter, to speed up the implementation of sustainable development goals and to improve the quality of lives of the majority of the people in all countries, regardless of their economic classification. We recognize that the destiny of Namibia lies in our hands. To this end, we have created a conducive environment for investments and trade, which is critical for private sector participation and meaningful contribution to economic growth and development. Further, we have put in place effective mechanisms for domestic resource mobilization that involves national integrated financial framework, the development of domestic capital markets, and efficient tax systems, and strong fiscal governance. The recorded economic progress in Namibia is underpinned by vibrant democratic dispensation, which with strict adherence to the rule of law and independence of the judiciary. We attach great importance to the role of the private sector as the growth, as the engine of the growth and development. We are not facilitating private sector direct investment in our country, but we also incentivize long investments across the investment chain. Namibia is endowed with abundant natural resources from which we are determined to derive maximum benefits through value addition. We like to do this in partnership with the private sector and development partners. To this end, we are committed to provide targeted incentives to transformative sectors such as manufacturing, agriculture, green hydrogen, ICT, logistics and oil and gas. These sectors not only have the potential to grow the economy, but they are critical for employment creation and with that reduction of poverty levels. The obligation of international community to finance development in Namibia is critical and cannot be overemphasized. We are pleading to work together so that we address the issues of climate change. And Namibia is committed to national determined contribution by 91% by the year 2030. and these require funding in the amount of 1.5 billion US dollars from the international community. Development is an inclusive process that requires the participation of all members of the society. In this regard, we have committed ourselves to gender equality and Namibia has therefore produced the second democratically elected female president in Africa. The president is not an isolated case in Namibia. The country is ranked number eight in the World Economic Forum report. We are already reaping the benefits of respect for diversity Chairperson, we deplore the declining flow of official development assistance, especially to countries that are classified as upper middle income, like Namibia. This classification relies on limited factors such as per capita without considering structural inequalities. These are many decades of development. There are many poor people in middle countries like those in least developed countries. Therefore, we should be assisted and reimagining ODA to focus on social sector support, project identification, feasibility studies and risk mitigation. In conclusion, Chair, we applaud the outcome of the Sevilla the SIVIRA conference that expresses the need to achieve a positive socioeconomic transformation in Africa and the need to address the diverse and specific needs of middle-income countries, including poverty in all its forms. I would like to assure you of Namibia's commitment to work with all development partners to implement the SIVIRA commitments to promote the realization of the sustainable development goals to ensure poverty prosperity for all. This world has enough resources to make poverty a history. Together we should hold hands towards the acceleration of the attainment of the sustainable development goals by the year 2030. And with that, I thank you.

I thank the Minister of Finance of Namibia.

I now give the floor to His Excellency Simeon Oyono Esono Angue, Minister for Foreign Affairs, Cooperation and Diaspora of Equatorial Guinea.

President, Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, on behalf of His Excellency, Head of State of the Republic of Equatorial Guinea, I wish to extend our thanks to the Government of Spain and to the United Nations for convening this important international conference on financing for development here in Seville. President, we are meeting here in Seville at a crucial time. The multilateral system, a fundamental pillar for international cooperation, is facing unprecedented challenges. Geopolitical fragmentation, growing lack of confidence, financial deficits, and other multiple and multifaceted crises. Despite the numerous summits and commitments, the concrete results continue to fall short of the mark. The global commitments, rather than being translated into sustained and tangible action, are actually running the risk of becoming stuck on the path of good intentions and eroding the trust of people and eroding the legitimacy of our collective efforts. When the 2030 agenda was adopted, the world set out an ambitious vision. It was fair and profoundly human to eradicate poverty, to protect the planet, and to guarantee that every person can live in dignity, leaving no one behind. It was a moment of shared hope, of multilateral consensus, and recognition that sustainable development is the path to a better future for all. However, today, as we approach the time limit, we must candidly recognize that we are far from achieving the sustainable development goals. The gaps have not been reduced. Extreme poverty persists. Inequality is growing, and climate change is disproportionately striking those who have least contributed to creating it. And this is especially the case in the global south. even more acutely and specifically in the African continent. The commitments taken up by the international community have not been translated into effective means of implementation nor into fair access to financing and trade. Africa does not need compassion or charity. Rather, we need fair access to the means that will allow us to develop our own potential based on our priorities and the specific needs that we have. It is not enough to recognize that the goals are not being met. We should be brave enough to say why this is the case. Failure is not inevitable. We must address international architecture. It currently continues to reproduce historic inequalities and in many cases it is imposing more barriers rather than solutions to development in the global south. We need sorry unilateral coercive measures are continuing and this unjustly penalizes entire populations on the margins of international law. They are left out. These measures prevent access to needy populations and they impede international cooperation. And despite all of this, Equatorial Guinea believes in multilateralism. We believe in the 2030 agenda, and we believe in a fairer multilateral system. We believe that this is possible if brave decisions and bold decisions and transformative decisions are taken. Financing for development, consider specific programs for education, technical upskilling, youth entrepreneurs. Investing today in African youth means investing in the future of the world. This conference must mark a turning point. We cannot continue repeating speeches or accumulating promises that are not met. The future of humanity, the future of the planet, and the well-being of millions of people depend on fair, inclusive decisions. I thank you.

I thank the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Cooperation and Diaspora of Equatorial Guinea. I now give the floor to His Excellency Mariel Dungreen Atir, Minister of Finance and Economic Planning of South Sudan.

Mr. President, I bring warm greeting from the Republic of South Sudan, and I'm here on behalf of His Excellency President Salva Kiir Mayardit. For this important conference in a great time in which our world is going through some of the difficult hurdles, this is an important moment. to take stock of our collective progress and chart a course towards a more and a just sustainable global financial architect. On behalf of the government of the Republic of South Sudan, I thank the United Nations and the government of Spain for convening this critical gathering to assess progress on the Addis Ababa Action Agenda and to identify actionable pathways to finance and sustainable developmental goals. As the world's youngest nation, 14 years and a few days, South Sudan faces a unique development of challenges. Persistent fragility, infrastructure deficit, a narrow physical base, and a recurring climate shock. Yet, we remain committed to rebuilding our institutions and our national priorities with the global development framework. For this, we have five points to highlight. Domestic mobilization and fiscal reform. South Sudan has taken the time to invest more on non-oil revenues, such as agriculture. And we continue to make progress in this. Of course, challenges persist, and the UN Convention on Tax Cooperation is a welcome step in leveraging the global tax playing field. Number two, public debt and access to consensual finance. South Sudan has maintained a cautious approach to external borrowing. in the light of debt sustainability and concerns. However, consensual finances and grants remain essential to closing our infrastructure and human capital gaps. We support the proposal to expand the access to long-term consensual financing, including through rechanneling of special drawing rights and increasing capitalization of multilateral development banks. We also joined the least developed countries and conflict affected countries in advance in advance in advocating for debt reconstruction mechanism that goes beyond the current ad hoc framework and incorporate principles of transparency, predictability and fairness. We are also calling on climate finance and reliance investment as a nation that has faced. disappropriate effect by the climate induced floods, prolonged droughts that had led to food insecurity, the cost of inaction exceeds the cost of investment. We therefore urge partners to increase the share of adapt adaptation financing, fast track disbursement and through Green Climate Fund and adoption fund. The prioritization fragile contacts like ours allocation of criteria. Additionally, we are exploring natural-based solution and climate resilience infrastructure and investment. We are also calling on aligning finance and national development planning, as well as international financial architectural reform. Mr. President, Financing for development is not just about increasing the volume, it's about ensuring the right type of financing at the right time for the right priorities. South Sudan stands ready to work with the international partners to build resilience, inclusively sustainable economic system. that leaves no country behind. We urge this conference to go beyond affirmation and deliver a renewed global financial compact rooted in equality, flexibility, and mutual accountability. Let FFD4 be remembered as the moment we turn promises into progress for every nation, no matter how young or fragile they are. I thank you for your kind attention.

I thank Her Excellency, Minister of Finance and Economic Planning of South Sudan. I now give the floor to His Excellency Ilias Moussa Daouale, Minister of Economy and Finance of Djibouti.

President, Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, it is a privilege and an honor for me to take the floor at this fourth international conference on financing for development. I would like to take this opportunity to bring warm greetings from the president of the Republic of Djibouti, from our people, and from our government. I'd also like to sincerely thank the Spanish government for the remarkable welcome that we have received since arriving here. We are meeting, ladies and gentlemen, at a time when the international community is being put to the test, and there is uncertainty around development. There is vulnerability linked to debt, climate stress, geopolitical crisis, and tensions linked to geopolitical competition. And at the same time, there is increasing fragmentation in terms of development. And yet these challenges also represent an opportunity to rethink our ways of mobilizing, allocating, and using financing for development. Like many other developing countries, Djibouti is at a decisive juncture. Despite significant progress made in recent years in terms of modernization of infrastructure, improving access to basic services for our population, development of digital connectivity, in fact, Djibouti has the greatest infrastructure in Africa and our logistics base for the whole of the Horn of Africa and indeed the African continent as a whole. Despite all of this, progress has been fragile. And our fiscal space is extremely limited, especially following global crises and the cumulative effects that we have witnessed, like all other developing countries, and therefore we must reaffirm with urgency and with determination. that the Addis Ababa agreement and strengthen financing for development, we must also reform global systems that often leave the most vulnerable aside. And we must give priority to development. The budget deficit in achieving the sustainable development goals continues to grow. For countries like Djibouti, Our national resources, domestic resources alone, are insufficient. We need access to concessional financing that is flexible and long-term financing that is adapted to the needs and priorities of our respective countries. Addressing debt vulnerability with justice and innovation, this is what we want to do. Djibouti is naturally managing its debt very carefully, but nevertheless, we have an extremely limited and room for maneuver. And we're also facing growing costs for servicing the debt while adapting to climate change, food security, and providing basic services. In addition, as a result of its role as a strategic public good, Djibouti is contributing to financing stability in the Red Sea and the Bab-el-Mandeb. We call Therefore, on the international community to go beyond temporary measures and to promote a framework for fair, inclusive, transparent debt restructuring that includes all stakeholders, public and private. And we should guide alleviation towards resilience, building resilience in our countries. Putting public finances towards building inclusive development and mobilizing domestic resources continues to be a fundamental pillar of sustainable development. Djibouti has made a commitment to ambitious fiscal reform based on transparency and expanding our tax base without sacrificing social equality. But public finances should not be limited to a source of revenue, rather they must be a strategic lever for inclusion and impact. This means giving priority to investment in education, in health, gender equality. and green infrastructure sectors that really generate a broad social impact and create long-term resilience. Financing climate action and a fair transition is the goal and this is the ambition of Djibouti. We are amongst the countries that are vulnerable to climate change with extreme temperatures, and lack of water resources that is quite severe as well as rising sea levels amongst the things we are facing. This is why we call for reform of the international financial architecture. But not only that, the path before us requires collective courage. The global economy should not be trapped into indices of the stock market, but We should provide solutions.

I thank the Minister of.

Finance and Economy of the Republic of Djibouti. And I now give the floor to Mr. Yves Domba, Minister for Finance and Budget of the Central African Republic.

Mr. President, Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, it is with a great sense of duty that I take the floor on behalf of His Excellency, Professor Touadera, President of the Republic of Central African Republic, I think, the Kingdom of Spain, the King, as well as the Secretary General for the excellent organization of this conference. Their commitment and the quality of the preparations perfectly encapsulate the spirit of solidarity which brings us together today. Excellencies, we have gathered at a pivotal moment for our populations. Five years before the conclusion of Agenda 2030, two-thirds of the SDGs have not been reached, and the annual financing deficit continues to grow. This has now reached $4 billion, which is 50 percent greater than in 2015, and this has resulted in an unprecedented worsening inequality and climate crises and geopolitical crises which undermine multilateralism. The CAR is a low-income country. We are landlocked and we are facing structural weaknesses. We are significantly dependent on external assistance and we wish to raise the voice on behalf of nations who are facing vulnerabilities but who are also committed to recovery. This vision is reflected in our 2024 to 2027 2028 national development plan. It is based on four priorities, namely macroeconomic stabilization, productive recovery, social inclusion and governance. And this includes bold reforms, including the establishment of a pluriannual framework for budgetary programming, mobilization of domestic resources, improvements in governance and transparency in governmental expenditures and improvement of the business climate. This has increased tax revenues by by nearly 50% between 2021 and 2024. And we have focused expenditures on priority sectors, such as ensuring government administration throughout all of our country. These results are significant, but they fall short of what is necessary in light of a reduction of international assistance, the heightened cost of debt, lack of necessary socioeconomic infrastructure for individual prosperity and collective prosperity. We call for concrete mechanisms, including partial guarantees, concessional financing, risk-sharing mechanisms that reflect our realities. And we advocate the establishment of dedicated funds for landlocked countries, improvements in credit guarantees, and facilitation of cross-border infrastructure financing. Priority community-related projects reflecting of natural assets and modernization of logistical corridors can be financed if all of these instruments are made fully operational. Economic inclusion of women and of young people represents a priority. We call for specific credit lines and socio-impact credit funds and other opportunities generate progress. The climate emergency requires that we act. Our country is among the lowest greenhouse gas emitting countries, and yet we are continuing to endure droughts and floods. In 2023, 200,000 people have been afflicted by this. Climate injustice requires that there be just access to renewable energies, improvements in infrastructure, climate financing mechanisms to rapidly offset the losses that are being endured by those most most vulnerable. These various mechanisms will help us to generate the necessary investments to create sustainable opportunities for young people, as well as to leverage their energy and their innovation in order to build the world of tomorrow. The challenges of inequality, demographic statistics, as well as other issues, require that there be multilateral development governance institutions, that they be more inclusive and representative. We need to be present at the decision-making table to ensure that they are mutually beneficial, respectful of our priorities. This is a requirement for justice, coherence, and shared responsibility. Excellencies, we stand ready to continue to initiate structural reform and to make proposals, but this transformation will require robust partnerships, predictable and honest partnerships. It is time to be bold, to simplify access to financing, to mobilize resources at the necessary level, and to translate the Seville commitment into concrete, measurable action. I wish to conclude by stating that no child should have their future compromised by the geography of their growth. No young person should be condemned to living a life of precariousness due to lack of opportunity. International solidarity is not an abstract ideal. This is a real lever for progress. The CAR stands ready to shoulder our responsibility, and together we can build a fairer, more inclusive, and more prosperous future. Thank you.

I thank the Minister of Finance and Budget of the Central African Republic. And I now give the floor to His Excellency Mr. Yousouf Murangwa, Minister of Finance and Economic Planning of Rwanda.

Mr. President, Excellencies, distinguished delegates, it's my honor to deliver this statement on behalf of His Excellency Paul Kagame, President of the Republic of Rwanda. Let me begin by sincerely thanking the government and the people of the Kingdom of Spain for the warm hospitality and for hosting this timely and consequential conference. Mr. President, Rwanda has spent the last three decades investing in fundamentals, strong institutions, strengthening domestic resource mobilization, efficient public financial management, inclusive service delivery, and establishing citizens' trust. These foundations have allowed us to make measurable progress towards the sustainable development goals. From 2000 to 2024, we reduced poverty by more than half, significantly improved life expectancy, and achieved near-universal primary education. Mr. President, we did not do this with abundance. We did with focus, partnerships, and by prioritizing impact. And yet, challenges remain. Unjust borrowing costs, unpredictable financial flows, and global systems too often reward short-term capital and penalize long-term sustainable goals. That is why we support the call in this conference to address this disproportionate debt burden facing developing countries, but we offer caution. Debt relief must happen in a transparent framework and integrated in the overall financing for development framework with the purpose of avoiding recurrence of future episodes of debt and sustainability. We support the launch of the UN-led intergovernmental process and establishment of a platform where borrowers' voices are heard and considered. On domestic resource mobilization, Rwanda has worked hard to strengthen domestic resource mobilization. We welcome inclusive tax cooperation. However, global tax reform cannot be shaped by the same architecture that enables harmful tax competition and illicit financial flows. We must close international loopholes. Rwanda adds a call for a redefinition of what qualifies as meaningful investment. Transformative investments are those that, while being at scale, also emphasize strengthening of local value chains, catalyzing domestic productivity and support integration into regional and global value chains. The role of multilateral development banks in the risking such investments is crucial. On official development assistance, Rwanda values the principled partnerships that have enabled our country to innovate, reform, and deliver. However, ODA should not be measured only by volume, but by coherence, predictability, and alignment with national development agenda and use on national systems. ODA should increase focus on delivering real development and sustainability. ODA must support the emergence and strengthening of production systems and job creation in the global south instead of perpetual economic dependence. We welcome the revitalization of the development cooperation framework and affirm the central role of the United Nations in coordinating effective development cooperation, emphasizing leadership of the recipient countries over their development choices. We are encouraged by this conference recognizing the role of science, technology, and innovation, and bridging both the digital and financial divide. Finally, we share the concern about the fragmented governance of global development finance. The Republic of Rwanda supports the coherent, inclusive system of the United Nations at its core. Excellencies, this conference must mark a turning point in how we follow through. Let us judge success by the lives changed on the ground, and Rwanda stands ready to contribute, to partner, and to deliver. Thank you very much.

I thank the Minister of Finance and Economic Planning of Rwanda. And I now give the floor to His Excellency Mr. Ryan Astron, Minister of Finance of Barbados.

Excellencies, friends, I bring warm greetings from the people of Barbados and the honorable Mia Amor Mottley, Prime Minister of Barbados. We welcome the comprehensive of the civilian, the commitment to reforms, to expand fiscal space, reduce debt burdens, and lower capital costs are critical and consistent with the advocacy under the Bridgetown Initiative. We also applaud the endorsement of continued reform of the international financial architecture and the need to take urgent steps to close the global financing gap. We see recognition of small island developing states as a special case and the commitment to implement the SDG4 agenda as a signal of renewed engagement on issues that are a matter of survival for countries like Barbados that are most vulnerable to the climate crisis. For all these points of agreement in the Compromisso, we are encouraged. But let us be clear, it is not yet a breakthrough. The true measure of this gathering will not be words on a page. It will be whether we bend the arc of history towards justice, towards action, and towards results on the ground for our people. We meet today in the shadow of a truth we can no longer ignore. The financing gap to meet the SDGs by 2030 has nearly doubled. When we convened in 2015 in Addis Ababa, the gap was 2.5 trillion annually. Today, it has ballooned to a staggering $4.4 trillion. All this in a world where development assistance is shrinking, borrowing costs are rising, and too many countries are being pushed back just when they need to leap forward, where conflict, trade fragmentation, and climate shocks are turning ambition into attrition. As chair of the Climate Vulnerable Forum, V20, representing some 1.74 billion people across 74 countries, we are on the front lines of these converging crises, where hurricanes, earthquakes, droughts, and heat waves are not weather forecasts, but are a lived experience. Excellencies, the cost of global inaction is measured in the loss of lives and livelihoods for the most vulnerable, And we must confront this moment with clarity and courage. First, we must reframe the development conversation, not as charity, not as dependency, but as ownership. Countries must be able to chart a sustainable future for their people. Fundamentally, this requires a move beyond aid to a global trading and financial system that supports sustainable development. You must understand that financing development is not an expense, it is an investment an investment in resilience, an investment in prosperity, an investment in stability and, yes, an investment in global security. But the current financial architecture does not treat it this way. It treats resilience as charity. not as the poor to the macroeconomic condition, and this must change. In particular, how we model, price, and allocate capital must change to support achieving the sustainable development goals. We must also face the facts. For most countries, investment is only possible through debt. Yet today, many countries simply cannot afford to take on more debt, no matter how urgent the investment. excellencies. We therefore need lower rates, longer maturity periods to give countries enough fiscal space to make it. This is why the announcement of the UN-led working group on sovereign debt is a welcome step. But for countries on the front line, first steps are not enough. This body must be given a mandate, the voice, the independence to deliver real change, grounded in transparency, fairness, and the needs of our citizens of borrowing countries. We cannot afford another talk shop. Secondly, we need a revolution in domestic resource mobilization because no country can build resilience on its own. And therefore, it means fair, inclusive international tax reform, scaling domestic tax bases in order to deliver better for our people. Thirdly, we must scale up the risk instruments to address both real and perceived risks. We know what works. And therefore we now must replicate those successes. And the establishment of a regional debt swap framework in the Caribbean by the IDB, CAF, CDB and the World Bank will go a long way to unlocking already scarce resources. Excellencies, finally, let us place delivery at the heart of this agenda. Finance is necessary, but not always sufficient to deliver for our people. Therefore, we must build institutional platforms that align with our priorities. These are the areas where Barbados, through the Bridgetown are working to deliver real change. We know that isolated effort is not enough, but we do not need another cycle of summits and declarations. Let this conference be judged not by its words, but by what we do next together. Thank you very much.

I thank the Minister of Finance of Barbados, and I now give the floor to... His Excellency Mr. Sani Aya, Minister of Public Works and Infrastructure of Togo.

Mr.

President, ladies and gentlemen, heads of delegation, distinguished guests, wish to begin on behalf of His Excellency Mr. Faustin Tsingbanatsinbe, President of the Republic of Congo -- of Congo -- I wish -- of Togo. I wish to extend my gratitude and our gratitude to the government of Spain for the warm hospitality extended to my country during our participation in this conference. We applaud the conduct of this fourth International Conference on Financing for Development. which occurs at -- which is taking place at a turning point in our shared history. This represents a decisive opportunity to rethink the international financial architecture in order to make it more fair, more inclusive, and more resilient to ensure the advancement of the meaningful implementation of the sustainable development goals. in a global context that is punctuated by the recurrence of sovereign debt issues, climate crisis, geopolitical tensions, security-related challenges, as well as persistent vulnerabilities, it is of paramount importance to shift our trajectory, to find appropriate solutions, to finance and to support investments for development. For developing countries, and particularly those in Africa, the convergence of these various crises significantly constrains the budgetary space, as well as their ability to finance vital social sectors, as well as strategic infrastructures and the green transition. Mr. President, Togo is, like many countries in Africa, is experiencing significant and growing debt pressure, and this is exacerbated by external successive shocks as a consequence of COVID-19, rising, skyrocketing prices, security-related challenges, climate-related issues. And in the light of these challenges, we reaffirm the urgent need to forge a transparent multilateral mechanism that is rooted in consensus to restructure debt. And this is recommended -- this was recommended by the African Union Conference on Debt, which was held in Lome in May of 2025. This kind of an initiative is key. to rebuilding budgetary sustainability and to sustain development-related prospects. Moreover, we support all initiatives that are geared towards the implementation of structural reform of the global financial architecture. And this, among other things, includes the reshaping of international financial governance, as well as the revision of the mechanism of implementation when it comes to what has been proposed by the African Development Bank, financing for the African Development Fund, the ALAF, as well as the African Legal Support Mechanism, the establishment of financial initiatives, the establishment of financial regional initiatives, including the African Financial Stability Initiative, and improvements in risk management for developing countries by the relevant agencies. Illicit financial flows and tax evasion, Mr. President, are significant, formidable challenge faced by developing countries. We firmly support the adoption of a UN framework convention on international tax cooperation. And this should enshrine the principle of equitable global taxation to enhance transparency and to end the tax base erosion through cooperation among states and fighting against tax havens. The climate level, we, like many other African countries, are buffeted by the consequences of climate change despite a minimum carbon imprint. We call for greater predictable, simplified access to climate financing. Lastly, Mr. President, we wish to reaffirm our commitment to the regional trajectory of financing for development as is established on the basis of the guidelines of the African Union as well as ECOWAS. To conclude, the transformation of the development financing system is sine qua non.

The speaker's microphone has been cut off.

I thank the Minister for Public Works and Infrastructure of Togo. And I now give the floor to His Excellency Mr. Waldemar Olu Duving, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Nicaragua.

Thank you very much, President. Distinguished delegations, present here. I bring very warm greetings from our co-presidents, Commander Daniel Ortega Saavedra and Comrade Rosario Murillo Zambrana, who expressed their best wishes. They wanted to see that this conference result in concrete actions for the benefit of developing countries. The delegation of the Republic of Nicaragua thanks the government and people of Spain for hosting this fourth international conference on financing for development. We recognize the efforts in convening this forum for dialogue, which must also be a space for real and transformative commitments for Nicaragua. This conference is a vital opportunity to reaffirm the sovereign right of our peoples to develop freely without conditions imposed, without political blackmail, without external interference. Financing for development should reflect the principles of equity, historic justice, and international solidarity rather than mechanisms that repeat the patterns of domination and dependence. Nicaragua considers that it is urgent to transform this system. We support the establishment of a fair and equitable legal framework for international tax cooperation under the auspices of the United Nations that allows us to combat illicit flows of capital, tax evasion by large corporations, and to strengthen our national capacity to mobilize our own resources. It is equally essential that we ensure broad and timely and unconditional access to concessional financing based on the reality and the priorities in each country. We do not accept that financing be conditional upon the fulfillment of foreign or ideological agendas, nor do we accept that financial instruments be used as tools of political pressure or to impose capricious aims. Once again, we firmly denounce and reject the imposition of unilateral coercive measures. These are contrary to international law, and they constitute a serious threat to the right to development of our peoples. These illegitimate measures imposed by certain states for selfish political ends block access to financial resources. They prevent basic transactions from taking place and they directly impact economies and populations. As our countries are struggling to eradicate poverty, to tackle the effects of climate change, and to achieve the SDGs, We are also facing a profoundly unequal financial system, an international financial system that is dominated by hegemonic interests with rules that favor the powerful and exclude the majority of humankind. We reiterate that there cannot be financing, true financing for development for as long as unilateral coercive measures exist, for as long as these unfair financial restrictions exist, and as long as the international economic order persists and continues to exclude and impoverish the people of the global Financial justice must be part of the new multilateralism and the multipolar world that we are fighting for. It is urgent that we create this new international economic multipolar model and that we reform financial architecture with policies aimed at true cooperation, actions that can provide more financing and access for developing countries so that they can step up and fully meet the Sustainable Development Goals and the 2030 Agenda. Nicaragua will continue to defend the right of peoples to live in dignity, in peace, with social and economic justice. We will continue to raise our voice together with the G77 and China, and together with the Non-Aligned Movement, and with all of the peoples of the Global South who are demanding root and branch transformation of the international financial system. is that the service and the interests and desires of humanity in harmony with Mother Earth rather than selfish and exploitative capital. I thank you.

I thank the Foreign Minister of Nicaragua. And I now give the floor to Minister for Planning and External Cooperation of Haiti.

Good afternoon, Excellencies. I wish to begin with a word of gratitude from Haiti to the Kingdom of Spain for their warm hospitality and their steadfast commitment to international cooperation. I also applaud the United Nations on the conduct of this conference, which is taking place at a critical turning point, not just for Haiti but for the entire world. The Republic of Haiti is a country that the world looks too frequently at from afar. And we are facing difficulties related to the international financial system, which is finding it difficult to address humanitarian needs and worse, is unable to adopt urgent structural measures. Haiti can no longer be viewed as a humanitarian subject. Today, Haiti is a reflection of our failures, which are a consequence of our collective choices. to related to responsibilities that have been shouldered or responsibilities that have been abandoned. The situation in our country is very serious and it can no longer be boiled down to diplomatic rhetoric, nor can it be masked behind technical stocktaking. The reality which we are compelled to face today is dire. Nearly 80, more than 80 percent of the capital is directly or indirectly undermined by the consequences of justice being not being present in some areas. And this is a security-related and a social crisis. We are gravely aware of shortcomings at all levels. And yet Haiti continues to stand. Our civil servants, our doctors, our nurses, our officials continue to deliver upon their mission. And often this is at the cost of their own safety. And we are -- people are continuing to make progress despite the chaos. Young people, despite the, at times, destitute circumstances, continue to dream of a future in their country. Our -- the hope continues to hold true. And we seek to laboriously build a coherent foundation to address the needs of our citizens. And this admirable resilience has a cost, and we can no longer shoulder this burden alone. We call for a change in approach today for the revision of our collective priorities. Security, let us recall, is not a prerequisite, but rather it is a key factor in development. So long as we continue to distance ourselves, to disassociate development and security, we will continue to fail. Present-day financial realities often fail to reflect realities on the ground, particularly when it comes to the sources of vulnerability. And more than 70 percent of the financing that has been pledged for Haiti is not allocated in the -- has not been dispersed in the 12 months after these pledges are made, and this postpones progress and we expect more appropriate measures reflective of realities on the ground without transparency initiatives but taking into account the urgency of the situation and the various factors related to vulnerability. The GNI threshold can no longer -- the GDP factor can no longer be the sole factor when it comes to granting of concessional financing. More than 60 percent of the population is under the age of 30. These are young people who have tremendous potential. But today, these young people are trapped between violence, precariousness, and possible exile. The the leveraging of human capital opportunities related to this is vital. We need financing that facilitates economic recovery and resilience for climate shocks, and which allows us to look with far more positive, with a look more positively on the future with positive impacts, not tomorrow, but today with public-private partnerships. And we believe that there is a need to invest now now, not to delay, to build opportunities to extricate ourselves from the crisis. With bilateral and multilateral partners, let us make Haiti a paragon of dignified and sustainable progress. To tackle humanitarian needs, we propose that we look towards areas that stand ready to welcome productive investments. We are not asking for any special treatment. We are demanding urgent treatment based on responsibility and conscience, Haiti stands upright. We are extending our hand to you. Please take this hand and let us together make progress. Thank you.

I thank the Minister of Foreign Cooperation of Haiti. And I now give the floor to Her Excellency Ilza Maria dos Santos Amado Vaz, Minister of State and for Foreign Affairs Cooperation and Communities of Sao Tome and Principe.

Mr.

President, Excellencies, distinguished delegates, ladies and gentlemen, on behalf of the Democratic Republic of Sao Tome and Principe, we thank the Government of the Kingdom of Spain, the United Nations and all of those who have contributed to the organisation of this fourth forum and for their engagement in promoting dialogue and a strategic and multilateral commitment to financing for development. This forum is taking place at a time marked by growing geopolitical tensions, armed conflict, a worrying rise in extreme views, and shrinking in ODA. In this context, international solidarity is in retreat. Migration policies are becoming more restrictive, and the most vulnerable countries are bearing the brunt of this. Small Island Developing States, SIDS, while diverse, share structural vulnerabilities, and these in turn are exacerbated by repeated climate and economic shocks. Sao Tome and Principe is one such country. More than 80% of our economy is exposed to climate variabilities, undermining our efforts at poverty reduction and limiting the capacity of the state to address fundamental needs. Our country lies and lives in between the natural beauty of our landscape and a high level of systemic fragility. There are many types of vulnerabilities: dependence on imports, low diversification of production, high cost of debt, climate exposure, and limited access to international financing. And yet, So Sao Tome and Principe has considerable strategic potential, political stability, youthful human capital, exceptional marine and land biodiversity, and a very beneficial geographic position in the Gulf of Guinea as well as a reformed government. Sao Tome and Principe has been classified as a middle income country since December 2024. This change requires a transition that is supported and adapted because our structural vulnerabilities persist. Our national development plan 2025 through 2029, which is currently being finalized, has a need of $500 million in financing over the next three years for development of human capital, sustainable and inclusive growth, environmental sustainability, and reform of state. We call for a change of paradigm. We need innovative financing mechanisms. We need strength and cooperation with our partners. We need simplified access to multilateral instruments, and we need greater mobilization of responsible private investment around six priorities. The adoption of multidimensional vulnerability criteria, predictable concession on realistic financing that is in line with structural transformation cycles, facilitated access to climate funds, increased use of resilient instruments such as the automatic suspension clauses and debt climate swaps, budget assistance that is direct and aligned with national priorities with transparency and accountability and we need inclusive partnerships that include local authorities young people civil society in the private sector and we should also strengthen institutions we strongly support concrete proposals to strengthen sorry and reform the international financial system in particular South American principles supports the Abbas, which enshrines a pragmatic vision with solidarity and that is results focused. In this regard, we defend the creation of a permanent and specific financing window for SIDS with flexible and adaptive modalities, the broad deployment of resilient climate loans, effective representation of SIDS in governance bodies of the international financial institutions. We believe that these proposals are just, realistic, and feasible, provided that they are carried forward collectively and translated into operational mechanisms. Excellencies, Agenda 2030 is entering a critical phase. Progress is insufficient. Inequalities are growing. And unmet promises erode trust. And yet, Seville must mark a turning point, a moment where we can reaffirm a new global pact that is founded on trust, equity, and shared responsibility. There can be no sustainable financing without equity. There can be no global progress if the most vulnerable are left behind. The principle of leaving no one behind must become a reality in the financial, politic and human choices that we collectively make. I thank you.

I thank the Minister of State and Foreign Affairs of Cooperation and Community of Sao Tome and Principe. And I now give the floor to the last speaker for today. His Excellency Mr. Foullong Che, Minister, Deputy Secretary General of the Presidency of Cameroon.

Ladies and gentlemen, distinguished delegates, Mr. President of the conference, good afternoon. It is my honor to take the floor at this august body on behalf of His Excellency Mr. Paul Biya, President of the Republic of Cameroon, who has tasked me with representing him at this important conference. On behalf of the people of Cameroon, I thank the host authorities and the people of Spain for their very warm welcome and their warm hospitality, as well as the United Nations for the successful organization of this conference. We have gathered at a critical juncture punctuated by interconnected crises: the climate crisis, the security-related crises, economic crises, humanitarian crises, ethical crises. This is a situation which is undermining international trust and confidence, and in this context, the conference being held in Seville, a symbolic city of civilizational dialogue, is of paramount importance. We need to collectively rethink the mechanisms for financing sustainable development by 2030. And in that vein, I applaud the progress that has been reflected in the Seville Compromise, the outcome document which was adopted by this conference yesterday. And this introduces innovative ways to introduce financing calls for international financial institution reform. This compromise is a decisive step towards mobilizing approximately $4 billion, which is necessary by 2030 to bridge the financing gaps when it comes to the attainment of the sustainable development goals. Cameroon, under the leadership of the President, is currently implementing our 2020 to 2030 development strategy to implement objectives by 2030. And these -- we have programs in the areas of health, education, research, infrastructure, technology, as well as the digital sector. I very much hope, and I speak on behalf of the President in stating this, that the implementation of the Seville Compromise will facilitate just and inclusive reform of the international financial architecture, equitable governance of financial institutions, greater access to innovative financing for developing countries and middle-income countries, as well as greater support for debt restructuring, and equitable access to the capital market, and greater effectiveness of multilateral development banks, as well as reform of the World Trade Organization for greater justice and access to emerging technologies and equitable and inclusive global taxation practices under the aegis of the United Nations. We are firmly committed to continue to meaningfully implement this commitment. We hope to secure robust support from our bilateral and multilateral partners in gaining access to resources allocated for development. President, it is time to build a more equitable global world order. This requires tangible action rooted in sustainable mechanisms, rooted in a spirit of renewed partnership. based on respect for the dignity of all peoples. Present-day challenges can only be surmounted together. When we are united, when we stand in solidarity, we will boost our effectiveness. Let us together be guided by the Seville Compromise, and let us make headway towards shared progress. Thank you for your kind attention.

I thank the Minister of Cameroon, and I do apologize as I shall now give the floor to His Excellency Mr. Tristan Aibes, Secretary of State for Hungary.

Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, Today we gather at a crucial time at the fourth International Conference on Financing for Development. Global conflicts, millions of displaced persons, and economic shocks continue to reverse decades of development progress, causing a deepening sustainable development crisis. First, let me underline one of the greatest challenges we are facing today, that is, war and armed conflicts. To reiterate the words of the General Secretary, Without sustainable peace, there is no sustainable development. Nine out of the 10 countries with the lowest human development index are in war-torn areas. Another challenge is that we are running out of time to achieve the SDGs, as only 16% of these targets are on track. According to recent studies, Nearly 600 million people are projected to be undernourished by 2030, and extreme poverty is expected to affect around 590 million people if progress is not accelerated. Although the window to rescue the SDGs and prevent a climate disaster is still open, it is closing rapidly. Therefore, the international community has a huge responsibility to act. Ladies and gentlemen, while Hungary believes in localised action, regarding financing development, we believe that more effective multilateral cooperation is the key. Multilateral development banks must better coordinate, harmonise their standards and processes and optimise their capital use to help countries access financing faster and more easily and to create an international financial architecture that is less fragmented, more accessible and better equipped to support sustainable progress. Supporting small and medium-sized enterprises and leveraging the private sector are also vital to creating resilient economies and sustainable local growth. Indeed, fostering local ownership is key to achieving lasting results. Hungary supports the G20 roadmap towards better and more effective MDBs and calls for its practical implementation. In this regard, Optimizing the use of capital without compromising financial sustainability is paramount, as is forging closer partnerships with national development banks and private sector actors. Ladies and gentlemen, we recognize that most fragile countries require particular attention and tailored responses, and that development financing must include highly concessional loans and grants alongside technical support to build stronger institutions. Investments must focus on sustainable job creation and environmental sustainability to address the root causes of instability and migration. Let me assure you that the government of Hungary is conscious of the acute financing needs of many developing countries, and we are fully committed to ensuring that no one is left behind. Our approach is proactive and compassionate. We are dedicated to taking help to countries in need rather than allowing their problems to spill over our borders. Managing migration is not the solution. Instead, we must support people to stay in their homeland by creating living conditions so that no one has to leave and those who do leave can return. Ladies and gentlemen, the task is huge, but it is doable. Cooperation, responsibility, Peacebuilding, inclusive dialogue and practical solutions must drive our work. And if we succeed, we can reduce poverty and hunger and provide billions of people with the hope of a better future. In this pivotal year of the UN's 80th anniversary, let us renew our shared commitment to take action. Thank you for your attention.

I thank the Secretary of State of Hungary. We have heard the last speaker in the general debate for this meeting. The general debate will continue tomorrow, Wednesday, 2nd of July, at 10:00 a.m. in this hall. The meeting is adjourned.