Launch of the Sevilla Platform for Action - 4th International Conference on Financing for Development FFD4 (Sevilla, Spain)

Welcome everybody to implementing the Sevilla Platform for Action here in Spain and around the world watching on UN Web TV. In the next 60 minutes You will hear from our event co-chairs, the United Nations Secretary-General, the Prime Minister of Spain, five heads of state and government, and the President of the United Nations General Assembly, and me, Femi Oke, your moderator. Now, this is in the special events room of Financing for Development, which means that the event has to be special. No pressure, heads of state, heads of government, Secretary-General, Prime Minister Sanchez. But what is making the next one hour special is implementation and action, mobilizing our alliances so that we can work better to finance sustainable development. That is what you will hear in the next one hour or so. And we need to mark this moment, of course. How better to mark this moment than a family photograph? It gives me a chance to see how well we collaborate together. So I am going to invite Prime Minister Sanchez, United Nations Secretary General to be in the middle of our family photograph. Thank you so much. If you'd like to take the stairs, I would appreciate it. And then our heads of state, heads of government who will be speaking, please also join us on stage for our family photograph. Thank you so much. It is nice to see all of you gentlemen. This is looking like a very somber photograph, but remember we are marking, good afternoon excellencies, we are marking historic collaboration, so it's okay to smile for the hope for the future, even though we only have five years till 2030. All right, photographers. I was Deputy Secretary General was reading my mind when I said good afternoon gentlemen so now we can take the photograph to mark implementing the Sophia platform for action so many phones I'm hoping we have some Professional photographs taken as well. I think this moment is well and truly marked. Photographers, are you happy? All right, thank you so much. We appreciate you. Please take your seats. Thank you, excellencies. Thank you very much indeed. All right, so we will start our event, our session, with two keynotes. The keynote of United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will be first. Prime Minister Sanchez's keynote will be second. Secretary-General, it is so good to see you. Please, welcome to the stage for your keynote. I know you will hear very loud applause, even louder than that, which will escalate as the Secretary-General stands right here.

Mr. Prime Minister, my dear Pedro Sanchez, your excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, thank you very much for joining us in this launching of the Seville Platform for Action, Sevilla. Dear President, dear Prime Minister, I congratulate you and your government on your vision and leadership as hosts of the Fourth International Conference for Financing for Development.

Global development crisis that threatens people and planet alike. Our roadmap to a better future, the Sustainable Development Goals, is in danger. Two-thirds of the targets are not progressing fast enough or at all. Solutions depend on financing. Developing countries need over $4 trillion a year to deliver on the 2030 agenda. but they are being bettered by limited fiscal space, slowing growth, crushing debt burdens, and growing systemic risks. The Seville Commitment document represents a bold plan to get the engine of development reviving again through new domestic and global commitments that can channel public and private finance to the areas of greatest needs. By overhauling the world's approach to debt, to make borrowing work in service of sustainable development, and by reforming the global financial architecture to reflect today's realities and the urgent needs of developing countries. But we need all hands on deck, and that is why the Seville Platform for Action is so critical and so significant. In the midst of a world of division, conflict, and economic uncertainty, This platform contains more than 130 specific initiatives that demonstrate that we can achieve by working together. Governments, private sector, partners, international institutions, and civil society, groups, all together teaming up to launch high-impact initiatives to bring the Seville Commitment to life. This includes a global hub for debt swaps at the World Bank, as part of a broader facility aiming at relieving liquidity constraints and lowering the cost of borrowing. A debt pause alliance to help countries in times of crisis. A global coalition to scale up prearranged finance that can be rapidly deployed when disasters strike. A blended finance platform to bring public and private finance together in a new and expanded way. A new tool for multilateral development banks to manage currency risks, and the Commission to explore the future of development cooperation. In December, I appointed a group of experts on debt, who today are announcing 11 immediately actionable proposals to help resolve the debt crisis. And this includes the commitment to establish a Borrowers Forum for countries to learn from one another and coordinate their approaches in debt management and restructuring. I look forward to working closely with member states, including the G20, to bring this forum to life, to empower borrower countries, and create a fairer system. Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, the Seville Platform for Action offers an ambitious, action-oriented response to the global financial challenge. It provides a springboard toward a more just, inclusive, and sustainable world for all countries. And above all, it proves that progress and change are possible if we work together. I hope the platform inspires countries to work as one to tackle other challenges facing our world today. You never know.

And once again, I thank the Prime Minister of Spain and all of you for your leadership. Thank you very much.

Thank you, Secretary-General. His Excellency, Mr. Pedro Sanchez, Prime Minister of Spain, thank you so much. It is good to see you. Looking forward to hearing your keynote. Thank you, Prime Minister.

Thank you very much, dear Secretary General, dear Antonio, heads of government and states accompanying us, distinguished delegates, men and women, friends. It's an honor to welcome you. together with the Secretary General of the United Nations in order to introduce and launch the Seville Platform for Action. No doubt, this is one of the main legacies of this fourth International Conference on Financing for Development. We're just five years away from the 2030 milestone, Agenda 2030, and efforts have not been sufficient. The world faces new challenges, growing inequalities, budgets that are being reduced for cooperation, multilateralism, which is in danger. Despite this scenario, which is so somber, earlier, the Secretary-General stated it in his press conference, the resources exist. with less than 1% of global wealth, which exceeds $470 trillion, it would be possible to close the annual deficit of $4.3 trillion needed to achieve the SDGs. Only 1% of that wealth, global wealth. Therefore, we've got the capacity, but we lack the will and the courage in order to carry this project out. The good news is that we still have time to change course, but we have to act now, immediately. We should spare no effort or resources. So in this difficult context, the Seville commitment is a success in itself, reaching consensus on the future of financing for development in these adverse times for multilateralism. And we should be happy about that. We are laying the foundations for a renewed financing framework designed to drive impact-focused investment. We are moving to a new comprehensive paradigm of sustainable development in which all sources of financing, public, private, national, international, north or south, count and have to contribute more. Nevertheless, We now need to build on those foundations, and that is where the Seville Platform for Action comes into play. It was created in order to promote a strategic mobilization of alliances with a practical roadmap of concrete solutions and impact initiatives that developed the Seville commitment precisely that we've achieved. Through this platform, countries, international organizations, the private sector, which is very important, and the civil society at large have been invited to build coalitions and launch innovative, transformative, and measurable impact initiatives. And I am very happy to say that the Seville Platform for Action has already been a great success. We have received a very high number of proposals of great quality, high ambitions as well, around 130 initiatives gathered on this platform. And they demonstrate the vitality, but also the creativity and the commitment of the international community in order to address the challenges holding back sustainable development and provide solutions. Thanks to this platform, the Seville commitment is born together with 130 concrete and measurable actions that will support its development from the very first day. Spain also wanted to show its leadership and redouble its commitment with several initiatives and alliances in various areas. First of all, we need to achieve international taxation that guarantees fairer taxation of large fortunes. Secondly, we need to make development aid more impactful. Third, we need to prevent debt from suffocating countries in the event of natural disasters, health crises such as the one that we went through in 2020, or food crises. We should also promote debt forgiveness. together with commitments in order to channel those resources towards development projects in crucial areas such as food security, nutrition, climate action or health. And finally, we will also join a coalition of countries working for a greater contribution of the aviation sector to just transitions and climate resilience through a specific tax on business class tickets and private jets. I want to dwell, ladies and gentlemen, for a moment on the field of global health. Clearly, this is one of the most affected sectors, the sectors most affected by the current funding crisis and the withdrawal of important donors. There, where others take a step back or take a stand, Spain will take a step forward and take the lead. And how? Well, in two ways. First, Today, within the framework of this Seville Platform for Action, we will be presenting a specific initiative in the field of global health in order to reform the system and make it more coherent, efficient, and effective. We aim to promote a new health architecture in which every euro invested has a maximum impact. More than 10 countries, together with the European Commission, and international organizations, same as relevant civil society actors, have joined this initiative. And we have all committed to working to have a joint roadmap in the first half of 2026. Secondly, we will accompany this initiative with new resources. Last week in Brussels, I announced that Spain will increase its contribution to the Gavi Alliance by 30%. reaching 130 million euros for the new replenishment cycle. And today, I'm also pleased to announce that we will also be increasing our contribution to the Global Fund to fight AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis. We will devote a total of 145 million euros for the period from 2026 to 2028. So, dear Antonio, this will represent an increase of more than 10% as opposed to the previous cycle. And I'm concluding. Thank you. It is obvious that not all of us know how to do everything. So the important thing is to focus on what we know to do best and to do so by joining forces for the sake of a shared goal. This platform that we are launching today is a large umbrella bringing together dozens of diverse initiatives that are the manifestation of our respective strengths and priorities of all the actors composing this platform. And this is also the reflection of our collective ambition to drive real and lasting change, because leadership is precisely that. It's based on facts. Solidarity is shown with resources, and the Seville Platform for Action is our pragmatic response to the crisis in financing sustainable development. This demonstrates that, despite the challenges, the international community can come together and act with determination, as we are doing today. This is the evidence that multilateralism works, knows how to adapt, and knows how to renew itself. So I invite I urge everyone present to support the platform's initiatives, to actively engage in them, and to implement bold and forward-looking actions that leave a lasting mark on their contribution to sustainable development. Because Seville, as the Secretary General very well said, is not a point of arrival, not the destination, but the beginning of the journey. So we all need to contribute to that success. Thank you very much and congratulations on participating in this very important initiative.

Thank you, Prime Minister Sanchez. The Seville Platform for Action is voluntary. It emphasizes concrete, ambitious action and also renews our current financial frameworks for how we approach sustainable development. You are about to hear from heads of state, heads of government, and how they are seeing the Seville Platform for Action, particularly the implementation part. The challenge that we have given to our guest speakers is that we have allotted them approximately three minutes, which is quite challenging because when you get to that level of governance, in the world, you have a superpower to turn one minute into about 10. So us mere mortals, three minutes is three minutes. But for heads of state, heads of government, it could be 20, it could be a TED talk, who knows? But today I know our heads of state and heads of government right here will appreciate the human mortal approximately three minutes And I'm excited to see, as I'm sure you are, how they managed to do that. Nothing's impossible. We start with our presentations. His Excellency, Mr. Mostafa Madbouly, Prime Minister of the Arab Republic of Egypt, you're welcome.

What a challenge, three minutes. His Excellency Pedro Sanchez, President of the Government of the Kingdom of Spain, Honourable Heads of State and Government, His Excellency Antonio Guterres, UN Secretary-General, Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, it's my pleasure to be here with you today to launch the Seville Platform for Action, which is a timely initiative aiming at bringing together government, financial institutions, development partners, private sector and other stakeholders to assess challenges, share experiences, and showcase innovative solutions to set the world back on track to accelerate the achievement of SDGs. I would like also to express our appreciation and satisfaction to referring to Egypt in the initiative as a successful development model to draw on lessons from especially with regard to using our integrated national financing framework to coordinate reforms and investments to implement Egypt Vision 2030 and mobilize finance through our innovative national platform, NAFI, which focuses on attracting investment and finance for profitable projects that serve the nexus of water, food, and energy. Our integrated national financing framework is a pivotal tool for quantifying investment needs, mapping the financing landscape, and optimizing resource mobilization. It prioritizes key sectors to accelerate sustainable development, notably education, health, social protection, water sanitation, and transportation, while addressing cross-cutting themes such as environment and gender equality. The framework acts as an umbrella for a number of initiatives dedicated to advancing multi-dimensional sustainable development and whole of society partnerships. On top of these initiatives is the Takful and Karama program, which is a presidential initiative launched in 2015 and aims at assisting poor families with a focus on human capital development through conditional and unconditional cash transfers. The program promotes social protection, education, and health. It is globally recognized as an efficient social protection model. Up till now, more than 5 million families in Egypt are benefiting from this initiative. Another success story is the presidential initiative Decent Life, which was launched in 2019 and served as a national project for development of Egyptian countryside. It aims at improving the living condition and daily life for Egyptian by providing integrated service packages. It is benefiting today more than 60 million Egyptian in more than 4,500 villages. Let me conclude. by stressing that effective international development cooperation is essential to achieve the SDGs by 2030. We look forward to full operationalization of the Seville Platform for Action, which contribute to moving from commitment to achievement. On the ground, we will engage constructively with other countries and development partners to make this platform a successful model for knowledge sharing and best practices to ensure that no one is left behind. Thank you.

Thank you.

Muchísimas gracias, señor primer ministro. Estaba mirando el tiempo. Fue un poquito más de 3 minutos, pero muchísimas gracias por el esfuerzo, señor. El excelencia, el señor Antonio Costa, presidente del Consejo Europeo. Buenas tardes. Ya está aquí en el atril. Muchas gracias. Tiene usted la palabra.

Pierno, querido Pedro. Dear Prime Minister Pedro, dear Secretary General, dear Antonio, heads of state and government, distinguished delegates, thank you to Spain and to the UN for inviting us and for setting up this Seville Platform for Action. As of today, we still need $4 trillion to close the gap in terms of financing. Without that money, we won't be able to reach the SDGs. And to make matters worse, uncontrolled debt is putting more governments in impossible dilemmas. Three billion people live in countries that spend more in debt service than on education and health, and this is inadmissible. With this commitment, we have defined the path. Now the time has come to collect all the fruits, and this Ville Platform for Action is the departure point, and it should allow us to to seize as many commitments as possible and agree on as many initiatives as possible, both in the private sector and the civil society. As I said this morning, the European Union and its member states will rise to the occasion. We will not leave you, and we will not stop waging a war in favor of human dignity on the planet. And Together, we provide 42% of official aid to development, a total of $95 billion. It's estimated that over $300 billion in debt have been restructured by the EU countries, which are part of the Paris Group. Moreover, we are mobilizing up to 300 billion euros in the 2027 horizon through our global gateway initiative for sustainable investment and for inclusive and local investment. In fact, up until 2023, we have already mobilized close to 170 billion with Global Gateway initiative. And in this context, we will support a number of initiatives of this Seville Platform for Action, from the declaration of internal resources to the renewed world health ecosystem. No one can tackle these challenges alone. It is not the task of one or a few. It requires a collective strength and bold synergies. The EU is ready to give its best to work hand in hand with each of you. So let's get to work. We know that the challenge is big and that the road is a long one, but we're here in Seville, and from Seville left the first vessel that left to go around the world. If this happened many years ago, why won't we be able to do that? We have no time left to spare. Thank you very much.

Thank you, President Costa. His Excellency, Mr. Yamandu Orsi, the President of Uruguay. It is good to see you, Mr. President. Welcome.

First of all, I'd like to express my deep gratitude to the government of the Kingdom of Spain, to the Secretary General, Mr. Guterres, for this act of optimism that you organized today. And I also want to congratulate you because in the times we're living, it is clear that creating this type of activities and launching a platform such as this one is not just a common act, because we are in confusing times. Everything seems a bit weird, and people may think that we are giving up. But in your case, you have shown us, or because of your gestures, you have shown us that it is worth to keep on fighting for what we've always wanted. And if we're here, it's because we believe that some tools, in particular multilateralism, is the way to go in times where everything is being challenged and in times where the structure that we decided on after the World War II is questioned and people live in fear and despair, you are showing And all of you present here today, you are showing that this instability, that this world filled with conflict, with growing armed conflicts, this is not enough to prevent us from keep on working. I mean, if the world is going is living what it is living now, and if the world is filled with uncertainty, you One could think that historic and structural problems that countries had and still have, such as poverty, hunger, forced displacement, and the growing population, all of that is worsening. There is a climate of world dispersion, and this is affecting those who are in underprivileged conditions. And that is why the 2030 agenda is is more present than ever despite some leaders who question it. And that is why, and with this I'll finish, I would say that if there are two-thirds of the agenda we were not able to fulfill, there's one-third that we were able to fulfill. Behind this one third of this third goals that were met, there are people who have made their lives better, but there are still two thirds who still await us. Mr. Prime Minister, Mr. Secretary General, we are here for you. We will back your efforts and you can always count on us. So thank you very much.

President Orsi. His Excellency Mr. William Samuel Ruto, President of the Republic of Kenya. So good to see you. Looking forward to your presentation. Welcome.

Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, let me take this opportunity to congratulate Spain for hosting this very important occasion. And it is a pleasure for me to join you for the launch of the Seville Platform for Action. I commend the government of Spain and the United Nations for establishing this initiative. Negotiating an outcome document like the Seville Commitment requires significant effort. Yet without a framework for implementation, that effort risks being in vain. I am optimistic that the SPA will help governments fast track the FDA outcome. Kenya has co-sponsored several SPA initiatives in collaboration with other governments. And we are co-founders of the 4P, the Pact for Prosperity, People, and the Planet, launched at the Paris Summit in June 2023. and reaffirmed by the African leaders at the Africa Climate Summit in Nairobi that year. Alongside Barbados and France, we have also championed innovative financing through Global Solidarity Levies Task Force for Climate and Development. Kenya, together with Colombia, France and Germany, co-chairs the Independent Expert Review on Debt, Climate and Nature. The outcomes of the 4P will feed into the global forums, including G20, IMF World Bank meetings, the United Nations General Assembly, and the COP30 processes. To sustain this momentum, the SBA needs to build on the 4P and related initiatives to ensure coherence and continuity. Ladies and gentlemen, The emphasis on integrated national financing frameworks is both timely and critical. Effective coordination among partners grounded in national plans and adaptable to evolving circumstances lays a solid foundation for country-led growth and development. Allow me, Secretary-General and Mr. Prime Minister, to just give you three examples of what Kenya is doing as by way of support and by way of realizing and domesticating the interventions we are having a conversation about. First, in this document, there is a clear focus on domestic mobilization of resources. And I will give you an example of what we are doing in Kenya in matters domestic mobilization of resources to deal with some of the challenges we have. In Kenya, over the last two years, we have mobilized $2 billion domestic resources, $2 billion to fund our housing program. We now have 150,000 houses under construction, 250,000 people working, and a possibility of scaling these up to 700,000 houses, undertaken using domestic raised resources. Secondly, we have transitioned health from being a preserve of those who can afford to being a right for every Kenyan. We have, using again domestic raised resources, raised a billion dollars to transition 24 million Kenyans now to health insurance. Again, It tells you the possibilities of domestic raised resources and what it can achieve in delivering on social services. Let me give you another two examples on innovative financing. On roads, we have securitized some of our assets, local assets, working with international financial institutions, trade development bank, AfriExim Bank, and other financial institutions to raise a billion and a half dollars for our road infrastructure development. Equally, Kenya will have 100% of its grid as renewable by 2030 because we have innovative financing using power purchase agreement to bring the public and the private into one ecosystem. And we are funding our green energy generation using private funds and working with public interventions. What I'm trying to say here is that this document that we have negotiated, and today we have it as the severe commitment is a document that is implementable. And that is why we are willing to share our experiences and we are also willing to learn from others. Thank you very much.

Many thanks, President Ruto. His Excellency Mr. Filamon Yang is President of the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly. It is good to have you here. I'm looking forward to what your takeaway is going to be when you head back to the UN headquarters. Please join us here at the lectern. Thank you.

Thank you for giving me the floor. I have the impression that it is my opportunity to thank everybody, because I think this was a wonderful day. I begin by congratulating the Government of Spain, by congratulating the United Nations. What we've done today here is marvellous. First of all, the commitment is something which I didn't think we would arrive at, but we have unhesitatingly arrived at it, and we should congratulate ourselves. This is implementable, as said the President of Kenya, and we look forward to what will follow. We've had an opportunity to partly shape our future by having this conference. Thank you very much, and have a good evening.

Thank you so much, Excellency Yang. Our final guest speaker is the President of the Republic of Colombia, His Excellency, Mr. Gustavo Petro Urrego. It is good to see you. Welcome. I feel the final briefing is about to happen. For our audience watching on UN Web TV, the President just joined us because you've had a very busy day. We really appreciate you. Thank you so much. The lectern is yours.

Yes, warm greetings. And this is kind of a routine because I've been participating in this type of event for three years, and sometimes I wonder if they're worth the effort. Undoubtedly, We are in a troubled world, a world filled with crisis, and solutions come from crisis. Therefore, I think that when we work amongst peoples more than amongst governments and amongst the governments of the majority of the world, we might be able to find a positive solution to the crisis. Otherwise, c'est fini. or finito, as they say. And this is a sefini that is generalized and eternal, and it's better not to take that path. So thank you for your invitation, for the kind invitation received from the government of Spain, a resilient government. And as I was taught by the Spaniards, I will say here, they shall not pass. Thank you.

Thank you, President Durego. So all of your takeaways may be very different from my takeaway, but what I heard was collaboration. I'm hoping to hear and see and witness implementation, and I'm wrapping up this session because I know we have to do some hydration because it's very hot in Seville right now. Thank you for all of your impact, your input. We really appreciate you, heads of state, heads of government, Secretary General, Prime Minister Sanchez. And now we've done so much talking, I'm really looking forward to the action, implementing the Seville Platform of Action. Please go act. Good afternoon. Thank you for joining us. Take care.