Antonio Guterres stated in a video address to the first meeting of the Preparatory Committee for the Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development, which got underway in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on Monday, that the upcoming conference offers a special chance to address financing challenges "head-on".
“Opens the door for world leaders to adopt ambitious reforms to deliver affordable long-term financing at scale, and deliver the SDG (Sustainable Development Goals) Stimulus," stated the UN Chief, regarding the summit, which is slated to take place in Spain from June 30 to July 3, 2025.
"It presents a unique opportunity to reform an international financial system that is outdated, dysfunctional and unfair -- from the tax and debt architecture to the system of public development banks, to trade and investment rules, to the financial safety net and global governance," he stated.
Although there has been progress since world leaders convened in Addis Ababa nine years ago and decided upon a revolutionary agenda that obliges public and commercial players to match policies and investments with sustainable development, many pledges have not been kept, according to Guterres.
He emphasized that the world is seeing "seismic shocks" that make funding problems more difficult to resolve and geopolitical differences that thwart coordinated action.
"Confronted with sky-high obligation burdens and costs of capital, creating nations have constrained prospects of financing the Feasible Improvement Goals."
"I tally on all of you to move forward with an assurance to protect the 2030 Motivation. And together, we can provide not as it were a money related framework, but a world, that is more fair, impartial and maintainable," Antonio Guterres concluded.