Ahead of the UN Financing for Development Conference in Seville next week, countries have agreed to a set of broad commitments to reform the global financial system and increase development capital flows to Africa and other regions.
The Compromiso de Sevilla the "Seville Commitment" - which will be the legacy of the conference, to be held in the Spanish city from 30 June to 3 July - was the product of months of fraught negotiations and was only concluded after the United States walked out of the process entirely.
The Seville Commitment outlines actions to catalyse investment to bridge the 4 trillion financing gap to achieve the UN's Sustainable Development Goals. It commits countries to "take concrete actions to enhance fiscal space, address debt challenges of developing countries and lower the cost of capital. It adds that signatories "will provide and mobilise additional, innovative, adequate, affordable, predictable, and accessible financing from all sources, recognising the comparative advantages of public and private finance."
The document also pledges continued reform of the international financial architecture to enhance its resilience, coherence and effectiveness in responding to present and future challenges and crises, and commits to address the diverse needs and challenges faced by countries in special situations, "in particular African countries," and other least developed countries.
Progress sealed despite US exitThe US, in isolationist mood, complained that the 38-page text was too long and too costly, and would duplicate existing mechanisms. Beneath many of its objections was a hostility to the UN, where decision-making is relatively democratic. Instead, the US wants power in the world economy to remain concentrated in the institutions where it holds most control, such as the IMF and World Bank, in which it is the largest shareholder and wields effective veto power.